The Alpha Chi Nu chapter, from Southern Maine Community College, became well known to other chapters within the region through a great presentation by an international student from Malawi during this past spring’s Regional Convention.   Solomon Nkhalamba, Alpha Chi Nu Vice President of Service and All-State Academic Team member from the state of Maine for 2009, served as the spokesperson for Better World Books and explained to the chapters in attendance about how he led his chapter to work with the Better World Books program. 

As a small chapter, they were struggling with how to recruit enough active members after recently reactivating as a One-Star chapter.   They used the Better World Book Drive, collecting books for children in Africa, as a way to gain awareness on campus and as a fundraising tool for their chapter.  Taking the lead in the project, Solomon was the main contact to the Better World Books headquarters.   He ordered the drive’s collection boxes and researched and distributed the boxes to different locations on campus to get the most attention from students, faculty, and staff, as well asthe community.  Under Solomon’s leadership, the chapter was very successful in promoting the project to others and the drive was extremely successful.  Additionally, Solomon took on the responsibility of entering the book’s information into the Better World Books website to make sure that the books are eligible for the program.  This takes much patience and effort on the computer; however, Solomon understood it was a way to increase the amount of money the chapter would raise from this fundraiser.

During the 2008-2009 school year, Alpha Chi Nu submitted 117 books that were accepted by Better World Books, and raised $117 for the chapter.  The ineligible books were donated to Goodwill. This is a great project that Alpha Chi Nu will continue to participate in for the upcoming year.  More than that, the chapter wants to have a book sale with the books that are ineligible to be submitted to Better World Books and then donate the money to a local charity.

This project is fun, easy and very effective.  It is a good start for small chapter and can even be turned into a great project for the Honors in Action program.  If you have any questions about this, feel free to contact the Regional Officers so that we can direct you to the Better World Books representative in your area or put you in contact with the Alpha Chi Nu chapter for tips on making the project successful.  Thank you to Solomon and Alpha Chi Nu for their contribution!