This is a sampling of the books donated by Garrett Book Company. We appreciate their continued support.
Thanks to Coughlan
We are thrilled with the donation of over 4,000 new, hardback books from Coughlan Companies. It reminds me of the first lines of a song, ‘It’s raining, it’s pouring….’. We love it and are very grateful for their generosity! Pictured are samples of the books. Great books!
We appreciate Mackin
We are thankful for Mackin Educational Resources. They have supported Libraries of Love with hundreds of books each year. They provide a wonderful variety of hardback easy, fiction, and non-fiction books.
Apple Volunteers
Thanks to Whitney Dixon and Liz Titus who were first-time volunteers from Apple Computers. They helped us get close to finishing boxes for the 2019 shipment. We hope to see them again!
Thanks to Barnes & Noble
We thank the management at the Barnes & Noble store in Round Rock for choosing Libraries of Love as their seasonal charity this year. Also, thanks to all the volunteers who came on weekends to represent us and to all of you who donated books. We collected 883 books. There will be some smiles in Uganda!
12 Uganda Libraries Restocked – Summer 2018
Pictured are some of the hundreds of boxes of books that arrived in May in the 2018 shipment of 13,000 books to restock 12 libraries in Uganda and organize 1 new library.
Boxes were ready for schools to collect! Before leaving Texas, a school name is placed on each box, and it is marked as Easy, Fiction, or Non-Fiction. Each book shipped has a Dewey spine label, plus pocket and card for borrowing. Cheers for faithful volunteers in Texas and our many supporters.
These kids were happy to receive 500 new books for their library. It’s part of the continuing commitment Libraries of Love has with all of the schools that receive libraries.
Loved finding these kids with their class borrowing books at Buganda Road Primary. Another class was waiting to come in.
Library time at Bat Valley Primary. I enjoyed time with second and seventh grade classes.
We had a great time Skyping between Namirembe Primary in Uganda and Forest Creek Elementary in Texas. The kids loved it. Each group had prepared questions to ask. Smile and more smiles!
(June 2, 2018) – Much singing, dancing, laughter, new friendships and learning took place the last two days as our 40 Libraries of Love librarians met in Mbale. A special treat was having our Kenyan librarians join with our Ugandan librarians. We are a family. Great meeting!
(June 10, 2018) – Great time today at the launching of Cathy Kreutter’s two new books, ‘Amina’s Choice’ and ‘The Rock and Roll Rolex.’ (A rolex is like our breakfast taco. ) Two of Cathy’s books, ‘Nitendo’s Wish’ and ‘I Know a Mzee (old man) Who Swallowed a Fly’ are on our Libraries of Love Amazon Wish List. Cathy has lived in Uganda 30 years. Her books have many words in the children’s native language, as well as pictures with Ugandan settings. Great books!
Great team work resulting in a beautiful library. Namatala Laurel Library was our second library, established in 2006. Libraries of Love restocks each library at least every three years.
(July 7, 2018) – We had an awesome Libraries of Love HM / principals’ meeting. Principals learned how to use the libraries to their fullest potential. Two groups that won our high school reading competition presented. One presented Romeo and Juliet. The other group shared a travel brochure they created about Kenya. Two were dressed as Maasai. Some of our librarians presented good / bad librarians skit. Great day. Very worthwhile!
Oklahoma Scout collects 550 books for Eagle project
Rigel Wafford, 15, of Boy Scout Troop 89 in Edmond, Oklahoma, completed his Eagle Scout Service Project by organizing the collection of 550 books for Libraries of Love. The books included elementary, middle school, and high school reading levels. Rigel led a team of 10 Scouts who provided 300 plastic bags to neighborhood families so they could donate books easily. The Scouts then collected the donated books. They also visited garage sales to find books.
They met at a neighborhood park to sort and box the books for delivery to Libraries of Love. Rigel learned about Libraries of Love from a family friend who is a volunteer board member. He decided collecting books to donate would be an excellent service project. He submitted his proposal for the service project, and it was approved by his local BSA council.
Successful completion of the service project will be used in the final review of Rigel’s qualifications for the Eagle Scout rank.
