Campus Service Organizations
Phi Theta Kappa
To say that our newest partner, Phi Theta Kappa International Honor Society of the Two-Year College, hit the ground running is an understatement. Since announcing our relationship in late April 2006 at Phi Theta Kappa’s International Convention, 192 chapters already have collected 90,000 books. Given what Phi Theta Kappa accomplished in five short months, all of us at Better World Books eagerly anticipate their encore.
Phi Theta Kappa has 1,200 chapters located in every US state, the US territories, the British Virgin Islands, Canada, Germany, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, and Palau. Each year, an estimated 200,000 students participate in Phi Theta Kappa programs, which focus on the Society’s four Hallmarks of Scholarship, Leadership, Service, and Fellowship.
Between September and November, Better World Books representatives will attend 23 Phi Theta Kappa state and regional conferences and conventions. We look forward to seeing you soon and we look forward to working with you! www.ptk.org
Golden Key International Honour Society
Signaling its international orientation by using the globally accepted spelling of “honour,†Golden Key has nearly 350 chapters at colleges and universities in Australia, Canada, Malaysia, New Zealand, South Africa, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States.
During Spring 2006, more than 90 Golden Key chapters throughout North America ran campus textbook drives with Better World Books, collecting upwards of 65,000 books for their designated non-profit literacy partners. This alone was cause for celebration when a team from Better World Books attended the Society’s August 2006 International Conference in Scottsdale. Another reason to celebrate was the Society’s recent approval of literacy as its primary service focus – music to the ears of everyone at Better World Books. www.goldenkey.org
Circle K
Part of the Kiwanis International organization, co-educational Circle K International clubs are dedicated to improving their schools and communities through service. Its 12,228 student members belong to 507 clubs in 15 nations throughout North and South America, the Caribbean, Southeast Asia and West Africa, collectively performing more than one million hours of service annually. Circle K club members at Texas A&M demonstrated the impact of service in action by running one of Better World Books’ most successful book drives, collecting 8,000 books during a single campus textbook drive.
Members of the Better World Books team enjoyed spending time with Circle K members from around the world at the organization’s recent International Convention, held in Boston in mid- August, 2006. Circle K’s service initiative, Focusing on the Future: Children, encourages its members to address the issues facing children ages six to 13 and to find solutions through service for addressing these issues. With more than 100 million primary school-aged children not attending school worldwide, illiteracy ranks high among those issues. www.circlek.org
Alpha Phi Omega
At its 366 US chapters, Alpha Phi Omega National Service Fraternity fulfills a purpose to develop leaders, promote friendship and provide service to humanity. Better World Books knows first-hand that this co-educational organization delivers on that purpose. Our Rocky Mountain Regional Director, Erin Riska, belonged to the Gamma Phi chapter at Western Michigan University and remains involved in Alpha Phi Omega as a Life Member.
Several dozen Alpha Phi Omega chapters have run Better World Book campus textbook drives in the years since we formed our partnership in 2004. Erin encourages brothers to contact her if they want to learn more about Better World Books from one of their own. If you’re coming to Louisville for the Alpha Phi Omega 26th National Convention, December 27-30, Erin and her Better World Books colleagues look forward to seeing you there! www.apo.org
FORGE
Started in 2003 by Stanford University student Kjerstin Erickson, FORGE, or Facilitating Opportunities for Refugee Growth and Empowerment, connects students in the developed and developing world by placing its student Ambassadors in refugee camps. FORGE Ambassadors are encouraged to create and implement their own community service micro-projects that will contribute to refugee education, livelihood, and well-being.
An official operating partner of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, FORGE established a 20,000-volume library at the Meheba Refugee Camp in Zambia – the largest facility of its kind in the world – in 2004, only one year after the organization’s founding. FORGE Ambassadors study at 22 universities throughout North America, running campus textbook drives for Better World Books at many of their schools. www.forgeprogram.org
