Testimonial from Phi Theta Kappa: Delaware Technical and Community College

Posted by admin on 04.20.2007 at 6:55 am

When this initiative was presented at the international convention our officers were so excited about the prospect of helping to provide an education to those who might otherwise go without, we signed up immediately after the closing of the presenting seminar.  As we were approaching the end of the semester and felt this was an excellent opportunity to acquire books, we decided to begin our efforts immediately. Before we even received the collection boxes from Better World Books, we had begun to collect cases of books.  Instructors and administration were overwhelmingly supportive of our efforts and made substantial contributions.  The students chose to donate their used books rather than receive monetary reimbursement for them.  What better way to help someone than to provide them with educational tools so that they can empower themselves?

The money raised from the Books for Africa drive was used to purchase a tree for our tree planting event.  Officers and members of Phi Theta Kappa chose to coordinate with the child development center on our campus to use the tree planting event as a tool to educate the young students, who attend the center, on the importance of “Keeping America Beautiful”.  The children were excited to be participants in physically planting the tree and were eager learners when it came to educating them on liter prevention.

We are currently working on ideas for our most recent check. However, I am sure it will be used to benefit others.

-Raquella Wilson

Have your say » | Tagged Uncategorized, books for africa, delaware, delaware technical and community college, Phi Theta Kappa

International Conference

Posted by Mary on 04.18.2007 at 12:56 pm

We just heard Al Gore speak on the environmental and that it’s a moral issue/decision for each and every one of us and David Murphy, CEO of BWB, talking about the incredible strides we have made since our inception and in particular the tremendous impact that Phi Theta Kappa has made for the Book Drives for Better Lives Program from an environmental and social standpoint!!

Mary Murphy, Southeast Regional Director of Better World Books and Erica Chong from Guam, together at the Phi Theta Kappa International conference in Nashville, TN!

Have your say » | Tagged Uncategorized, Al Gore, conferences, david murphy, mary murphy, Phi Theta Kappa

Great Success for Phi Theta Kappa in Minnesota

Posted by admin on 04.01.2007 at 9:57 pm

(posted by Better World Books alum, Niko Tomlinson)

Here is a letter from the amazing Phi Theta Kappa chapter at Century College in White Bear Lake, MN.  They have run two great book drives which has helped them have tremendous success at their regional meetings!  Congrats Nate and the whole Alpha Alpha Gamma chapter!

Niko,

Thank you for everything! We truly enjoy working with you…We’re looking forward to doing another collection at the end of the semester. Keep in touch.

By the way, our chapter won 4-1st place Regional Awards at our last conference. I took home a Distinguished Officer Award of our region (of 60 chapters). We also took home Distinguished Chapter of our region. We basically left with all 1st place Regional Awards. Our partnership with you was a big help in winning our awards — thank you!!

Nate Kruckeberg

Have your say » | Tagged Uncategorized, book drive, campus, Century College, Minnesota, niko, Phi Theta Kappa

Nev-Cal Phi Theta Kappa Supports Education in Sri Lanka

Posted by admin on 03.15.2007 at 4:19 pm

(posted by Better World Books alum Natasha Harris)

I was delighted to have attended the Nev-Cal Phi Theta Kappa Spring Regional Conference in San Diego this past weekend.  What a blast!  In the fall Better World Books had agreed to embark on an initiative with the Nev-Cal PTK region to fundraise for a very wonderful non-profit organization called Bridge 2 Peace (www.bridge2peace.org), which services a school in tsunami-ravaged Sri Lanka.  We never imagined at that time how successful this initiative would be (we should have known better – when DOESN’T Phi Theta Kappa exceed our expectations?).  In total, Nev-Cal PTK members raised $2,237.25 through this fundraiser last semester.  This money, raised through running book drives, is going directly into a travel fund that will pay airfare for PTK students in the Nev-Cal Region traveling to the Bridge 2 Peace school this summer.  In total, participating students will be there for six full weeks to teach English and work with students, and we can’t wait to hear stories after their return!  I’m so excited to be able to support this partnership, and hope to triple the amount of money raised NOW in the spring semester!

