Walk it out with Books For Africa!

Students, faculty, staff and area residents are urged to participate in all or part of a three-day walk from UW-Stout to St. Paul April 26-28 to carry a university-donated book on the first part of its journey to Africa to help end the “book famine” there.

Books For Africa (BFA), a St. Paul-based nonprofit, is joining with the university’s Resource Center to promote awareness of BFA’s cause and raise money for shipping books to Africa.

The walk will be kicked off with a celebration April 26 outside the Resource Center. Walkers will then travel from Menomonie to south of Baldwin. The second day, they will walk to Hudson. And on April 28, they will walk to the BFA office in St. Paul. In all, the walk will cover 68 miles. Walkers are welcome to cover part or all of the distance. Each day will be divided into two, 12-mile segments. The last day will have two 10- mile segments.

“We are trying to call attention to the great need for books for African students, raise some money for the cause and, at the same time, honor the good folks at the UW-Stout Resource Center who have donated more than $500,000 worth of books to the BFA over the years,” said Tom Warth, the 77-year-old founder of BFA who will lead the walk. “We also hope the walkers will get some exercise and have fun.”  Last year, Warth led a walk across The Gambia in West Africa.

The first $10,000 raised will help pay for a shipment of books to the home district of a Stout alumnus from Nigeria, who showed great interest in the walk before returning to Africa.  Funds raised beyond that amount will support The Million Books for The Gambia project.

For more information on the walk:
Click here to see the event flyer.
Or e-mail: SchermannJ@uwstout.edu
or Tom Warth:  tew1@me.com