Enthusiasm Went to Afghanistan

In autumn 2011, Enthusiasm with many hundreds books from US had arrived to Afghanistan. Hundreds of American authors had joined to donate their books for the troops in Afghanistan. Invitation came from Irene Watson, Managing Editor of Reader Views.

This is what she wrote:

On September 13th I send out a call for books for soldiers after Art Mills, award winner author of The Empty Lot Next Door, stationed in Kabul, Afghanistan requested print books for himself and his fellow troop members. He told me most of the books are old and worn-out, indicating people read them and hand them to others.

I sent him a box of 12 books and he wrote me:

I placed the books on a book shelf and people rushed right to them. It's nice to know people back home still care after ten years. Thanks!!!!

The response after the call from authors, publishers, and individuals is overwhelming, and thanks to several dedicated individuals the request went viral. Every single day we get at least 10 boxes or packages of books. So far, we've sent 4 boxes (59 books) to Art, given 54 boxes (1200 books) to the VFW to donate to troops in Afghanistan and 18 boxes of books/CDs/DVDs to individual requests through BooksForSoldiers.com

Art received the books and said:

I received the books yesterday. I opened the boxes and cut off the tops so the books could be easily taken from the dozen or so bystanders. One by one, and sometimes two by two, the books started to dwindle, and so did the candy. I placed the remaining books on a table in the front of the building. Everyone walking in and out can see the generosity of Reader Views and the dozens of authors that donated their books to us. Most of the donated books were autographed and included letters of gratitude for us soldiers. Thank you Irene, Reader Views, and to all the authors that donated their books to us. Now we can read books to help us take our minds off the curry!