According to the Eagle Service Project Workbook:
“… One of the rank requirements is to plan, develop, and give leadership to others in a service project helpful to any religious institution, school, or community. Through this requirement, Scouts practice what they have learned and gain valuable project management and leadership experience.”
Asked what he learned during the project, Rigel answered, “Leadership is all about cooperation and communication – and not horsing around a lot.”
Thanks, Rigel, for your leadership and community service.
Dell Volunteers
Sept. 12, 2025 – Today we had Dell workers from 3 different groups. They surpassed our goal of 20 boxes and completed 26 boxes. From TSB Finance we had Faith D., Chi N. and Payne O. From Custom Services were Randy M., Mark D. and Baldemar H. From SCE GPP were Shyrla Z., Lenir D.,Janeth and Nisha. Many thanks to everyone for helping us get so much accomplished. Teamwork!
Sept. 5, 2025 – We had a new group of Dell volunteers from Global Materials today. Members of the group, left to right, were Mackenzie Nichols, Jamie Hildreth, Arnav Nair, Andres Garcia, Adrian Ramos, Cheryl Stewart and organizer Ervina Lee. We hope they will return again!
June 13, 2025 – We thank Randy Maynard for always volunteering his Dell team. They are all repeat volunteers so they accomplish a lot. This week they finished 19 boxes! Pictured left to right are Shawn Dooms , Misrand Sepulveda, Mary Kelly-Dillon, Randy Maynard, Amanda Zapata, Mark Deremer, Christina Rattanvong, and Sabra Louton. Not pictured was Baldemar Hernandez who also helped.
June 6, 2025 – We appreciate Felicia White, who brought her Dell volunteers from GDO – Outlet. They completed 18 boxes for us. They are one of our most experienced groups and have bern coming out to help us for many years. We are always happy to see them! Front row: Felicia and Gloria. Back row, left to right: Mario, Karani, Scott , Jim and Jose.
May 30, 2025 – A group from Dell’s Corporate Development volunteered today. Thanks to Cameron for bringing his group out. They completed 14 boxes. Many thanks to (from left) Theresa Dorwart, Brian Clapp, Thomas Brandvold, Kristen Dolbeare. Mike Palmer and Cameron Cieslik. Your are welcome anytime!
April 4, 2025 – A great group of Dell volunteers completed 16 boxes for us. Left to right in the photo are Caleb, Faith, Chi, Napur and Payne. Big thanks to Faith for organizing the session with her group!
December 6, 2024 – A big group from the Dell Outlet Team helped us finish up the last boxes of our 2025 shipment. Led by Felicia White. they completed all 19 boxes we had ready to ship. We are so grateful for their help. Over 14,000 books will soon be shipped. Thanks to ALL our Dell volunteers for their help this past year. We value your help so much!
November 15, 2024 – Dell Technology Services Parts volunteers came today. This enthusiastic group completed 11 boxes. Pictured are Angelie, Erica, Jasper, Lauren, Bridget and Ray. We hope to see them again!
November 1, 2024 – Three Dell volunteers joined Jim and Ellen Matthews complete 12 boxes. Thanks to Faith Dreibrodt for organizing her group. We love their dedication and hard work and for being a group we can always count on. Left to right are Payne On, Faith Dreibrodt and first time volunteer Nupur Sampat.
September 20, 2024 – A Dell group from Client Product Marketing volunteered today. Thanks to Fred, Chad, Lauren, Kristi and Mona for their great work completing 13 boxes. We appreciate you!
September 13, 2024 – Thanks again to Shyrla Zapata for bringing her Dell group from GPP DAO to help us process books. Another 15 boxes are headed to storage ready to be shipped. Pictured are Michael, Amanda, Shyrla, Lenir, Will, Ria and Rafael.
July 19, 2024 – Thanks to the group of 12 volunteers from the Dell Outlet Team. What a great group of workers! Led by Felicia White, they completed 26 boxes. Left to right are Karani. Mario, Jim, Jose, Tibor, Chirag, Theresa, Felicia, Scott, Gloria, Stefano and Evan.
July 12, 2024 – Thanks to Faith Dreibrodt for bringing her Dell group to prepare books. They completed 14 boxes. As always we are so appreciative of our Dell volunteers who keep returning to help us! Left to right in the photo: Payne Ou, Yuvaan Ibounez, Faith Dreibrodt, Chi Ngo and Kristy Harris Bias.
