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http:// --> Ashland, Oregon HOME Valley & State Sports Nation & World Opinion/Editorial Classifieds Business Columnists Local Issues Obituaries Weather Archive Revels Etcetera Backpage Hot Topics Most Viewed Forum Photo Galleries Video Readers Polls O-Zone Online Games Movie Preview Special Sections Real Estate Guide Menu Guide Shakespeare Subscribe Contact Us Rate Card Place an Ad Featured Galleries: April 21, 2007 AHS grad helps kids in Africa Submitted Ashland High School graduate Ryanna Koppel plays with a child in Limuru, Kenya. Koppel is volunteering for Global Volunteer Network and asks Ashland residents to donate books to help the community she�s working with. Ryanna Koppel, older sister of Ashland High School student Lauren Koppel, and 2006 graduate of Ashland High School, is currently in Kenya with the Global Volunteer Network. She is working at the New Hope Orphanage in Limuru, and teaches at the Gituamba Primary School nearby. The government in Kenya provides about 5 dollars per child per year for education at the school. There are 500 students there, grades 1-8, and 90 of them are orphans, according to Lauren Koppel. "The school is a bare cement building with a tin roof, and no electricity," Koppel said. "Among other things, the children have no books. Ryanna and the other teachers there want to start a library." Koppel is collecting books, for children 1st through the 8th grade, in English. Picture books, science books, outdated encyclopedias and dictionaries, posters, and maps. Old home-schooling text books or teachers guides are also welcome. The idea is to recycle old books one might have otherwise thrown away, but new books are acceptable too. Transporting these books to Kenya is also a challenge, according to Koppel, who is active in theater at the high school, as was her sister. "AHS Theatre will always be indebted to Ryanna, one of our amazing stage managers for four years," AHS theater arts advisor Betsy Bishop said. "The thespians will collect with Lauren and pledge some monies from fundraisers to the effort." Books can be sent to Ashland HS Theatre, 201 S. Mountain Avenue, Ashland, OR 97520. For information call 482-8771 ext. 260. Current Comments: I would like to add that Lukey Koppel's sixth class donated 5 huge boxes of books! Thanks go to Bonnie McCracken and the Ashland Middle School. Postage costs about $1.00 per pound at the "M Bag Book Rate". US postal stamps can be donated as well. Thank you to all who have been working on this project. Gituamba Primary School thanks you! Michelle Koppel - Talent Oregon - April 22nd, 11:14 AM Leave a Comment: Advertisement: Advertisement: Paid Advertising: Debt Help Inkjet Printers Payday Loans Free Ringtones Debt Consolidation Security Systems Debt Relief New Hampshire Primary Advertisement: Copyright © 2007 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers. All Rights Reserved. Del.icio.us