Help me build a Library

Dear Friends and Family,
I write to all of you to humbly ask for a favor. About a month ago, I applied for a grant through the Peace Corps office in Washington D.C. to help turn an unused room in the computer center I work at into a library for my community. Currently, there is no kind of library in my small Dominican town of La Caya. Yes, the school has books, but there is no place that any member of the community (no matter how young or old) can freely read a book.

The Dominican Republic has the second to worst education system in all of Latin America (only Haiti ranks lower). People here know what a book is, but more often than not do not see how much they can benefit their lives. Help me to change this. Help me show my community-- from the four-year-old who is learning the alphabet, to the single mom who loves Spanish romance novels (but has to go into the big cities to get these books), to the 85-year-old woman who wants to read about religion-- that discovering this information through books is as easy as walking to our center.

The Peace Corps grant I applied for is for just over US $4000. My community is donating around US $1000, by fund-raising for 50 books, providing the space and labor to install shelves, paint the walls and transform the now barren room into a one-of-a-kind space for our community.

This project cannot start until ALL of the money has been raised. I know times are tight in America. I understand that donating to a library in the Dominican Republic may not be your first priority, but please help me to do one small thing to better the lives of the people of La Caya, Dominican Republic forever.

If you are interested, copy and paste this link:
https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.donors.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=517-356

-OR- go to www.peacecorps.gov, click on DONATE NOW, type my last name ELIOPULOS into the search bar (you may have to do this twice) and my library will come up.


Thank you so much, and seriously, I do live on an island- COME VISIT!

-Stacie