June 7, 2024 – Thanks to Dell Global Takeback for coming out on short notice and finishing 15 boxes for us. We appreciate the help so much. Pictured are Chris Villaneuva, John Huntley, Aurora Knight, Robbie Curtis, Jennifer Lee, Blanche Griffin, Kensley Williams and Olivia Villaneuva.
May 17, 2024 – We had a dedicated group of 4 Dell volunteers that completed 16 boxes for us today. All were returning workers and we certainly appreciate their help over the years. Many thanks go to Maggie, Shyrla, Amanda and Lauren for their hard work.
April 26, 2024 – Many thanks to Randy Maynard for bringing his wonderful workers again. They completed 16 boxes for us. Pictured in the front row are Sabra Vasquez, Mary Kelly-Dillon, Baldamar Hernandez and Rick Sanchez. The back row is Mark Deremer. Deb Holman, Randy Maynard , and Danny Gonzales.
April 12, 2024 – Today we had our first Dell group of the year preparing books for the 2025 shipment. Many thanks to Lauren Franchione for getting her group together from Dell CSG FMM and getting us started with 11 boxes. Pictured are Lauren, James Cochran and Matt Teeter.
Nov. 11, 2023 – This group from Dell’s Global Sales Transformation & Operations completed 12 boxes. We were so grateful for their help in almost finishing this years boxes. Three of the four were new volunteers. We would love to see them again next year! Pictured, left to right, are Hilda Acevedo, Nicole Whitmire, Leslie Fleischmann and Pete Alcoser.
Sep 22, 2023 – Thanks to the group of all new volunteers today from the Dell Global Materials Team. What a good group they were – completing 16 boxes. Thanks to Emma for arranging it. We hope to see them again! Left to right are Abraham, Victor, Dimitar, Johanny, Rafael, Jamie, Stephanie, Andressa and Emma.
Aug. 18, 2023 – Shyrla Zapata brought six co-workers from several Dell groups to volunteer today. Pictured, left to right, are Ria Gupta, Maggie Gutierrez, Shena Vyas, Vallarie Edwards, Shyrla Zapata, Shawn Dooms and Harmonie Estrada.
Aug. 8, 2023 – Dell group GECS was back helping us again. There were 6 volunteers from Dell along with 2 daughters of one of the volunteers. It was a wonderful group of workers that completed 19 boxes! Pictured are Roman, Linda, Lupe, Michele, Ken, Sophia, Teresa and Mike.
May 19, 2023 – What a great group of Dell volunteers from CFS2T Services. Despite problems with our printer, they kept at it with smiles on their faces and completed all 21 boxes we needed processed. Special thanks to Randy Maynard for bringing his group out today. Pictured standing are Baldemar, Sabra, Christina, Julian, Mary, Randy, Harmonie and Mark. Seated are Amber and Shawn.
April 14, 2023 – Today’s Dell group of 8 volunteers processed 20 boxes for us. Thank you DELL-GECS for all your hard work! Pictured, left to right, are Rari, Linda, Stacey, Roman, Lupe, Maria, Michelle and Chris.
March 23, 2023 – Chris Kleiman’s team from Dell volunteered today. This group of 7 completed all 17 of the boxes that we had to work on. The hard working team is pictured, left to right, Jo Scribner, Mita Patel, Ksenia Erig, Bryan Goodwin, Rez Dzneladze, Wallace Ferguson and Bert Hays.
March 3, 2023 – Many thanks to the TSB Finance group at Dell who completed 15 boxes for us today. What a great group of workers! Left to right are Payne, Faith, Kristy, Chi, Landon and Will.
February 17, 2023 – Two Dell groups volunteered today, completing 15 boxes. Volunteers were from two different groups at Dell: AGPP and GCP. Left to right are Val, Shyrla, Amanda, Sam and Janeth.
September 23, 2022 – This new Dell group from Telecom Finance did a great job processing books for us, completing 15 boxes. Thank you once again to Dell and to Faith for organizing the event. Pictured, left to right, are Kristy Bias, Chi Ngo, Payne Ou, Faith Dreibrodt, and Landon Vanadore.
