by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
“What you did changed an entire country.”
Those were the words of Jena Berenberg, who was a guest of the Rotary Club of Jacksonville Monday to deliver a report about the club’s “Books for Belize” project.
The idea was born over lunch and a discussion between club Past President Carl Cannon and Danny Berenberg, Jena’s father. He told Cannon about his daughter, who lived in Belize and had a part-time job at a school that had no library and limited resources.
Cannon learned that Berenberg had purchased some books and shipped them to his daughter, which led Cannon to consider increasing the scope of the effort.
“I thought it sounded like something Rotary could get involved with,” he said. “We didn’t know how many books we could get or how we could get them to Belize.”
Cannon enlisted the help of George Gabel, who chairs the club’s International Committee, then more members joined the cause, including past president and logistics company owner Tommy Grimes, retired Adm. Jon Howe, Jacksonville Public Library Director Barbara Gubbin and others.
What began with a shipment of a few cartons of books culminated last November when two landing craft from the U.S. Navy’s amphibious assault ship USS Wasp docked in Belize to deliver a shipment of more than 70,000 books.
“We had a number of stops and starts, but in the end we were successful with the project,” said Cannon.
Belize port officials provided the labor to unload the cargo and the country waived the usual import taxes and customs fees. Personnel from the Belize Defense Force delivered the books to a warehouse, where they were sorted into categories and subject matter. Then school principals and faculty members from around the country were invited to select the books they wanted to take back to their students.
“One teacher told us she had never had the opportunity to choose from so many books to take back to her school,” said Jena Berenberg.
In addition to the Rotarians who collected books, several local schools got involved, including Jacksonville Country Day School, which donated enough textbooks and teachers’ guides for students in three grade levels at one school.
“Books were coming in by the thousands,” said Berenberg. “The books you donated have given Belizian children the opportunity to develop their language skills.”
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