As you can see, we took some great pictures this weekend.  This first is of Nelioufer Jayawardana and I.  Nelioufer is Sri-Lankan born and very involved with Bridge 2 Peace.

The second photo is of Zoie Lewandowski (Palomar), Jason Dunn (Palomar), Kurt Meyer (Irvine Valley College, Advisor), Me (Natasha, BWB) and Nelioufer.  Nelioufer had just accepted a Better World Books check on behalf of Bridge 2 Peace.

Zoie, Jason and Kurt will all three be traveling to Southeast Asia this summer to teach at the Bridge 2 Peace school in Sri Lanka.   I’ve asked them to take lots of pictures while they’re overseas, and will post some on this blog when they get back.  We wish them all the best!  Go PTK!

Have your say » | Tagged Uncategorized, california, Natasha, nevada, Phi Theta Kappa, sri lanka

Arizona Phi Theta Kappa Update

Posted by admin on 03.07.2007 at 1:20 pm

(posted by Better World Books alum, Natasha Harris)

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to attend the 2007 Spring Regional Conference for Arizona chapters of Phi Theta Kappa.  This event was hosted by Cochise College, which is in the Southeastern corner of Arizona.  I had a great time!  The conference had a record number of attendees, and I must say that they were a very active bunch.  I was impressed to see all the awards being presented, and even more impressed that the state of Arizona has 15 5-Star chapters.  That is awesome!!

On Saturday I did a presentation, which was attended by a number of different schools.  Everything went really well, and, as usual – I got a lot of really great questions from the group.  Since the conference, I’ve been contacted by a number of new Arizona chapters who are interested in getting started right away.  I want to thank everyone who attended, and am very much looking forward to running some great book drives with you at the end of this spring semester!

Thanks for everything!

Have your say » | Tagged Uncategorized, Arizona, Cochise College, Natasha, Phi Theta Kappa

Book Drive by Coastal Carolina Community College Phi Theta Kappa

Posted by Mary on 02.28.2007 at 4:56 pm

The Better World Books project was an idea that arose in March 2006 at the Phi Theta Kappa Carolinas Regional Convention in Clemmons, North Carolina. Mary Murphy spoke on the benefits of this wonderful program, and our chapter’s officers knew immediately that this would be a project that each and every one of us would want to participate in. Once permission was granted by our college campus’s administration, we advertised the event on campus with posters, flyers, and emails to both our chapter’s members and the college’s faculty. The College Bookstore, our on-campus textbook retailer, helped promote the event by instructing students to bring any unwanted textbooks or textbooks with no resale value to our office. We offered a book pickup to any faculty member that wished to collect books in their office from students, and we set up a donation box outside of the Phi Theta Kappa office in our Student Services building. We kept these services available not only throughout book buyback days, but all throughout each semester. Beginning in May 2006 and continuing on through today, our chapter has made this event a resounding success, collecting 81 cartons of books for Better World Books. We feel that it has been an incredibly successful event, due not only to the advertisement on campus, but the passion driving each participant. Everyone involved with this project did so out of the desire for keeping our local landfill free of textbooks, and by empowering the next generation through our literacy partner, Room To Read. We look forward to participating in this project for years to come.

Callasandra Michaels
Vice President of Records
Alpha Tau Rho chapter, Phi Theta Kappa
Coastal Carolina Community College

Have your say » | Tagged Impact, book drive, campus, Coastal Carolina Community College, Phi Theta Kappa

A Fantastic Book Drive by Beta Nu Chi

Posted by admin on 02.23.2007 at 10:17 am

(posted by Better World Books alum, Niko Tomlinson)

The fantastic Western Wisconsin Technical College Phi Theta Kappa chapter (Beta Nu Chi!) joined the Better World Books team to run a book drive in support of Room to Read in the Spring of 2006.  The drive went well and they collected 24 cartons of books.  But they had just begun.  By coordinating with other college bookstores in the La Crosse area, the group was able to nearly double their Spring 06 output in this Fall drive (the Fall semester is usually trumped by the Spring semester 2 to 1!), collecting an astounding 47 cartons!  BWB Fall semester drives ended last week on February 15^th and the group notified me they had collected an additional 26 cartons of books- a great start for the Spring semester!

