Sometimes an inspired idea is all you need to make a difference – just ask Mike Clarke ’11. He wanted to build a library in Ghana, and with help from his friends at Union, that’s exactly what he’s doing.
“It went from this little idea to a project everyone here wanted to help with,” Clarke said. “The response has been amazing.”
Last Friday, outside the Sigma Delta Tau sorority house, Clarke and a dozen other students filled a 10-foot-long U-Haul truck with 5,000 donated books. These books will stock the shelves of the library Clarke plans to construct, partly with donated funds, at the Redemption Hour Christian School outside Accra, Ghana.
“On top of the $1,600 we raised, deans Stephen Leavitt and Trish Williams contributed $1,500 to ship the books,” Clarke said. “I’m very grateful for this.”
The books will arrive in Ghana in July at about the same time Clarke and friends Patrick Petty ’11 and Kameron Simpson ’09 do. Together they will renovate the future library, where students will be able to use several computers Clarke intends to buy with a portion of the donated money.
“There’s been so much interest on campus that I’m working with faculty and administrators to turn this trip into a mini-term next year,” Clarke said. “I met with President Stephen Ainlay and he was a huge help. I’m really excited about what the future holds for this project.”
For more on Clarke’s efforts, click here.