Mobile Library Gets Books to Earthquake Areas

On September 21, Taiwan was rocked by a devastating earthquake that destroyed many of the libraries in disaster areas. To ensure that the children in these regions have books to read, the Council for Cultural Affairs (CCA), Min Sheng Pao, Tai Chi Tien Foundation for Culture and Education, VISA International, the Evergreen Group, and Youth Development Foundation (YDF) joined hands to organize a 'Mobile Library.' Some 40,000 books hit the road in mid-December when the campaign kicked off. In preparation for the program, the CCA went to earthquake areas to determine which school libraries had been destroyed and could thus benefit from the Mobile Library. The main sponsor of the program, the Min Sheng Pao, then drafted a plan for collecting books and getting them to students in need. Evergreen provided five modified shipping containers to serve as the mobile libraries, and the YDF drummed up volunteers. The program was funded by the Tai Chi Chien Foundation and VISA, which donated NT$2 million and NT$1 million, respectively. Many of the donated books came from local publishers.