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º£½ÇÖ±²¥ concluded Fiscal Year 2026 with a remarkable impact, shipping more than 2.5 million books valued at over $19 million to 33 African countries while raising more than $2.2 million to support these efforts. The organization also expanded access to legal and digital resources by delivering 10 Thomson Reuters Law & Democracy Libraries and 96 computers and tablets loaded with more than 320,000 digital books. This success was made possible through the dedication of more than 9,000 volunteers, generous donors, and strong partnerships across Africa despite significant cuts to federal international development funding.

Come celebrate summer with º£½ÇÖ±²¥ at our annual Warehouse Party on Saturday, July 18, 2026, from 11:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. at our warehouse in St. Paul. This free community event brings together supporters, volunteers, partners, and friends for an afternoon of connection, celebration, and fun. Enjoy African food, live music from the warehouse band, special guests, and activities for all ages while getting an inside look at the impact your support makes possible. No RSVP required. We hope to see you there!

º£½ÇÖ±²¥ spent the first week of June in Washington, DC, meeting with African ambassadors, U.S. congressional leaders, the African Union, donors, and development partners. Highlights included participation in African Union events, advocacy meetings on Capitol Hill, and the annual Summit Society Reception hosted by the Kenyan Embassy. The reception welcomed donors and diplomatic representatives from 10 African countries and featured the distribution of Merck/MSD e-readers loaded with medical resources for healthcare professionals across Africa. The visit strengthened relationships with key partners and generated new opportunities to expand º£½ÇÖ±²¥'s impact across the continent. Executive Director Patrick Plonski called the meetings highly productive and an important step toward increasing the shipment of books and educational resources to Africa.

º£½ÇÖ±²¥ hosted in Minnesota last week H.E. Constance’s Gaspar, Ambassador from African Union to the U.S., and H.E. Agostinho Van-Dunem, Ambassador from Angola to the U.S.  Both spoke at our annual fundraiser.  We were pleased to have them update our º£½ÇÖ±²¥ community about issues and trends in Angola, and across the African continent.  We look forward to continued collaboration in the future with these ambassadors to ship more books to Angola, and across Africa. We raised over $191,000 to ship more books to Africa. Thank you to all of our donors who helped to make this happen!

º£½ÇÖ±²¥ Executive Director travels to Djibouti and Tunisia.  Pat received tours from high level officials, had a visit at a local primary school was extremely well-organized and well-received as this school and partners thanked us for the books received.  The US Ambassador to Djibouti was on site as was Djibouti’s Minister of National Education.  The event was extremely high-level and covered by Djiboutian national television. 

Her Excellency Constância Adelina Gaspar, the African Union’s representative to the United States, will be the featured speaker at the annual fundraising breakfast and luncheon hosted by º£½ÇÖ±²¥ next week in Roseville.