Headed by advisor Linda Duffy, the amazing students of the Beta Nu Chi chapter are going to use their Fall scholarship check to help offset their traveling expenses to the April International Phi Theta Kappa convention; this year being held in Nashville, TN.

Great work Beta Nu Chi!

The Beta Nu Chi Chapter

Have your say » | Tagged Uncategorized, book drive, campus, niko, Phi Theta Kappa, Western Wisconsin Technical College

Awesome Book Drive by Waubonsee Community College Phi Theta Kappa

Posted by Yanna on 02.20.2007 at 9:55 am

Illinois ’ Waubonsee Community College Phi Theta Kappa lead an amazing book drive this fall collecting over 120 cartons of books to support Room to Read! Although their name may be difficult to say, it wasn’t difficult for them to achieve such a positive response from the student body. With exceptional leadership and hard work they have had another successful year leading a book drive at Waubonsee. Thanks to all the members of the Waubonsee Phi Theta Kappa and to all the people that made this book drive a success. Keep up the great work!

Here are some photos of this awesome group working hard for literacy…

From left to right is Bailey Standish, Tammy Caltagirone, Michelle Beltran and Mario Llamas.

From left to right is Jennifer Wesson and Bailey Standish.

Have your say » | Tagged Uncategorized, book drive, campus, Illinois, Phi Theta Kappa, Waubonsee Community College

Advertising Tip from Gloucester County College

Posted by admin on 11.10.2006 at 5:08 pm

This past weekend I attended the New Jersey Leadership Conference for Phi Theta Kappa hosted by Ocean County College . Every time I attend a Phi Theta Kappa conference I’m continually impressed by the student’s dedication to both academic excellence and service. Moreover, I enjoyed putting faces to names and I was so happy to meet the students I have corresponded with for the past few months. One face I was particularly eager to see was Lisa Charon of Gloucester County College . This past spring, Lisa and her chapter brought in the most qualifying books by their student population out of the participating Phi Theta Kappa chapters. Consequently, they were awarded with a free registration (about $250) for the International Conference in Nashville in April, 2007.

Lisa is incredibly passionate about literacy and after I spoke with the group she gave her own testimonial about the book drive! She shared that “working with Better World Books has been a rewarding experience.  Not only do we have the opportunity to witness the vast outpouring of generosity on our campus, but also to observe its far-reaching effects.”

Additionally, Lisa gave the group great advertising tips. Her chapter is holding a raffle in conjunction with the book drive. For every textbook a student donates they will give them a raffle ticket to be entered into a drawing for a prize to win a book store gift certificate. Out of the 660 dollars her chapter earned from last semester’s drive they are giving a 500 dollar scholarship to a deserving member and using the rest of the funds to purchase a bookstore gift certificate for their raffle. Not only will the raffle encourage more book donations, it will help to solidify their partnership with the bookstore!

Have your say » | Tagged Our Partners, Uncategorized, book drive, campus, conferences, Gloucester County College, New Jersey, Phi Theta Kappa

Bridge2Peace, Education in Sri Lanka

Posted by admin on 11.03.2006 at 4:19 pm

Recently, I had the pleasure to meet the founders of Bridge2Peace, a wonderful group of people that is working to establish quality education in Sri Lanka and around the world.

It was amazing to see what a few committed people have accomplished in the last two years, starting from scratch. They’ve established their first school, educating over 50 children in a country devastated by civil war, violence, and the tsunami disaster.

The Nevada-California region of Phi Theta Kappa has made Bridge2Peace’s mission their regional project. Many of the honors students plan to travel to Sri Lanka to teach during the summer, and several chapters are raising funds for the school’s daily operations. In support, Better World Books has pledged to donate 25 cents to Bridge2Peace, for every qualifying book received from Nev-Cal Phi Theta Kappa chapters. This will likely produce thousands of dollars in funding for the Sri Lanka school.

I’m proud to say that Better World Books can contribute to the success of this amazing project, started in response to the tsunami disaster of Dec 2004 by four passionate and inspired people.

Have your say » | Tagged Impact, Our Partners, Uncategorized, Bridge2Peace, Impact, Our Partners, Phi Theta Kappa