|
Oceanside High School senior Andrew Titley, like
most of his friends, spent the summer in the
hot, hot sun. Unlike most of his friends,
however, Titley was not tanning at the beach,
but rather trekking through the muddy back roads
of Thailand delivering books. The Thai Book
Drive was a project he conceived and realized
all by himself. Last month, the New York State
legislature even passed a resolution officially
commending Titley for his "kindhearted efforts."
Titley was inspired in August
2004 while visiting the Sisaket Province of
Isaan, Thailand, where his father married a
local. During a break in the Buddhist
ceremonies, Titley explored a local school in
the village of Nongwaeng and saw that the
students were using battered and outdated books
to learn English.
"I got a glimpse firsthand of
what their schools were like," Titley says. "The
conditions of the books, if they even had them,
were terrible."
On the long ride home he
devised a rough plan for the effort, through
which he's since collected more than 60,000
books.
"Andrew has a tremendous
sense of integrity. His perspective of life goes
far beyond the typical; it's one many kids his
age don't have," says Julia Nappi, student
activity coordinator and World History teacher
at Oceanside High School. Titley serves under
Nappi as student government president.
Thai students help load a
pickup truck with books to be
delivered to local schools.
With guidance from his newlywed parents, Titley
created a website and approached his high school
English department, then sent hundreds of
letters to Long Island high schools and
libraries. Books for International Goodwill
(BIG), an organization in Annapolis, Md., made a
massive "starter" donation.
After school let out this
past June, Titley set out for Thailand. He set
up shop for the book drive in a house in Ubon
Rachathani, a city near the schools he intended
to visit, three a day. He says students at each
school were overjoyed to receive him and the
books he brought—eight to 14 boxes per school.
"They were so interested in
everything English: computers, food, sports,"
says the unassuming teen. "They wanted to know
if I had a girlfriend, how tall I was and how
they could learn English."
Already, Titley has applied
for and received non-profit status. Another of
the drive's ambitious objectives is to install
donated computers in each of the 65 schools in
Sisaket Province and then train teachers how to
use them and provide free technical support,
maintenance and Internet access. Some day,
Titley hopes to extend his book drive to other
countries, such as Kenya and Somalia.
The shy 17-year-old can't say enough thanks to
everyone who has helped, but in his modesty he
forgets his money pitch. While shipping and
storage companies like Triways Logisitics and
CDS Companies donated services, the Titley
family spent some of their own money. With the
phenomenal growth of the effort, overhead is
becoming increasingly expensive.
Titley, currently applying to
colleges, asks Long Islanders to donate not only
schoolbooks and supplies but also computers and
printers. Because the project is being done on a
much bigger scale, he also asks for financial
donations and volunteers both here and in other
countries.
“I’m 17 years old,” says Titley, “and if I can
[make a difference] anyone can.”
For more, contact 516-528-0009 or visit
www.thaibookdrive.com
|
