AUK Donates to KACCH, Receives Award

The American University of Kuwait chapter of the Sigma Tau Delta International English Society won the organization's Service Award for 2012 in recognition of a book drive held on behalf of The Kuwait Association for the Care of Children in Hospital (KACCH).

"The project was deemed both well-organized and extremely valuable as a social outreach that would benefit many persons who, in a particularly vulnerable time of their lives, would find some relief through reading," said William C. Johnson, Sigma Tau Delta's Executive Director.

Sigma Tau Delta promotes literacy in ways that exhibit service to society. Each year the organization recognizes one or more chapters whose service projects exemplify what it means to serve society by fostering literacy. "This year the Sigma Tau Delta judges were pleased to recognize the Alpha Rho Eta Chapter at AUK for exemplary service to KACCH," Johnson said.

Chapter members accepted the award at the annual convention which was held in New Orleans, LA, USA in March. As part of this honor, the chapter received a plaque and $200 to buy children's books for KACCH while in the United States. The chapter presented those books to the organization on April 1.

This gift follows the donation of roughly 676 books (duplicate titles were not counted) from a three-day book drive at AUK which concluded March 28. With this gift, the AUK students have donated over 1,000 books to KACCH since the first book drive in the spring of 2011.

"This project has always been dear to me because of my love of reading. As a child the book was the ultimate source of not only escape but of imagination as well as creativity. I believe all children should be given the gift of a book because it was one of the most precious gifts I have ever had the pleasure of receiving. We as an English honor society understand the importance of literacy and being in an age where the book and reading is close to extinction, we really felt that the book drive would spark people's interest in books again," said Alia Mustafa Aref, the chapter President and principal organizer of the award winning book drive.

AUK's Alpha Rho Eta chapter of Sigma Tau Delta was chartered in fall of 2009 becoming the first and only chapter of this organization in the Middle East. Since that time, members have presented at three international conferences, won all of the major chapter awards offered by the organization and had a student whose poetry was published in a Sigma Tau Delta journal.

"We are honored by the recognition of Sigma Tau Delta and the support we receive from the AUK administration. Our students have formed a strong, hard-working chapter. We hope to benefit the community and our University for many years," said Dr. Kathy Nixon, the group's faculty sponsor who was recognized by the honor society at the convention with the 2012 Elaine W. Hughes Faculty Sponsor Award. "Our members are committed to the study of English literature at the University level and to promoting literacy in their country and abroad. I am very proud of them."

In addition to its work with KACCH, the AUK group donated the proceeds from its 2011 Regents Common Reader Award to Reading is Fundamental (RIF) in the United States.

Released by the Office of Public Affairs on the 19th April 2012