Dr. King’s legacy has inspired generations to dream about ways to improve people’s lives, to share that vision with friends and strangers, and to strive to make this goal a reality for everyone alike. Dr. King motivated young and old, black and white, people from home and abroad, those sick and those healthy, to look at their own lives and ask what have I done for my neighbor today? One specific lecture Dr. King gave in April 3, 1968 has particularly resonated in my head ever since I read it back in high school. In this speech Dr. King said,

"...That’s the question before you tonight. Not, ‘If I stop to help the sanitation workers, what will happen to my job?’ ‘Not, if I stop to help the sanitation workers, what will happen to all of the hours that I usually spend in my office everyday and every week as a pastor?’ The question is not, ‘If I stop to help this man in need, what will happen to me?’ The question is, ‘If I do not stop to help the sanitation workers, what will happen to them?’ That’s the question."

I must confess that I did not quite know much about Dr. King back then. I certainly did not understand the issues surrounding the sanitation workers, but his words matched what I thought was one of the reasons for life: to make this a world for all by providing everyone a chance to be their best.

At the end of each semester my student organization and I collect used books—which would otherwise be thrown away—to send to students in Africa. None of us have ever met the recipients of our texts, but we often close our eyes and imagine who will receive these books. We picture their faces and visualize them opening the books to read them. Moreover, we see youngsters congregating around adults to listen to a story. We hope that those who have a zeal for engineering will now be able to find books that will help them develop the bridge that will connect their village to the next town. And so our imagination goes, wondering and asking ourselves: is it possible that a book can change a person’s life?

Being a small student organization, we know that we cannot really solve all the problems of those that live in Africa. We certainly do not have the resources to send millions of dollars in foreign aid to buy medicine for those that are sick. What we have are used books. Nevertheless, we hope that our books will become instruments that will create opportunities for those who want to be their best. We hope that the books we send will educate and inspire generations of doctors, engineers, and leaders that will become the solution to Africa’s problem. We do this not thinking what will happen to us if we spend our time collecting books, when we could be studying for finals. We do this not thinking what will happen to us if we lift boxes of books and hurt our backs in the process. We do not question how collecting books will help us. The one question that we do ask ourselves is what if we don’t collect the books, what will happen to those that need them?

I founded Books for Africa when I was a freshman in college. Prior to our student organization students threw away valuable books to the rubbish, hoping to get rid of "excess weight" in their luggage. Since the founding of our student organization we have collected over 30,000 books that we sent to African community libraries and schools. We have expanded our operations to other area universities; and, we are even planning to send students to Africa. Dr. King’s legacy lives, as long as generations of young students are inspired to change people’s lives by providing others a chance to become all they can be.