Funds Raised for Global Literacy:
$10,184,799.20
Books Re-Used or Recycled:
63,271,794

BWB @Lilith: Meet Co-Founder Kreece Fuchs

Posted by Abbey on 07.30.2010 at 10:20 am

If you been keeping up with Better World Books, you’ve probably already “met” co-Founder Xavier Helgesen and CEO David Murphy in an assortment of interviews and blog posts.  Well now it’s time to meet our other co-Founder, Kreece Fuchs.  Kreece works at our warehouse in Mishawaka, IN and took some time out from keeping everything running to join Lilith in Chicago.  Enjoy!

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The Great American Book Drive

Posted by admin on 10.21.2008 at 10:33 am

The Great American Book Drive, the largest community based book drive in the US will be in Chicago this weekend.  Sponsored by such companies as ZipCar and Whole Foods, the Chicago drive is in partnership with Open Books and will take place at their location at 213 W. Institute Place on October 26th from 10am – 3pm.  Flyer explaining the event after the jump.  Better World Books is proud to be organizing this event!

Read more…

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Walk Sudan

Posted by admin on 05.30.2008 at 9:45 am

Phi Theta Kappa Members Walk for Sudan

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We all know that Phi Theta Kappa members are great, and we count on them to run some of our best Book Drives.  We were recently touched by a story of a group that is not only running a Better World Books book drive, but also reaching out to try to help coordinate something amazing.

Many of us have heard the plight of the 27,000 “lost boys” of Sudan, their perilous 1,000 mile walk  left more than half dead, and the rest came home to a country devastated by war, bare of essentials like clean water and schools. Matt Hoffman, a Phi Theta Kappa member at Illinois Central College, was touched by these horrific stories and moved to immediate action. Matt reflects, “A good friend of mine, Sean Fahey from Endless Eye informed me that his 501c3 had committed to raising funds to shoot a documentary film to raise awareness about the situation in Southern Sudan.”

Sean’s organization has been working with Justin Machien Luoi (www.pacodes.org), a Lost Boy, to build a library, a school, and provide clean water for Panyijiar County, Southern Sudan.  Matt wanted to know how Upsilon Mu, Illinois Central College’s Phi Theta Kappa chapter, could get involved.  They talked for a few hours that night and decided to design a “walk event” in Peoria, Illinois. That is how Walk Sudan was born.

Walk Sudan is a project intended to raise awareness and funds to build a library in Panyijiar County, Southern Sudan, a region that has been devastated by 20 years of civil war and ethnic conflict.

Matt is reaching out to Phi Theta Kappa members to help with this great cause, “I’ve been fortunate to witness the generosity, passion, and perseverance exhibited by Phi Theta Kappans and I know that, with a little effort, we can help rebuild Southern Sudan and become part of something bigger than ourselves!”

In addition to helping coordinate the walk, Matt and his chapter are going to run their campus Better World Books book drive as usual; only this time, they are going to take the funding they earn from this book drive and graciously give it to the Sudan Project!

Better World Books and Books for Africa have begun working on a partnership with Walk Sudan to help pay for the shipping of books to Sudan. Pat Plonski, Director Books for Africa, comments

“The need for books in Sudan is enormous because of the difficulty involved in shipping to that country.  The roads are very bad, and going to Southern Sudan represents a shipment almost to the very heart of Africa, which greatly increases the costs and logistical hurdles involved. For these reasons, we really appreciate the opportunity to work with partners like these who are willing to go the extra mile and get these books where they are so desperately needed.”

 Better World Books will be using money from the newly created BWB fund in addition to money generated by Walk Sudan to help cover the cost of shipping. If you are interested in helping Walk Sudan reach their goal of building and stocking a library in Southern Sudan please contact Matt Hoffman (mhoffman23@mchsi.com).

Links to more information:
http://revver.com/video/698354/walk-sudan/ – our video (produced by Endless Eye)
http://pacodes.org/
www.endlesseye.org
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1177134747 – our Facebook
http://www.bismarcktribune.com/articles/2007/12/10/news/state/144197.txt – some press re: Justin’s efforts

1 Comment » | Tagged Impact, Our Partners, , , , , , ,

Chicago, Navy Pier, Game Time!

