The librarians of the Selma City School System will be collecting donations from Feb. 1-12 for the “Change for Change” campaign, sponsored by Integrity Worldwide, to help fill a library in the town of Meto in Kenya.

“How cool it would if our kids could fill a library there,” said Glenda Davis, media specialist at Meadowview Elementary.

By holding this fundraiser during February, Davis intends to tie together Black History month, Selma City Schools Dr. Austin Obasohan’s African roots and raising donations to send to Africa.

Davis believes that students will become more involved with the fundraiser, although many of them may not have much money to offer.

“Even if they brought a penny, they would be giving to help,” Davis said. “I was telling them that maybe instead of buying a snack each day, they could give that money.”

She also reminded students that by sacrificing something as small as an afternoon snack, they are fortunate to live a comfortable lifestyle.

“Even though the economy is the way it is, we still have so much more than they do,” Davis said.

Some of the students asked Davis if they could donate books instead of money, but she reminded them that books here are written in English, a language students in Meto might not necessarily be able to read.

Integrity Worldwide will be able to use the money to purchase books written in the native language for students in Meto.

The program also can use the donations to help ship items because getting packages overseas can be expensive.

Davis does not have a monetary goal at the moment for the fundraiser. This is the first time the schools have partnered with “Change for Change,” so Davis is not sure how many donations to expect. Interested parents, students and members of the community can donate through any of the Selma City schools.

Integrity Worldwide is a Christian mission program founded in 2006 and based here with offices also in Birmingham and North Carolina and has a partnership with villages in Kenya and Uganda. The program has already brought a 75,000-liter well (which converts to about 19,813 gallons) and a state-of-the-art library to Meto.

In the process of building and filling the library, the program also intends to bring the community modern conveniences such as running water and toilets in the bathrooms to a computer lab and conference room. Pipes run from the well to the library for the running water. The library will also run via solar power.