Rotary International Convention sets Guinness record for world’s largest book drive
How many donated books does it take to set a world’s record? Rotary club members from around the world found out during the Rotary International convention at the L.A. Convention Center that ran from June 15-18.
At the invitation of the Southern California and Southern Nevada Rotary clubs hosting the convention, many of the nearly 20,000 registrants from more than 140 countries brought children’s books representing their home cultures and languages for the Wide World of Books project. This international book drive, co-sponsored by the Los Angeles Times’ Reading by 9 program, aims to gather 250,000 books to be donated to public school students in grades K-3 throughout the region, where studies show too many children read below grade level.
The Rancho Bernardo Rotary Club and RB Sunrise Rotary Club were both active participants, and donated well over 1,100 books from just their two clubs. Other area Rotary clubs were equally energetic in their participation. Members of the public were also encouraged to drop off books at the Convention Centers during the convention itself.
While final confirmation is still pending, organizers of the event are confident that the quarter of a million books gathered in the week’s time will qualify for a Guinness World Record. An adjudicator from Guinness was on hand to certify the results. Rotary members unable to make the trip to Los Angeles have also been invited to contribute through a “virtual book drive”.
During the convention, a symbolic “mountain of books” welcomed convention registrants and members of the public in the atrium of the Los Angeles Convention Center, where Rotary members were available to read to local schoolchildren.
“It is symbolic that the mountain of books was built atop the world map in the atrium’s floor design,” says local Rotary leader Ingo Werk, who chaired the project. He noted that nearly 100 languages are spoken throughout the diverse Los Angeles Unified School District.
The book drive is just one example of the hundreds of literacy-related projects supported by Rotary clubs worldwide. “Literacy is crucial in determining a person’s overall academic, professional, and personal success,” says Werk.
The annual Rotary convention is the humanitarian service organization’s most important meeting of the year, giving members from around the world an opportunity to plan service projects, share success stories and renew acquaintances. It is often described as a “mini-United Nations” due to its international and cultural diversity.
Rotary International’s Mountain of Books
No comments:
Post a Comment