August 12, 2022 – We were grateful for the Dell volunteer group from EUC 2T Delivery for their hard work today. They completed 13 boxes for us. Thanks to Randy for organizing this session. Pictured, left to right, are Christina R., Shawn D., Danny G., Randy M., Deb H. and Sabra L.
July 29, 2022 – The Dell volunteer group on Friday finished all 13 of the boxes we had to work on. It was wonderful to see so many familiar faces from pre-pandemic times. Thank you Dell volunteers for once again helping us out. Pictured back row, left to right, are Maggie, Val, Amanda, Alisa and Patricia. Seated are Shyrla and Wendy.
July 22, 2022 – So wonderful to have this group from Dell preparing books today. They typed labels to put on the pockets and cards that go inside the books, so students can borrow. They finished 17 boxes with approximately 50 books in a box! Way to go Dell volunteers! Pictured, left to righ, are Michael Shroyer, Payton Shroyer, Melissa Jandreski, India Appeleton, Cris Villaneuva, Olivia Villaneuva, Jennifer Lee, and Robbie Curtis.
July 15, 2022 – We are back in business! We had 4 volunteers today – 3 from Dell and a high school student who was the son of one of the workers. We appreciate volunteers Uri, Adam, Reda and Jacquelyn.
Dell volunteers on May 13, 2022
Because of the pandemic, today we had our first Dell group in 28 months. We are so happy to have their help again. Led by Felicia White they completed 12 boxes for us. Volunteering were Felicia, Patrick, Jim, Mario, Kyle, and Scott.
On Jan. 10, 2020, this group of Dell volunteers finished the last 14 boxes for the 2020 shipment. Thanks to all the Dell groups who have so faithfully helped us this year and each year. Their work is invaluable to us. Pictured, left to right, are Alex, Julia, Pei-Ling, Missy, Sasi, Chris, Sherry, and Naveen.
On Dec. 13, we hosted our final group of Dell volunteers for 2019. Thanks to the volunteers from SDS Finance who completed 15 boxes of books. We really appreciate their help at this busy time of year. Pictured, left to right, are Blake, Nadia, Jo, Dillon, and Uri.
On Nov. 15, we welcomed a new group from Dell P &O Talent Program Mgmt. They completed 13 boxes for us. We are happy to have them join our growing list of Dell volunteers. Pictured left to right are Camila Beltran, Leah Spence, Andress Stanley, Michelle Gonzalez, Pam Osborne, and Lauren Turner
On Nov. 1, these 6 Dell volunteers finished 17 boxes for the 2020 shipment. This is a faithful group of volunteers who work in different business units at Dell. They are so dedicated to Libraries of Love, and we can aways depend on them. Left to right are Cindy, Byron, Shyrla, Amanda, Thang, and Wendy.
A big thanks to Dell RR CCO team for their work on October 18th. They completed 14 boxes. Volunteers, from left, are Rocco Pape, Kristen O’Neal, Ruth Veliz, and Lana Acola. We appreciate their continued support!
On October 4, Team Diaz from Dell returned for another very productive afternoon completing 17 boxes for us. We are grateful for their enthusiastic help! Pictured left to right are Scott, Tony, Julie, Monica, Caitlin, Lisa, Christina, Janna, Darald, and Earl.
On September 27, Dell volunteers from ESI Services completed 13 boxes for our 2020 shipment. We appreciate the group for their hard work. Pictured are, from left, Cyun Gan, Sarah Olow, Stephen Cockrell, Edna Moscheo, Sandra Robinson, and Benoy James.
On August 23, three volunteers from Dell Services End User Computing came to help us prepare books for the 2020 shipment. Thanks to Cathy Bradley, Laura McGovern, and Betty Harris for their wonderful help.
On July 12, this group of volunteers prepared spine labels for books. We appreciate their help. The group was led by Chad Rode. Pictured, left to right, are Shawn Salisbury, Emma Anderson, Yin He, Cale Hawkins, Rhonda Fariss and Chad Rode.
On June 14, this hardworking DFS group from Dell completed 18 boxes. Left to right are Nadia, Kaitlin,Scott, Vickie and Alyssa. We appreciate our Dell volunteers so much. Thank you!
