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May 23, 2006
ANDOVER —The Sabre Foundation, a nonprofit humanitarian aid organization that distributes nearly a million new books each year to libraries, schools and organizations in developing countries, held a ceremony at its Lawrence, Massachusetts-based warehouse on Wednesday afternoon, May 17, to recognize the help that Phillips Academy student volunteers have provided to the organization.
During the past year, one hundred students working through PA’s community service program spent more than 240 man hours at the warehouse sorting and organizing more than 21,000 books. They also helped prepare 20 pallets of books that were shipped to Nigeria.
Leslie Marsh, program development officer for Sabre, explained that the books typically come to the warehouse in huge cardboard boxes containing a random collection of books. A big part of the students’ job, he said, is to organize those books by title and subject so that Sabre can ensure it is sending out books that meet a specific need.
“We were thrilled to have the Phillips Academy students here this year helping us out,” he said. “We normally have just four warehouse workers, so having the students here made a big difference in what we were able to accomplish. The kids worked so well and were so well disciplined that Sabre’s warehouse supervisor, Bill Hantzis, couldn’t say enough good things about them.”
During the short thank-you ceremony, Sabre presented Head of School Barbara Chase with a glass paperweight inscribed with a quote from Cicero that read, “A room without books is like a body without a soul.” Sabre also presented the five student representatives who attended the ceremony with a box of Sabre Foundation t-shirts, which they will distribute to the other Sabre student volunteers. The five students attending the ceremony were Nick Cohn, Harrison Greer, Jerry Chao, Constantin Calavrezos, and Felicity Bloom. All are seniors.
Chad Green, director of the PA community service program, said this is the first year the school has worked with the Sabre Foundation but called it an excellent addition to the community service program. “It’s a great organization for us to work with because they can accommodate a lot kids and give them all something to do that is meaningful work. Plus, the work is indoors, so it’s a nice environment. And if more kids show up some days than other days, it doesn’t really matter. The work is always there waiting for however many people are there to do it.”
Andover Head of School Barbara Landis Chase praised the work that Sabre does and expressed her delight that Andover students have been able to help out. “Promoting a sense of volunteerism among our students is an important part of our mission at Andover,” she said.
Besides Marsh, among those attending the ceremony from the Sabre Foundation were Tania Vitvitsky, executive director; Colin McCullough, book donation program manager; John Hantzis, assistant warehouse supervisor; and John Archibald ’60, director of Sabre and a Phillips Academy alumnus.
The Sabre Foundation currently sends books to 25 different countries and, unlike some book donation programs, is very careful to send only those books that are requested by the recipient. “We don’t engage in book dumping,” explained Archibald. “We actually accept only about ten percent of the books that are offered to us. We’re selective in what we send out. And all the books we send out are new. We don’t take any used books.”
Although Sabre currently sends out nearly a million books a year, Archibald says he would love to double that number. The obstacle to that goal, he said, is raising enough money to pay shipment costs, which represent a small fraction of the value of the books that are shipped. Those interested in making donations to the Sabre Foundation can find more information about the organization at www.sabre.org. |
