Thousands of books find passage to India

A love for books and a desire to help has led a Wheaton woman to ship more than 250,000 educational books to schoolchildren in India.

And she's not close to being done.

The ongoing book drive, organized by Aruna Sethupathi, began in 2001 and has touched the lives of countless children in and around Tamil Nadu, a state at the southern tip of the Indian peninsula.

Sethupathi recently was named a Person of Character by the Glen Ellyn Character Coalition.

Anne Bouchard, a Glen Ellyn resident who nominated her for the award, said she has known Sethupathi since their children attended preschool together but was unaware of her friend's charitable activity until she stopped by the house one day.

"I happened to see her garage was full of books," Bouchard said. "She explained to me about the book project."

The Health Education Learning Project, or HELP, collects unwanted textbooks that otherwise would go to landfills and ships them to India, where they are appreciated for their rich illustrations and quality binding.

So far, the textbooks have reached 2,000 high schools, 100 arts and science colleges, and 10 universities, along with numerous orphanages and libraries.

"In India, textbooks are boring, black-and-white with no color illustrations. I have been a big book lover all my life," said Sethupathi, who grew up in Chennai, India, attended medical school and became a doctor.

After coming to the United States in 1988 and training at Cook County Hospital, Sethupathi decided her real love was teaching. She now teaches anatomy and physiology at College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn.

She and her husband, Periannan, live in Wheaton. She has two sons, Nivethan, 18, who attends the University of Illinois in Champaign and Siddharth, 15, a sophomore at Glenbard South High School.

In the early 1990s, Aruna Sethupathi volunteered at the Glen Ellyn book recycling center known as SCARCE, or School and Community Assistance for Recycling and Composting Education, run by Kay McKeen, where unused textbooks from area schools were stacked floor to ceiling.

"After seeing these lovely books, I realized teachers in India could use them to create a more rich classroom environment," Sethupathi said.

She didn't act on her idea right away, partly because people discouraged her about the logistics of sending the books so far away.

"It was just a dream I had," she said.

But in 2001, she had done enough homework to hatch a plan.

"We had to get permission from customs in India," she said.

There are restrictions. Books with maps, "inappropriate" pictures, or depictions of violence or religious conflict aren't allowed.

About that same time, she learned her sister-in-law, Narmada Kuppuswami, had organized nonprofit, preventive health seminars for the Indian community in Chicago and had chosen the acronym HELP (Health Education Learning Project) Charitable Foundation. That allowed them to join forces and eased the completion of the necessary paperwork to get things done.

Fundraising was done by contacting people she knew in the Indian community.

"I sent e-mails. Everyone pitched in $50 or $100. They thought it was a worthwhile project," Sethupathi said.

Since it began, HELP has sent an estimated 275,000 books to India.

"In the beginning we sent one consignment per year," Sethupathi said. "In 2008 we were able to send four, 20-foot containers."

Shipping costs can range from $8,000 to $9,000 for each 20-foot container.

Sethupathi says she hopes that somewhere in India a student will see one of the books and perhaps be inspired to pursue their dreams.

"I want to inspire kids who have the potential to do something big and great in science," Sethupathi said. "It's fun and fulfilling to know these children who are thirsty for knowledge will be getting these beautiful books from Chicago."

As for Anne Bouchard, nominating Sethupathi for the Person of Character award was a simple choice.

"I felt she's the kind of person who goes about these things, never blows her own horn, never draws attention to herself," Bouchard said. "I felt she was below the radar doing this work. She's probably sent a million dollars worth of books to India."

For information on the HELP Charitable Foundation or to donate funds for the books to be sent to India, e-mail Sethupathi at arunasethu@gmail.com.

• Kathy Slovick writes about Glen Ellyn.