On June 7, The Dell/ EMC AGPP group once again volunteered, completing all 20 boxes we had ready. Thanks to Sean, Jamie, Kelly, Thang, Valerie, Shyrla, Amanda, Cindy, Wendy, and Patricia for being such dependable volunteers. We couldn’t do it without you.
On May 17, these 9 volunteers from Dell Technologies Services Finance, led by Jo Scribner, completed 19 boxes. Thanks to this great group for their hard work. Pictured from left to right are Reda Herbzi, Charles Yeager, Jim Pizzitola, Anthony Barrett, Uri Neiman, Jo Scribner, Campbell Ross, Joey Lazarus, and Aditya Bhattacharya.
On May 3, these 4 volunteers from Dell’s GOFX group completed 12 more boxes for our 2020 shipment. We appreciate your hard work. Pictured are Vijay Raj Yarijarla, Naz Shai, Shawna Blake, and Dave Considine.
On April 26, this Dell GSP group completed 20 boxes, putting us well on our way for the 2020 shipment. Pictured are front: Lance Saunders; middle: BinBin Meng, Julia Hamilton, Bridget Montemayor, Kris D’Amico, Maribel Cisneros, and Michelle Johnson; back: Tom Maher and Travis Flunder. Many thanks to this group of Dell volunteers.
On March 29, Dell’s Team Diaz volunteered. They processed 21 boxes to get us started for the 2020 shipment. Pictured are Monica, Scott, George, Chelsea, Christina, Yvonne, Lisa, Julie, Gracie, Danny, and Janna. We are so appreciative of their hard work and enthusiasm.
On January 25, our faithful volunteers from Dell GPP completed 19 boxes, helping us get very close to finishing the shipment for 2019. Pictured, standing in front of all those completed boxes, are Shyrla, Isela, Wendy, Natasha, Jamie and Patricia. We appreciate their dedication so much.
On January 11, these Dell volunteers completed 13 boxes. Thanks to Edna Moscheo for organizing this great group of volunteers. Pictured left to right are Cyun Gan, Edna Moscheo, Sarah Olow, Sandra Robinson and Cliff Jamison.
Pictured are CCO group volunteers Rocco, Kristen, Lana and Luisa.
Pictured are GPP group volunteers Shyrla, Thang, Diana and Amanda.
On December 14, two groups of Dell volunteers worked together to complete 23 boxes, a tremendous help which we appreciate. Thanks to Dell CCO and GPP groups for their hard work.
On December 7, six workers from Dell’s IT Global Ops completed 14 boxes. Organized by Vijay Raj, he brought 5 new volunteers. We appreciated their help so much! Left to right are Arman, Manish, Vijay Raj, Dave, Naz, and Shawna.
On October 26, a dedicated group of volunteers from Dell’s Americas GPP team prepared books for checking out. The 12 volunteers from left to right are Diana, Grant, Pooja, Tahmira, Wendy, Thang, Sean, Shyrla, Amanda, and Patricia. Not pictured were Kay and Maggie. They completed 20 boxes for us!
On October 12, this Dell group organized by Christopher Dykes prepared 9 boxes of books. We were happy to welcome the 3 new volunteers he brought with him. Pictured left to right are Roberto Saeki, Christopher Dykes, Pei-Ling Hua, and Michael Nguyen. Thanks for your support.
On September 28, we welcomed a new group of Dell volunteers from Networking SPMs/Commodities. They completed 14 boxes. We appreciate their service and hope they will return again. Pictured are Tim, Christina, Gerardo, Rindy, Tyson, James, and Brian.
On September 14, the Global Production Planning (GPP) group of 6 completed 14 boxes. From left to right are Arun, Janeth, Amanda, Shyrla, Jamie and Alex. Thanks for your support. We appreciate your volunteerism.
May 18, we had a great group of 12 Dell volunteers from Global Production Planning complete all 23 boxes that we had ready to process. We were delighted to welcome some new volunteers as well as many faithful workers, all led by Shyrla Zapata.
April 27, a group of 9 wonderful volunteers from Dell GCSO led by Bridget Montemayor completed the first 19 boxes for our 2019 shipment. Thanks for all your hard work!
