Alys Culhane, the owner of Alaska’s increasingly famous book project, Bright Lights, has come up with another great idea for Bishop Gibbons.

Alys is collecting the books for English Teacher Trish White’s campaign to re-stock the books in the school library to meet the current needs and interests of the students in the school. Her group finds used and discarded books – sometimes in garbage and recycling stations – makes sure they are clean (most are pristine), and distributes them all over her state.

Her project has taken off; she’s just been awarded a grant. She is a hero to me.

She has plans to expand and is starting with us here in New York.

She has another great idea.

Alys has incredible energy and a flow of ideas. Her program is about getting books into the hands of young people who can’t afford them. Not everyone is poor at Bishop Gibbons, but many of the refugee students and some inner city students are.

Alys wants to help them. I love her idea, and I think Bishop Gibbons will jump at it. I also love how our work makes connections that go well beyond us. Alys is re-stocking the library.

A blog reader, Florence, is meeting with the science department today to see how she can help them get the necessary equipment and supplies. Look what we started (with Sue Silverstein’s help and guidance.)

We got this going with our art supplies wish list; the school’s hallways are stacked high with Amazon packages. Our support for this school – almost all of the refugees from Bishop Maginn are going there in September – has taken off.

Here is Alys’s new idea: