Stacy Vern Hegg gets 20 tons of books for Mozambique
Read and comment on this story from the Anoka County Union about Stacy Vern Hegg who will get 20 tons of books from her hometown for a library she helped build in Mozambique. The books will travel by truck to the railroad station, then by rail to an East Coast port, then by ship to Mozambique. The container that will carry the books from Ham Lake to Chicoque is a weather-tight, lockable trailer that Hegg is giving to the village for use as needed. “They can use it for a classroom, or for storage, or whatever they need it for,” Hegg said. Read the story at:
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Closing the book . . . Twenty tons of books head for Mozambique
by Sue Austreng Life editor
Anoka, Minnesota
Vern Hegg stood in Monday’s blazing sunshine outside his Ham Lake office at L&S Electric, Inc. and reached in his pocket for keys to the forklift parked outside the warehouse, and then transported four boxes to a trailer parked nearby.
The Peace Corps volunteer’s dad grinned an exhausted but ecstatic smile as he motioned to the result of weeks of diligent, back-breaking work on behalf of the people of Chicoque, Mozambique.
Inside the trailer, boxes are bulging, pallets are groaning, and the semi-truck is stuffed and ready to roll.
The truck is heading for Chicoque where Hegg’s daughter, Stacy, is stationed, teaching English to the Portuguese-speaking students.
Caption: A town library was recently built in the village as a Peace Corps project, and when Stacy told her dad about the vacant library and the need for books to fill the shelves, Hegg, a Blaine/Ham Lake Rotarian contacted Books for Africa and spearheaded the book-collecting project.
A town library was recently built in the village as a Peace Corps project, and when Stacy told her dad about the vacant library and the need for books to fill the shelves, Hegg, a Blaine/Ham Lake Rotarian contacted Books for Africa and spearheaded the book-collecting project.
With a goal of collecting 25,000 books by July 1, initially, the project may have seemed overwhelming.
But, thanks to the generosity of local schools, churches, families, and libraries, Hegg and his book-retrieving crew have collected more than twice that number of tomes.
“We are way ahead of schedule,” Hegg said. “We are sending more than 30,000 books over there and we also have about 30,000 extra books that will be going to four different charities in Minneapolis and St. Paul.”
Over the past several weeks, bookstores have donated books; churches have donated books; schools have donated books; libraries have donated books; Stone Construction has donated storage space; and L&S Electric has donated forklifts to move the collection.
And, Hegg and his team have collected and sorted, organized and packaged 40,000 pounds of books.
“You could go from kindergarten to college with the books we’re sending,” Hegg said. Genres range from history and science to fiction and biography, he said.
The books will travel by truck to the railroad station, then by rail to an East Coast port, then by ship to Mozambique.
The container that will carry the books from Ham Lake to Chicoque is a weather-tight, lockable trailer that Hegg is giving to the village for use as needed.
“They can use it for a classroom, or for storage, or whatever they need it for,” Hegg said.
Hegg and his wife, Sharon, leave for Chicoque July 17, and Stacy can’t wait to see her parents.
“We exchange e-mails pretty much every day,” Hegg said. “She sent a grocery list that’s about a mile long–you should see that list!”
His daughter’s Peace Corps service ends in October, and following a “thank you tour,” she plans to spend a few weeks traveling, before pursuing her MBA degree.
“We’re just going to be so happy to see her! She’s been a long way from home for a long time,” Hegg said. Click on a link below for more stories on PCOL
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This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Mozambique; Service
