Liz: UIUC Book Club Pick Features International Service


Hello everyone! I know it’s been a while since I’ve posted anything, Ann asked me to talk about a project I am working on. We both thought it was relevant to Spanish 232, so I’m coming back briefly as a guest blogger.

Right now I am working at the Office of Volunteer Programs and they asked me to be a student representative on the Committee for One Book One Campus (OBOC can be found at http://www.union.uiuc.edu/involvement/oboc/ ). For those of you that are unfamiliar with this committee, what they do is each year they pick a book for all students to read. Most of the new and incoming students receive the book for free, (otherwise you can pick it up at the Illini Union Bookstore). The committee also plans events throughout the year on topics related to the book. This year’s book is called Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder. The novel is a true story about how the author (Kidder) came to know Dr. Paul Farmer. The reason that I wanted to tell all of you about this book is because Dr. Farmer actually does quite a bit of fundraising in the United States so that he can help provide medical attention to people in impoverished countries like Haiti and Peru.

We are still working on all the different events we need to plan, but I thought I would let you know we are participating in World AIDS Day on December 1st. If anyone is interested in volunteering at this event please contact Stephanie Rieder at sriede2@illinois.edu .
We are also going to have a group of people discussing their trips to Latin America and Africa and how their experiences impacted them. I will keep you posted; we do not have a date set for this event. If you have any questions about anything, please let me know! I hope you are all well and enjoying your CBL projects!
Take care
~Liz

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