One Skaneateles group is spearheading an effort to turn a community's forgotten books into treasures to help third-world countries.

The Skaneateles Rotary Club, an organization dedicated to literacy, work with other organizations in Skaneateles and the surrounding communities to collect books to send to African countries through a program called “Books for the World.”

Ward Vuillemot, a member of the Skaneateles Rotary Club, said he was inspired and overwhelmed by the response to this effort.

“It is really amazing,” Vuillemot said. “We've already shipped seven full pallets and we still have more. It is really amazing to see the way people have responded to this.”

These books are headed for South Africa, where the beginning idea for this program originated.

Vuillemot came across the concept of donating books to African countries while he was visiting a Rotary colleague in South Africa. He decided to share the idea with the club back in Skaneateles.

From there, the idea blossomed, incorporating not only the Skaneateles Rotary Club, but numerous Rotary organizations and other organizations throughout the central New York area. Youth groups, such as Skaneateles High School's Interact, and other high school clubs have risen to the challenge of helping promote literacy worldwide.

While the main goal of the program is to collect books for South Africa, those who donate the books also benefit from participating.

“This is great. It has given people a way to get rid of their old books. Everybody has those books their kids read and then they don't want to get rid of them and they save them for their grandkids. And then what do you do with them? They end up in the back of a closet or in the attic,” Vuillemot said. “This has given people something to do with those old books and a way to put them to good use. That also makes this a green initiative.”

The effort has collected countless text books as well as children's books, which will be put to good use.

“English isn't people's first language there, but it is a business language,” Vuillemot said. “These books will help give them a good start as they are trying to learn English.”

Along with the support of the community, Vuillemot said that numerous organizations have been generous with their support in the storage and transport of the books.

LASERTransit has been helping with the storage and packaging of the books while Bossong's Commercial Delivery has been helping with the transportation.

With more than 13 pallets already shipped and more than 20 waiting for shipment, Vuillemot is impressed with what he has seen and he hopes to see this effort continue to grow.

“This isn't just a Rotary project,” Vuillemot said. “Anyone else who wants to do this, we are glad to share the information we have on what we are doing and how we are doing it. This will definitely be something we continue.”