Viridian Energy Collects over 6,500 Books for Libraries in Africa
March 15 2012 - 9:50AM
Business Wire
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.