THE LIBRARY PROJECT

A Letter From Thomas Stader

Photos
Take a few minutes to check out some photos from the book drive in Dalian, China.

Why Do Orphanages Need Books?
Books of all kinds play a critical role in all children’s development. Unfortunately, there are very few books beyond children’s school books found in most orphanages.

The Libraries
The first two orphanges that will benefit from The Library Project are in Dalian, China.

What Can You Do To Help?
Become a Donor or a Volunteer! Or help spread the word, by emailing this Newsletter to family and friends!

Hello [Firstname],

I am very pleased to report that The Library Project is off to a great start! I am going to try and keep this short, so I’ll get started.

Before I go into some of our recent successes, let me once again describe The Library Project. The Library Project builds quality libraries in small orphanages in Asia and beyond. Each library costs only $150 because we have partnered with local companies and organizations to offset most of the costs which includes bookshelves, seating, etc.

Over the past three weeks we have completed the first phase of our project, the book drive. This was no small task by any means, and it was a HUGE success!

The book drive took place over a two-week period at six Aston English Schools in Dalian, China. Aston Education is a local English language school with over 5,000 students. We were expecting to receive about 2,000 books from this book drive.

We were wrong.

We received over 3,500 children’s books, most of which were in the Chinese language. About 600 students participated in the book drive, most donating multiple books.

That is not all.

I am also very happy to report that the owner of Aston English School would like to expand the project to two more cities in China, possibly during the spring of 2007. More on this in the coming months as things become more defined.

Check out the photos below from last week’s successful book drive at Aston School. The book drive was located at the school’s Zhongshan location in Dalian, China. I would like to thank some of our volunteers who made the book drive so successful: Adam Godwin, Victor Sheng, Erika Hoganson, Victoria Steele, Tony Liu, Brenda Zhao, Qiu Yue, Cherry Cui, Connie Cong, Plum Li, and Sophia Gao.

Financially the project is doing better than I ever expected. So far we have raised a total of $500. Thus, in addition to fulfilling our goal of establishing two libraries in Dalian, China, we now have an additional $200 for a third location. That means we have $200 that will be going toward our future library projects. I would personally like to thank Jon Giuliani, the Glassmeyer family, the Brooks-Hill family, Barbara and Lou Bottitta, and my good friend Patrick Ditko for their generous support. Thank you!

Thanks to the success of the Library Project in Dalian, China, we will be continuing to raise money for future libraries to be built in the coming year. Please consider placing a small donation to help build a library and make a big change in an Asian orphanage.

Your help is greatly appreciated. Click here to place a small financial donation.

A donation of less than .50 cents per day can help provide a safe and accessible place for these orphaned children to learn and grow. Together, your financial donation and the generosity of local book drives can help reach this important goal for the future of Asia’s children.

Nomadic Marketing is a non-profit organization therefore your donation is 100% tax deductible.

Thank you in advance for your kind support of our efforts.

Sincerely,
Thomas Stader
The Library Project
Project Leader

Books of all kinds play a critical role in all children’s development. Unfortunately, there are very few books beyond children’s school books found in most orphanages. Regardless of any other factors and conditions, a lack of books is an issue in and of itself. Having additional books available helps to encourage independent learning, intellectual curiosity, and a lifelong passion for reading. Orphanage Head Masters often lack the expertise and resources to establish small libraries in their orphanages. In many cases, the only books that are available are not books that pertain to, interest, or are even written for children. Children’s books are a luxury to have in China, and are certainly a rarity in an orphanage.

The first Library Project will be built in a local orphanage in the outskirts of Dalian, China. This orphanage has a remarkable story well worth telling: Twenty years ago, the head master, Madam Jong, owned a very profitable restaurant with her husband. In 1985 the government bought the land that her restaurant was on for quite a bit of money. She was left with the decision to either purchase another restaurant or to do something different. She chose the latter.

Over the next 20 years she took in over 30 children and raised them as her own. She receives no money from the Chinese Government, and relies on the local community for donations. She also started a small factory recycling scrap metal to raise a consistent flow of cash for her humanitarian projects.

Two years ago I personally volunteered at this particular orphanage teaching English to a few children. What makes this orphanage different from many others that you’ll find is the overwhelming sense of family. Each child in the group, ranging from six months to 17 years old, calls each other brothers and sisters. Madam Jong happily takes on the position of Mother.

However, one of the necessary things that this amazingly nurturing orphanage is missing is books. It has about ten beaten up books on an old bookshelf, and that is the extent of the library. Nomadic Marketing’s Library Project’s goal is to get them five hundred children’s books, and a comfortable useful place to read them in.

The second Library Project orphanage is something altogether different from the first. This orphanage is more of a home for street children and functions as a halfway house for poor homeless children living on the streets in Dalian, China. The number of homeless orphans living there ranges from 10 to 30 children at a time. The function of this orphanage is to find a permanent place for the children to live - not to provide a place with a sense of family.

When I visited this orphanage, the children were not overly friendly. The newest child to arrive had a black eye from a fight the night before. The children are quiet, waiting, and guarded. Most have been through a continuing lifetime of hell.

This orphanage has promised that they will provide a small room to house the books. This will give The Library Project the opportunity to build a space for the children to relax, be comfortable and learn in. Posters will be on the walls, and tables, chairs and bookshelves filled with modern children’s books will be in this room.

But the most important thing that this room will represent to the children is a place to relax, learn, grow and feel secure in while they wait to be placed in a permanent orphanage.

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Donation What will your donation be used for? 150 Purchases one complete library in an orphanage 100 Purchases two wooden bookshelves 50 Purchases one wooden book shelf 25 Purchases one chair or table 10 Purchases one study mat

Funding Status
Nomadic Marketing has a fund raising goal of $ 300 for The Library Project. To date, we have 100% of that goal already realized. But more libraries are planned in the very near future! If you would like to make a donation, please contact Thomas Stader at Donor Support.

Total Project Cost: $ 300
Funding to date: $ 500
November Funding: $ 500

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Nomadic Marketing Website
www.nomadicmarketing.com

Contact Information
Below is a list of Nomadic Marketing's email addresses:

Thomas Stader
Project Leader
tom@nomadicmarketing.com

General Information
info@nomadicmarketing.com

Volunteer Information
volunteer@nomadicmarketing.com

Donor Information
donations@nomadicmarketing.com