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Bookfriends International, NFP
ECUMENICALLY SPEAKING
Newsletter for Church Women United of the Barrington Area - Fall 2008


The mission of Bookfriends International, NFP is to gather textbooks, library reference and reading materials from schools, libraries and individuals in the U.S. and provide them to secondary schools in developing countries at no charge to them.  more...
Bookfriends International, NFP
The Clarion - 10/08

We have a new designated mission for the month of October. It is . . . .

Bookfriends International, NFP  more...
A novel approach,
Lake County Journals - 3/20/2008

WAUCONDA – it would take a lifetime for Steve and Paulie Kutschat to read everything in this room.

The Lake Zurich married couple are standing in the middle of a warehouse in Wauconda, surrounded by the likes of Henry Thoreau, Ananse the Spider, The Baby-sitter’s Club and Shamu. Books seem to be pouring out of the walls of the warehouse. A pile of novels weigh down a box. A herd of textbooks line the walls. And shelving units are filled to the point that some books literally are being squeezed out.

The Kutschats are most proud of the books you can’t see, though,...  more...
Fox Helps Bookfriends Int.
THRIVE in 95,Community Unit School District 95 - March 1, 2007

As part of their study and performance of African music, Isaac Fox fifth graders raised money for Bookfriends International  more...
Couple crosses borders for sake of books,
              betterment for the world
Daily Herald - 2/25/2007

Steve Kutschat wanted to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro. He wasn’t a mountain climber and he had never been to East Africa or Tanzania, where Mount Kilimanjaro is located. “It was just a long-held dream,” Kutschat said.  more...
Sedgebrook is a true friend to Bookfriends
Daily Herald - 2/14/2007

Recently, 18,000 schoolbooks bound for schools in Tanzania were shipped off from the warehouse of Bookfriends International, a not-for-profit based in Wauconda.

“It was a real emotional day for us,” said Steve Kutschat, Bookfriends International cofounder.  more...
Used books open new world for schoolkids in Africa
Chicago Tribune - 7/14/2006

Steve and Paulie Kutschat were shocked when they visited the library of a new schools in Tanzania more than two years ago. The East African school had hundreds of students but only about a dozen library books. The text book situation was no better...  more...
Couple fills library shelves in schools in Tanzania
A Pioneer Press Publication - 7/13/2006

Before Paulie and Steve Kutschat visited Tanzania in February 2004, they never could have guessed how much the trip would change their lives. Since April 2004, the Lake Zurich couple has been hard at work collecting textbooks and resource books to send to underfunded secondary schools in Tanzania.  more...
Making good on a promise
Daily Herald - 7/5/2006

Lake Zurich husband and wife start nonprofit to send books to schools in Africa

A promise to send books to a tiny school in Africa has turned into a 15,000-pound labor of love for a Lake Zurich couple. During a trip to Tanzania in early 2004, Steve and Paulie Kutschat toured Longido Secondary School on the border of Kenya and noticed only a handful of books in the school’s library.  more...
Building hope through books: Kutschats found Bookfriends International
LUTHER Alumni Magazine - Spring 2006

Paulette (Lutz) ’67 and Steve Kutschat vividly remember the day they saw firsthand just how dire the need for educational resources in many parts of Africa really is. Paulie had just wrapped up a week volunteering at a girls school in Monduli, Tanzania – and Steve had recently returned from summiting Mt. Kilimanjaro, also in Tanzania – when they were invited to tour a new secondary school near the Maasai village in which they were staying.  more...
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Bookfriends International, NFP
1000 Rand Road #206
Wauconda, IL 60084
USA Toll Free (877) 726-8777
Office (847) 726-8776
Fax (847) 726-8775