Beta Club collected books from the first part of October for children at Tapakuma Lake Primary School, a rural school with about 100 students, in Guyana, South America.

“My daughter is a part of the Peace Corps mission in South America, and she is working on improving the school’s science program,“ Beta Club Sponsor Tammy Liehr said. “While she was there, she noticed that the students had low reading levels and scores which made her decide to start a tutor program for the kids. Once she started the program she contacted me to see if Beta Club would collect books to give to the students.”

Liehr’s daughter, Kasey Liehr, graduated from SHS in 2014. 

”Kasey is working on getting a grant so she can ship the books out to Guyana, but it will cost around $1,200,“ Liehr said. “The books will be put in watertight barrels and put on a boat to be shipped out, and then once they arrive, they will be taken by truck to the school.”

The new or gently used books were also collected at Hudson Middle School.

“We collected about 300 books from our school and Hudson also started collecting books, and they got close to 1,000 books making about 1,300 books in total,“ Liehr said.

According to the Peace Corps website, its mission is to promote world peace and friendship. It was established by President John F. Kennedy in 1961 as a way for young people to “serve their country and the cause of peace by living and working in the developing world.”