Beginning today, February 1, Phi Kappa Phi chapters across the nation will take part in the annual Phi Kappa Phi Book Drive competition. Established by the Society’s Council of Students, the competition aims to encourage and promote literacy in the communities and campuses served by Phi Kappa Phi’s chapters.

Interested chapters can participate in the competition by hosting a drive to collect books or funds to be applied toward literacy materials. To be eligible, the drives must take place any time between February 1 and April 30, 2019.

The Phi Kappa Phi chapters that collect the most books or monetary donations throughout the competition will be eligible to receive either a “Little Free Library” to be placed at a location of their choice or a waived registration fee to attend the upcoming Student Leadership Summit. The Little Free Library is a freestanding box where anyone can donate and borrow books in an effort to promote literacy throughout communities—a prize that fits well with the Society’s love of learning and literacy.

"We are grateful to the national Phi Kappa Phi Book Drive for having given our chapter a meaningful focus for community service,” said Dr. Jeanne Morgan Zarucchi, past president of the University of Missouri–St. Louis chapter. "We could never have anticipated the overwhelming level of support shown by the members of our campus community, including current students, alumni, faculty, and staff members, who reached out to their own networks of family and friends to collect a grand total of 2,159 books.”

The annual competition, now in its sixth year, has donated more than 45,000 books to organizations both locally and abroad. Organizations that have received donated books as part of the competition include schools, libraries, hospitals, correctional centers, tutoring and mentoring programs, shelters and more.

To learn more about the competition or to locate your local chapter, visit www.phikappaphi.org/bookdrive.

Photo provided by Ericka Delisme – Chapter 126 members Gerdine Behrmann, left, and Faeik Al Rabee, center, of the University of South Florida, met with Potter Elementary School principal Melanie Hill, right, and students from the school after collecting books in Phi Kappa Phi’s 2018 annual book drive.