At Ripon College in Wisconsin they’re afraid of having to expand parking structures into their green space.  But rather than punish people who bring cars, their incentivizing the system: Any first-year who says they won’t bring their car for the year gets a free Trek mountain bike with helmet and lock, a $400 value(!)

A la the AP:

“Friends, trustees and alumni donated about $60,000 to buy 200 bicycles to give away to an expected 300 incoming freshmen, said Cody Pinkston, a spokesman for the school.

Historically, about 100 freshman arrive without cars, so accepting the bike will be a “no-brainer” for them, he said.

‘There is not a strong bicycle culture here with students. That is what we are trying to engender.’”

Sherry Lacenski, Textbooks Manager of the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay Phoenix Bookstore and long-time supporter of Better World Books and Books for Africa, has a daughter, Pita, doing incredible work in Tassobon , Niger through the Peace Corps.  Sherry has been able to get involved by helping Pita to raise money here in the US for a project to build two new water wells in the village in which Pita is serving.  Through the generosity of 65 donors, she was able to bring over the $7,000 needed to fully fund the fresh water wells. For more information visit the Tassobon Well Project.

Sherry’s next project is a book donation to support an entire school in the Dosso school district. Sherry is currently coordinating with a volunteer nearby to her daughter Pita in Niger named Jessy Wilt along with Books for Africa. More Information on Jessy’s project is available at http://www.booksforniger.org/

Sherry’s amazing commitment to literacy and supporting community development in Africa through continually running book drives during her store’s buyback at the end of each semester in support of Books for Africa and Better World Books is truly inspiring!

Tassobon School

Kids in Niger Classroom

Fall has hit full tilt here in Minnesota which made the trip to Breezy Point Resort in Pequot Lakes, MN for the Fall MinWiKota regional Phi Theta Kappa Conference that much more beautiful.

With 20 chapters from the region attending, I had a great audience, a number of whom had already participated in the great Spring semester drives. One of the all-star chapters, Century College in White Bear Lake, MN, worked with me to have their president, Nate Kruckeberg, talk about their fantastic Spring drive. To date, they’ve collected over 2,000 books!

I was presented with a beautiful Phi Theta Kappa pen after the presentation and got to speak with Brandi McNeil from Phi Theta Kappa Headquarters about the organization and our fantastic partnership. The presentation following mine was given by MinWiKota members on Operation: Green, showing Phi Theta Kappa’s continued great service work and ability to attack current issues like preserving the environment. One key part to the Operation: Green project is a planting of trees around the Minnesota-Wisconsin-Dakotas region; they even handed out saplings to everyone present (I’m going to plant mine in the yard of my first house). It reminded me of how well our organizations fit together: the environmental impact Better World Books has had by saving more than 5,000,000 pounds of paper from the landfills .

To cap off the day, MinWiKota members didn’t stop at signing up to run book drives with Better World Books this Fall: a challenge was made for a student to jump into nearby Pelican Lake for a $20 donation to be made to Books for Africa. The contributions topped $20 and soon enough, there was a soaking wet MinWiKota Phi Theta Kappa member (names are being withheld for the protection of one very cold, wet but dedicated member). It was great to learn more about Phi Theta Kappa and the work they’re doing with and without Better World Books!