Viridian Energy, a leading provider of affordable, green retail energy, recently lead a book drive to supply books to libraries in rural villages in Africa as part of their ‘7 Continents in 7 Years’ initiative, which undertakes a major sustainability project on each of the seven continents over a period of seven years. Viridian team members and their communities collected over 6,500 books which have been sent to various libraries in rural communities in Africa.

Year two of ‘7 Continents in 7 Years’ took the Viridian team to Ghana, where they installed solar panels on schools, health posts and a community library, thus providing sustainable energy to the Atiwa District, specifically in the villages of Asunafo, Abrenya and Wekpeti, in Ghana, West Africa.

In the process of planning the energy projects for the villages, Viridian discovered that the libraries they were supplying solar panels for had very few books. In order to make their contribution to these villages more robust, Viridian launched a book drive in January. What started out as a corporate initiative soon turned into grassroots outpouring of help and response from Viridian independent sales associates throughout New Jersey, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois and Maryland. Several independent sales associates created local team units that engaged their communities to collect books for this initiative. Viridian associates also brought books to Viridian’s Super Regional conference in Atlantic City, NJ on January 28. The results were astounding. Viridian sales associates with the help of their communities collected over 6,500 books from their local communities.

“When Viridian announced that in addition to installing solar panels and bringing sustainable energy to Ghana that we would be collecting books for the school children, I saw that as an opportunity to engage my community in Viridian’s core mission ‘Local Change, Global Impact’,” said Rick Camacho of Hawthorne, NJ whose Team Autobahn collected 5,099 books. “The response from the community was overwhelming! I never imagined that the so many members of the community would rally together for this cause.”

Thanks to the large book donation from Team Autobahn, and other Viridian Associates, Viridian decided to donate the extra books to other libraries in Africa. In addition to sponsoring the Asunafo Viridian Library in Ghana, Viridian will be sponsoring 3 primary school libraries in Botswana and two secondary school libraries in Swaziland.

To determine where the books were most needed, Viridian partnered with the African Library Project (ALP) who coordinates book drive efforts that supply books to libraries throughout Africa. In addition to coordinating book drive efforts, ALP provides training on how to maintain and operate sponsored libraries.

“Making a positive, sustainable impact on the environment and world was one of the main drivers for me when I founded Viridian Energy. When we learned that the libraries we were outfitting with solar panels did not have many books, we felt compelled to help children in these areas have access to books, and the book drive was born. The response from our Viridian team members and their communities was tremendous. It was inspiring to see the associates take charge and collect over 6,500 books for six libraries in Ghana, Botswana and Swaziland,” said Michael Fallquist, Viridian Founder and CEO. “We take the phrase ‘Local Change, Global Impact’ seriously, and this book drive is just another example of that. It was an honor to help these community libraries.”

In addition to supplying books to the libraries, during their trip to Ghana, Viridian associates lead training programs with the local librarians and taught them how to catalog the books and manage a check-out system. The books sent to Africa were individually inspected by Viridian to ensure they were of appropriate quality and about relevant topics, so each book added value to the community.

To learn more about Viridian Energy and its sustainability initiatives, including ‘7 Continents in 7 Years,’ please visit www.viridian.com.

About Viridian Energy

Viridian Energy is a socially-responsible retail energy supplier that provides natural gas and greener electricity at an affordable price. The company services commercial and residential electricity customers in Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania with energy derived from renewable sources. In all of its markets, Viridian offers consumers discounted electricity rates that comply with a higher renewable energy content standard. Located in Norwalk, Conn., Viridian was founded with the vision to empower its customers to make a significant collective impact through a relatively small individual choice simply by switching energy providers.