Volunteer

We want to reach out, as broadly as we can, to share our story.

If you feel connected with our cause, please spend 1-2 minutes helping us spread the word about Bricks + Books by:

• Joining our cause on Facebook and inviting your friends to do the same.
• E-mailing your friends about our story.
• Linking your website to ours and sharing our vision as broadly as possible.
• A little help goes a long way. Thank you!

If you would like to volunteer your time, we are looking for off-site or on-site help on various initiatives:

• Off-site volunteers needed for:
  • Grant research and grant writing
  • Event planning
  • Fundraising

• On-site volunteers* needed for:
  • Architectural design and/or construction projects
  • Part time project/site management — requires experience in non-profit, educational and/or development areas in developing countries
  • Accounting and finance support

* We welcome applications from professionals willing to contribute time to Bricks + Books projects while on vacation in Tanzania.

Pen-Pal and Sister School Program

 Bricks + Books is establishing a pen-pal and sister school program that will allow students across the country to correspond and build relationships with their peers half-way around the world.

The Goal of the Program:

• The goal of Bricks + Books pen-pal program is to complement the students studies of African cultures through social studies and language arts curricula.
• Program participants discover cultural education as it was meant to be --  a live and inspiring learning experience -- not a book exercise.
• Pen pals will be able to express information about their own culture and absorb knowledge of a peer across the world, while also gaining valuable experience communicating and exchanging letters.
• Students will be able to design and hold fundraising events to support their partner schools and friends in Tanzania. Students will learn how easy it is for them to change the lives of those living in Tanzania with a little time and energy.

Current Bricks + Books Sister Schools in the United States:

• Shady Side Academy (Pittsburgh, PA): 25 sixth grade students at Shady Side have chosen to be pen-pals with Tanzanian students. The students involved have already written their first letter to their new pen-pals and look forward to fundraising for their counter-parts across the world.
• Winchester Thurston (Pittsburgh, PA): "Every year at the Winchester Thurston Middle School, the sixth grade curriculum includes a component called the "leadership lab." During the year long leadership lab students are given the opportunity to learn about and experience the different type of fundraising, volunteering, and awareness drives. For the 2010-2011 the sixth graders will partner with Bricks + Books to make the organization's "sister school" program their leadership lab. The 40 sixth graders will engage in a pen-pal program with a group of students at Patandi Primary School in Tanzania. The sixth grade curriculum will also be adjusted to incorporate appropriate materials to support the grades collaboration with Bricks + Books and its pen pals." Quote from Cindy Green, 6th Grade Teacher at Winchester Thurston.

Individuals and schools can establish partnerships. For more information please contact: bricksandbooks@gmail.com