Book Drive for Baton Rouge

Juliana Oyen, a sophomore at St. Pius X High School, held a weeklong book drive that accumulated about two tons of books. To display the need for books, she made posters to display throughout the school. A big reason Oyen had the book drive at St. Pius X was because the social ministry of the school emphasizes “the role of the human being within a larger community.” 

After hearing about the severe flooding in Baton Rouge, she wanted to do a project to help the citizens of that city. Through the connection her family had with a school board member in Baton Rouge, she learned that many teachers and students lost their books and their homes. Oyen then decided to organize a book drive to assist the Baton Rouge schools and families. 

Oyen is part of an organization called the American Heritage Girls. The mission of this organization is to build women of integrity through the service to God, family, community and country. 

Mrs. Claudia Somerville, who is the assistant director of Campus Ministry at St. Pius X, put Juliana in touch with St. Cecilia Catholic School who was having their fundraiser fair, which included an entire room of books for sale. The volunteer at St. Cecilia said any books that had not sold at the end of the school fair were available for Juliana to take for her project. Juliana, her brother, and her mother went through the books and packed as many books appropriate for pre-K through 12th grade as possible. They collected two carloads of boxes from St. Cecilia. 

“The response of the student body at St. Pius X was overwhelming,” said Judith Oyen, Juliana’s mother. Every afternoon, Juliana had bags and boxes of books waiting in the lobby for her to pack in her car. Even Mrs. Larsen, principal of the school, let us know that there were many books in the library to help Juliana’s cause. 

Juliana also received many books from her community including neighbors, Catholic homeschool groups, and the American Heritage Girls. 

Once she had sorted the books and packed them into boxes, she took them to the warehouse at ABB Inc. After all of this was done, Juliana contacted Burrow Global, an engineering company based in Houston that does business in Louisiana. Burrow Global agreed to ship the books. 

As a result of Juliana’s extraordinary service she received the Bronze President’s Volunteer Service Award. The PVSA recognizes United States citizens who have achieved the required number of hours of service over a 12-month time period. In order to receive a bronze award, Oyen had to complete 50-74 hours of service. She is eight service hours shy of receiving the silver award.