Literacy Heroes

Anne Hawkins was a rising junior at Unionville High School when she visited the developing community of La Entrada, Honduras. She’d been astounded to learn beforehand that the town had no library, and that 40 percent of its people were illiterate. She decided to take on, as a Girl Scout project, the task of establishing a library – and she ended up changing many lives.

Understanding that she’d need to do more than just collect books to make a lasting difference, Anne met with the mayor of La Entrada. She pledged to provide 1,000 books and funding for the library for three years. In turn, the mayor promised to provide a building, electricity and Internet access.

Both kept their promises. To raise money, Anne held a number of events, including a silent auction. She also spoke to numerous organizations, which donated books and nearly $20,000. Then she invented a numbering system to catalog the books, arranged to ship them to Honduras, and helped find a librarian so that the library, La Biblioteca Publica de La Entrada, could open its doors.

Today, the library is a resource for the La Entrada community. Teachers and students use it for schoolwork. Adults come to learn to read and to find information to help them reduce local poverty and unemployment. Further book donations help the collection continue to grow and Anne continues to oversee the program.

For her achievement at La Entrada, Anne has earned a Girl Scout Gold Award, a Chester County Reading Association’s Celebrate Literacy Award, and the 2007 West Chester Youth Philanthropy Award. Now a freshman at Hofstra University, she’s combining her studies with efforts to establish and fund more libraries in developing nations. Anne’s efforts in building world literacy are truly those of a hero.