One of the most exciting parts of working with Books 4 Bright Futures is the correspondence back for our beneficiary schools! Many of the schools receiving books send back student notes thanking us for the delivery, and each one is very special to read. Here are just a few of the notes we recently received that we wanted to share!

Beautiful Appreciation from the Kids of Kadawatha Dharmadarshi School! The kids at Kadawatha Dharmadarshi School not only read the books we sent—they also drew pictures to show their gratitude and share their creative talents! These amazing drawings reflect what they learned and imagined through the stories. It’s truly heartwarming to see their dreams, ideas, and artistic skills come to life. Moments like this remind us that we’re making a real difference in their lives.

Thirteen schools are the recipients of this next shipment of books to Sri Lanka! This shipment is expected to arrive in Sri Lanka in early December.

Our team members in Sri Lanka have been an essential part of making this mission possible. While our team here in Ohio collects and prepares the books for shipment, once the delivery arrives there we need lots of help with the “last mile.”

These team members in Sri Lanka will handle the distribution process and we now have expanded this group from an initial three to now ten members which allows us to cover a wider range of areas within the country. We thank all of our volunteers and supporters who have made this third shipment possible!

Thanks to our amazing supporters, these books will soon fill school libraries and inspire young readers across Sri Lanka!

We were packing up for our 3rd shipment of books to Sri Lankan school libraries!

The Charleys Kids Foundation believes every child, regardless of their situation, deserves the opportunity to attain their dreams through access to a quality education. The charitable organization believes that quality education gives free rein to the untapped potential of children from all walks of life and that children learn that their circumstances do not define them.

Our team was able to meet with Mr. Charley Shin and Dr Hilary Slot - representatives of Charley Kids Foundation - and we were thrilled to receive a grant to help fund our mission. This grant will be particularly helpful to us in funding the shipment costs that are an unavoidable cost, but one that we work hard to minimize through partnerships with our shipping company. We appreciate the support form Charleys Kids Foundation!!!

We attended the Upper Arlington Library Book Sale and purchased a great bag of books for our drive. While there, one of the Upper Arlington library workers noticed our selections and asked about them. We explained our Books 4 Bright Futures project, and she invited us to return later that day when unsold books were being given away. We returned later and were able to collect another full cart of books! Since then, the Upper Arlington library has continued to notify us about upcoming sales and has been a great partner in our work. As members of the Friends of the Library, we are also able to purchase books at discounted prices.

We thank the Upper Arlington Library and all the Friends of the Library who have adopted our cause and helped so much!

The Delaware Library has been a continuous supporter of Books 4 Bright Futures and we thank them for all their help!! The mission statement of the Delaware Library is to “open doors to imagination, knowledge, connection, and discovery,” and they have certainly accomplished that through their support of Books 4 Bright Futures. Their partnership has been an essential part of our continued success!

Books4BrightFutures partnered with the Delaware County District Library and became a member of the Friends of the Library during the summer of 2025. Karl and Riveen attended the library’s Bag Sale, where the library officers generously donated several boxes of books to support the drive.

Shipment #2 is headed to many places in Sri Lanka … there are nine schools that will receive these books. Deliveries from this shipment arrived at these schools during October of 2025. We worked hard to find resources in Sri Lanka to help find free transportation for these books once they arrived there but needed help with the “last mile” to arrive at the schools. Since many of these beneficiary school are quite a distance from the Colombo, the main capital, this was an important part of our work, and our Sri Lankan team came though!

Our local libraries continue to be a big part of the support that makes these shipment possible. They have helped us gather the books for this shipment, and as a team we have enjoyed collecting them from donors and preparing them for shipment. Onward to working on shipment #3!!

From the beginning, Bexley Public Library served as a center of lifelong learning, community engagement, and cultural experience for its local residents, and it was one of the first libraries in central Ohio to serve the homebound. The mission of the library is to “enlighten, inspire, and empower our community through trustworthy resources and extraordinary service,” and they certainly have done this for Books 4 Bright Futures with their generous support.

The Friends of Bexley Public Library are an Ohio non-profit corporation comprised of members of the community who recognize the need for organized support for the library, and they host two book sales each year where you can find thousands of gently-used books at unbeatable prices.  The Bexley Friends of the Library have generously supported our efforts to accumulate books for our cause.

Shipment #1 is headed to two of our partner schools in Sri Lanka. The Gemini Dissanayaka Model School and the Dharmadarshi Primary School will both receive books our team has collected and we are looking forward to hearing of their arrival after then long journey. We are so pleased to be able to send our first books to Sri Lanka and we are ready to start working on our next shipment!

Riveen found us a wonderful resource for new books this summer. He learned about a book sale at the Columbus Metropolitan Library which he decided to check out and attend with his dad. Although during this visit most of the books had already been sold, they were still able to purchase a bag of books for the Books4BrightFutures drive. At a subsequent event, Dinath attended a related event called the “Book Bag Event” and managed to pick up some great books for the drive. Since he waited in a long line that day, he realized that next time he would arrive early to get the best selection!

The library came through again for our team when Henry, Karl, and Riveen attended the Columbus Metropolitan Library Big Book Sale – Bag Event. They were among the first to enter the sale and were able to fill several heavy, book-packed bags to support the Books4BrightFutures drive. Their enthusiasm and teamwork made the day a wonderful success!

Big Book Sales at the Columbus Public Library have become a wonderful resource for our team — they are held twice a year — and it gives items withdrawn from the library’s collection a second chance at a well-read life. Books 4 Bright Futures definitely has a new life for their books! The Columbus Metropolitan Friends of the Library is a nonprofit 501(c)(4) organization made up of everyday customers and advocates passionate about Columbus Metropolitan Library and we are thankful for their help with our mission.