Posted by admin on 05.15.2008 at 2:26 pm

What are you doing this weekend?  A veritable ton of Better World Books employees will be on hand at the Chicago Green Festival, as BWB is the OFFICIAL BOOKSTORE!  We’ll have signgings from some great green authors, great books, and some SWEET new shirt designs that you will want to have (two stores in San Francisco have already asked to sell them for us, and I just was wearing one, I didn’t even make a sales pitch!).

Come hang out, meet the SF team, meet some of the warehouse crowd, and let us shake the hands of our customers!

May 17 + 18 at the Navy Pier in Chicago.  Bring 3+ books and get $5 off admission for the weekend (and I’ll love you forever).

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Idealists get Lesson in Green Business

Posted by admin on 03.28.2007 at 11:49 am

This past weekend we sent a variety of Better World Books employees to the Idealist 2007 conference in Chicago . How great to see so many motivated students finding new and innovative ways to help their communities.

An excellent highlight to the conference was our very own Xavier Helgesen’s presentation on Green Business Practices. The conversation covered an excellent and wide array of topics including many of the efforts the BWB is making to be a greener company everyday. We had a great time discussing the concept of being a carbon neutral company and how carbon credits and investment in alternative energy practices are rapidly becoming integrated in daily business practices across the country. It was also an excellent opportunity for blossoming entrepreneurs to get some great feedback on the difficulties and finer points of starting a socially conscious business. WorldFund’s Michelle Viegas was also attended, which enabled some excellent discussions on the differences between the non-profit and for-profit business worlds.

It was wonderful to meet representatives from all over the country and I am grateful for such a warm welcoming from the whole Idealist crew, DePaul University , and everyone who attended the conference.

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Better World Books at Idealist Campus Conference

Posted by Yanna on 03.26.2007 at 2:40 pm

This past weekend Chicago was host to the Idealist Campus Conference. This conference is a gathering of students and practical dreamers that want to make the world a better place. Better World Books just had to be there to meet all these motivated and compassionate people. It was a good thing we had so many Better World Books employees on hand for the Opportunity Fair because everyone wanted to learn more about us. On the final evening of the conference BWB co-founder, Xavier, held an intriguing workshop on Green Entrepreneurship for the young green dreamers of the conference. We had a great time meeting interesting people and bonding with each other. Thank you, DePaul and Idealist.org for hosting such an inspiring, well organized and fun conference!

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Accenture Corporate Book Drive

Posted by admin on 11.27.2006 at 6:01 am

Six Flags Great America (Chicago, IL) – On September 30, employees from the Accenture – Chicago office collected over 2000 books during their inaugural Corporate Book Drive, which was run in conjunction with the Annual Company Picnic.  Employees were encouraged to collect new and lightly used books and drop them off as they entered the park.  The books that were collected will be sold by Better World Books, and a percentage of the proceeds will be donated to Room to Read.

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Books Coming and Going

Posted by admin on 10.13.2006 at 11:35 am

It’s been a busy week in the Logistics office, starting and ending with a bang. Monday found the Campus Division Support Agent (myself) navigating a very large truck through the streets of Chicago to pick up 9 pallets of books generously donated by the Chicago Public Library’s Friends of the Blackstone Branch . The streets of Chicago never felt so narrow, but with the help of a few dedicated volunteers, especially Betsy Glynn, my navigator, and Dina Weinstein, our contact at the book sale, we were able to get about 9000 books boxed up and loaded in under two hours. Great job and thank you to everyone involved!

Now Friday has finally arrived, and we ended our week in the warehouse by sending our second shipment of approximately 18,000 college text books directly to the Kampala International University in Uganda .

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We have more of these direct shipments scheduled and we will try to keep everyone updated as they go out. In the meantime, everyone have a fantastic weekend, and keep those books coming!

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