Starting on April 24th, MHS Key Club will be hosting their first ever book drive! This book drive will be in memory of Kahina Ourkhou. 

Last year, a group of Kahina’s friends, including myself, got together to create a fundraiser in honor of her and her life. We created bracelets and sold them for $2. The money we raised then got donated to the University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital. This project led to so many people around our school and community to have a piece of Kahina with them everyday. This meant so much to her friends and family that we wanted to create another fundraiser for her this year.

“Running the bracelet fundraiser was nice because we could really see how much Kahina meant to people. The bracelets are such a simple way to have a reminder of her everyday and that’s what we wanted,” said Mahayla Martin, close friend of Kahina’s. 

This year, the long term project we planned is building a little free library somewhere in Muscatine. One of Kahina’s favorite things to do was read, so making a little library in honor of her seemed perfect. 

“Kahina always loved reading. It was something we bonded over and I was always jealous of her book collection. Creating a little library dedicated to her sounded like the best idea,” said Jaela Staker, another close friend of Kahina’s

We are going to need some help from generous students and staff to collect books for this new library. That’s where the Key Club’s book drive steps in. There will be drop boxes around the school to donate books for the little library. One box is in the MHS library and one is in the student services office. Both boxes will have someone facilitating it. If you donate one book, you have the opportunity to receive 30 minutes of silver cord. Two books would be an hour, three books would be 1.5, and four books is 2 hours. You can donate more than four books but you are only allowed up to 2 service hours. 

Once you make your donation, tell the person facilitating the box your name and grade and how many books you are donating. This is such an easy way to gain 2 silver cord hours while also helping us startup Kahina’s Free Little Library. 

Some other things to note:

• Each drop box will also have a money donation box to raise money for supplies. Money donations are not required when donating books, but are very appreciated. 
• You do not need to buy new books to donate, but make sure your used books are in good condition. 
• You can donate any appropriate book of any genre for any age. 
• You can donate books at any point throughout the school day. The drive will be every school day starting on April 24th and ending on May 10th. 

We thank anyone who donates a book or money to help us with this project. Stay tuned for more information on the free little library!