Peace Corps is one of the organizations with which International Book Project has had the longest relationship. International Book Project (IBP) was founded in 1966 and by the early 1970’s, Peace Corps Volunteers had begun requesting books. In 1992, IBP was recognized by the Peace Corps as one of its 20 Partners for Peace.
Listed as a source for books in Peace Corps materials, IBP continues to receive requests from Volunteers. Prior to COVID-19, in a typical year, about 20% of IBP’s small shipments went to Peace Corps Volunteers. Over the last 10 years, IBP has shipped about 67,000 books to Peace Corps Volunteers in 42 countries – via sea container, pallets, and small shipments.
We would like to see a return to these shipping levels by working with Peace Corps Volunteers who are in the process of returning to countries around the world. In 2018, International Book Project was able to ship 2 pallets (56 boxes) of books to Peace Corps Volunteers in Morocco. The shipment was sent to a village in a central location near Marrakech where the books were divided up, allowing each Peace Corps Volunteer to receive more than three times the number of books they could have each received in a small shipment.
We can provide books to one volunteer or bundle requests to the same country to get each Peace Corps Volunteer a greater number of books. If you are a Peace Corps Volunteer and would like to request books for the community you are serving, please click here.
In a 1972 International Book Project newsletter, a Kenya Volunteer described her school’s “undernourished, atrophied library” and her students who had “an incredible thirst for reading”. We regularly get letters like this and are here to serve partners like Peace Corps who are on the ground in places where their service can improve lives, starting with something as simple as a book.
Back row, left to right: Dan Sprague, Angene Wilson, Debra Schweitzer
Front row, left to right: Kristen Perry, Kay Roberts