On February 2, Dell volunteers from America’s GPP group led by Shyrla Zapata completed the final 27 boxes for our 2018 shipment. They love to volunteer for us, and we are always so grateful for their help. Shipment to Uganda is tentatively scheduled for the week February 19.
Thanks to the 4 volunteers from the Dell IMO group led by Jo Scribner who worked with us on January 19. We are grateful for their help in completing 15 boxes. As always, we are so appreciative of our faithful Dell volunteers.
Maasai land, Ngong Hills, Kenya – Summer 2017
In 2017, seven libraries were supplied for schools in Maasai land, Ngong Hills, Kenya. Each school is remote, at least 1 1/2 hours from a main road. The schools are not located in towns. They are located in what is referred to in Africa as the “bush.” Through the books, the world will open to these students. In the non-fiction they will see people from around the world of different cultures. Many of the non-fiction books correlates with the students’ curriculum, but with beautiful pictures and interesting text.
The primary schools received easy picture books, novels, and non-fiction books. Secondary schools received novels, non-fiction, and reference books. The number of books needed was formulated by tripling the student population at each school. We provided 4 primary libraries and 3 secondary. The schools receiving books:
- Najile Boys Secondary
- 400 students – 1,207 books
- Ewauso Girls Secondary
- 300 students – 897 books
- Olasiti Secondary
- 420 students – 1,155 books
- Ewuaso Primary
- 1008 students – 2,702 books
- Najile Primary
- 400 students – 1,797 books
- Seneto Primary
- 810 students – 2,397 books
- Kipeto Primary
- 400 students – 1,711 books
Executive Director Trudy Marshall met with all the librarians and principals for training while she was in Kenya. Education officials came to meet with Trudy to offer their thanks for the work of Libraries of Love. In 2018, Libraries of Love is hoping to bring the Kenyan librarians to the two-day training session that is held annually for Ugandan librarians.
Class in the library showing off their new books.
Thanks to a special Amazon purchase program created for Libraries of Love by volunteers Jim and Ellen Matthews, each school received 52 African themed books.
There aren’t words to describe the expressions on students’ faces when they first see their library and are given books to read. They totally forget we are there. Love watching their excitement.
Amazing day with the team in the Masa Mara in Kenya. We arrived just in time to see part of the great migration of wildebeest swimming the Mara River from Tanzania into Kenya looking for grass.
Walk to Read Fundraisers
2019 LME Walk to Read
Laurel Mountain Elementary, holds ‘Walk to Read’ each year, representing kids who walk to school, then are given time to read our books. The students spend two weeks learning about Uganda and Kenya. Then they bring books to donate to Libraries of Love. This school community has been a huge blessing as they have supported our libraries for all 14 years. Our Director, Trudy Marshall, was librarian at LME for 10 years. We appreciate Jan Richards, principal, for her trust in our work. This year they donated 1,700 books, plus funding. Amazing!
Here are some photos of this year’s preparation, walk and book donations.
2018 LME Walk to Read
Libraries of Love is very thankful for Laurel Mountain Elementary in Round Rock for their continued support. LME partnered with Libraries of Love to provide our first library, and their support has continued. In 2018, they collected 853 books, plus funding.
The students annually take part in a program called, “Walk to Read.” Students bring books to donate to the libraries in Uganda / Kenya. As a school, the students and staff walk around the track and then sit down and read together, before donating. The Libraries of Love team is grateful for the donation of books and funding that has happened each year since our beginning. We appreciate, Mike Burkett, a travel volunteer last year, for sharing with the students.
Many thanks to Forest Creek Elementary for a donation of 1,266 books and funding. Led by the 4th grade, students at Forest Creek have been learning about children’s lives in Uganda and Kenya. The students made wonderful video clips to show on the morning broadcast. On January 20, they all brought books to donate, walked around the track signifying the long walks to school in Africa, then sat and read together. Thanks to teacher Pam Bartholomew for organizing.
Grisham students donate books
Thank you, Grisham Middle School International Baccalaureate (IB) Programme students for displaying the IB Learner Profile Trait of CARING! Your book drive resulted in more than 600 books donated to Libraries of Love.
Read more about the donation on the school website.
Libraries of Love Africa 
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