On June 22, 2022, students at Sand Creek Middle School, Colonie, NY participated in a celebratory Parade of Books as a culminating schoolwide service project. The initiative was in collaboration with Backpack International Inc (BPI) to benefit a new library that will be built in Annai Village, Guyana, South America. Earlier this spring, the student council set a goal to collect 5,000 books. They were ecstatic after realizing they exceeded 12,000 books.
Students from each class carried books from inside the school’s temporary “pop up” library and walked the parade route with books in make shift floats before they were loaded onto a truck parked outside the school. The books will be shipped on a container from Hudson, NY to Guyana. The organization is asking for the community’s support to raise $20,000 to complete the project. A trip to Guyana is scheduled for December 26-31,2022 to dedicate the library. Contact Oslyn Rodriguez if you or your group would like to travel with Backpack International to Guyana for this trip.
Backpack International Founder Oslyn Rodriguez presented the student council with a plaque and the Global Impact Award to English Teacher, Melissa Moskov, who coordinated the project with the students. The event concluded with remarks from Angel Rodriguez, Chairman of BPI. He reminded the students of the impact of their efforts with these words: “Every book you collected shows every child in Annai that they are loved, respected, important, and that they have friends in America,” said Pastor Angel Rodriguez, Jr. Esquire, Chairman of Backpack International.
You can support this project in the following ways:
- Donate books or money for shipping
- Volunteer to pack the container
- Visit www.backpackinternational.org to donate or learn more.
