FROM: Cafe Literati (SDSU's English Club)
SUBJECT: Proposal to create a library for Rancho San Juan Bosco, a vocational home for underprivileged boys (ages 6-20) in Tecate, Baja California, Mexico.

Enclosed you will find a proposal from our group for a project that aims to supply a library for a small vocational home in Tecate, Baja California, Mexico. Although most of the home's needs are met, there is, however, an urgent need for books that remains to be satisfied. We hope that you can help us with your support in this matter. If we can be of any assistance, please feel free to e-mail us. We gladly accept any suggestions you may have for us.

Cordially,
Jonathan Holt, President jonnyliterati@hotmail.com
Albane Ariza, Vice-President albane@hotmail.com
Shelley Scott, Treasurer
René Agustín De los Santos, Secretary rdelossa@rohan.sdsu.edu
Café Literati, San Diego State University

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  FROM: Cafe Literati (SDSU's English Club)
SUBJECT: Proposal to create a library for Rancho San Juan Bosco, a youth home for underprivileged boys (ages 6-20) in Tecate, Baja California, Mexico.
 

PROJECT SUMMARY

Currently, San Juan Bosco provides a home for underprivileged and abandoned boys.  While the facility emphasizes education to "foster individual independence," it is lacking an adequate library that fulfills such commitment.  Soliciting donations and funds from within and without the SDSU community, Café Literati (English Club) aims to actively address this problem. The Club has identified the following goals for the project that we seek to completely address by the end of the Spring semester 2001:
* The creation, via donations, of a two-hundred volume library of Spanish and bi-lingual books, ranging from children's literature, young adult, and vocational handbooks
* The construction of the necessary book shelving that such a library will need to house its collection
 

DESCRIPTION

SDSU's Cafe Literati (English Club) is a student-based organization on campus involved and concerned with issues of literacy, broadly defined. Our current project involves creating a library for Rancho San Juan Bosco, a youth home for underprivileged boys (ages 6-20) in Tecate, Baja California, Mexico. While the facility emphasizes education to "foster individual independence," as described by its director, Micael Morelos, it is lacking an adequate library that fulfills such commitment. This matter was first brought to our attention by one of our members who had volunteered her time during Spring Break to help out at the home. In speaking both with the staff members and with the youths of the home, our member was struck by an insatiable appetite for books at the home that is not being met by donors. Currently, there is only a small collection of outdated magazines and history books that the children are reading for their pleasure and informal education.

With this need in mind, Café Literati was moved to address this issue. We feel that this project addresses our commitment both as a Club and as members of the larger San Diego State Community to the goals of greater cooperation between borders and between disciplines that this university is known for and values. Our aim is to collect 200 books, books that will distributed, along with book shelves, to the home in June, 2001.

PROJECT DETAILS

The project will consist of the following:
* The Club will actively solicit donations (either monetary or books) from various departments and organizations within and without the SDSU community. Such departments and organizations include the Department of English and Comparative Literature, Latin American Studies, the Spanish Department, M.E.Ch.A., and Harcourt Publishing Company.
* Book donations will be sent to the Department of English and Comparative Literature for temporary storage. Such storage will consist of no more than twenty-four hours, at which time one of the organizers of this project will transport books to a permanent storage space prior to their delivery to the vocational school.
* Monetary donation requests will be kept to a minimum, ranging from $5 to $10 dollars, in order to encourage more participants.
* A fundraiser. The Club has secured permission to set up a "snack" table at the Aztec Center in order to sell baked goods and beverages.

TIME TABLE

The project will take place over a span of five weeks, with the final three weeks concentrated in solicitation of donations from university sources. We aim to start soliciting donations on Friday, April 13, 2001 and finish our project by noon, Friday, May 4, 2001. Our time-table is the following:

Week 1: Contact publishing houses
Week 2: Prepare proposal for university donations
Week 3:Distribution of fliers to various departments across campus
Fundraiser
Week 4: Meet with Harcourt Publishing Representative
Week 5: Fundraiser

Saturday, June 9: Distribution of donations to San Juan Bosco Youth Home.

We thank you for your time. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.

Cordially,

Jonathan Holt, President jonnyliterati@hotmail.com
Albane Ariza, Vice-President albane@hotmail.com
Shelley Scott, Treasurer
René Agustín De los Santos, Secretary rdelossa@rohan.sdsu.edu
Café Literati, San Diego State University