The story of the former postman who sends books to Romania

You would think that during economic recessions generosity is measured by the teaspoonful. But an American pensioner, a former postal worker and, as a very young man, a rock journalist, would prove you wrong. During the past six years, John Korst, 58, a large man with an even larger smile from St. Louis, Missouri, has been shipping to Romania enough books to stock a full municipal library - about 90.000 volumes, to be precise.

According to his own views, John Korst thinks he’s small fish in comparison to larger and more ambitious competitors like the Microsoft Foundation, the latter involved in a large scale project aimed at supplying major Romanian libraries with access to the digital universe. Yet his efforts, however small they may seem at first notice, have something no corporate enterprise now has: wide, popular support coming from common people.

In his youth years, Korst used to write for a rock magazine called “Jet Lag Magazine”, where his pen name was “The Mailman”. In 2004, he founded „A Thousand Books“, an NGO that now manages the collection and shipping of all the books he sends to Romania.

Initially, his project was run in conjunction with the Peace Corps. “They’re sent to Romania to teach English and American Civilization classes, and to get involved in various extracurricular activities. During the first talks I had with them over the internet they told me how few class materials they had, except the textbooks, especially in smaller towns and in rural neighborhoods. When I first met these Americans here, I had already been to Romania - I’d been here a few times, actually. But I was impressed by their efforts they made to help the children and I decided to help them myself”, says Korst.

All the books John sends to Romania come here through the help of Americans, mostly (but not only) native Romanians who own small businesses in the USA. Overseas shipment starts in Chicago and takes a pretty long time, mostly because the books are sent by cargo ship, but the freight cost is worth it - about one US dollar per pound. All the freight expenses are covered by donations.

“The travels I make to Romania are pretty expensive for my quite strained pocket”, says Korst. “That’s why I took a part time job. The last time, airline tickets cost about $1,000. But I’m no longer using a rented car while I’m traveling through the country, as I did in my previous visits. Instead, I’m using the public transport system, the train, and I’m staying at friends’ houses or find the cheapest accommodation.”

His largest project included three public libraries in Romania and involved a mammoth donation - about 16 tons of books. About a third of those, around 10.000 of volumes, went to the public library of Vrancea county in Focsani, the rest being divided between the public libraries of the municipalities of Baia Mare and Suceava - all large Romanian cities.