MoneyGram International, Inc. (NASDAQ: MGI), a global provider of innovative money transfer services, celebrated a $50,000 grant from the MoneyGram Foundation to U.S.-based nonprofit, Books For Africa, the largest shipper of donated text and library books to the children in Ghana. This has been achieved through partnership with the Ghana Book Trust and SAVE Ghana. Books For Africa has shipped more than 44 million books and served all 55 countries on the African continent since 1988 (www.booksforafrica.org).

The MoneyGram Foundation grant funded the transportation of three 40-foot ocean-going containers to Ghana, Cameroon and Ethiopia. Each container, carefully curated by Books For Africa, was filled with 22,000 books, as well as library enhancement supplies such as essential solar lights, e-readers loaded with digital content, computers, maps and projectors.

The books and learning materials are intended to enhance the capacity of community libraries, with long-term outcomes of improving school retention and literacy, crucial to each country’s ability to produce an educated workforce.

“It is an honor to have the opportunity to support literacy efforts in Africa, and we are delighted to select Ghana as a beneficiary for this program”, said John Gely, MoneyGram’s Head for Africa. “We are proud to join Books For Africa in their mission to improve the availability of books and learning materials, and fulfill the MoneyGram Foundation’s goal of empowering lives through education.”

Carole Patrikakos, Deputy Director of Books For Africa, explained, “Books For Africa is demand driven- we routinely receive orders from groups who have fundraised on behalf of African schools and libraries. However, there are children in locales that do not have sponsors abroad, and those children will not receive books without the intervention of funders such as MoneyGram Foundation, who recognize and support their right to an education.”

“I’m grateful to everyone that played a role in getting these books to us here in Ghana, lives will be changed for the better forever,” stated Kingsley Kanton of SAVE Ghana.

Ceremony attendees included Patrick Appiah, MoneyGram’s Regional Head, Anglophone West Africa, Genvieve Aba Polley, Executive Director, Ghana Book Trust, Julian Kudjawu, Headmistress of Airport Police Primary School, and John Appiah, representative of the Circuit Supervisor, Airport Cluster of Schools, who noted, “The grant to Books For Africa will help the children have a good start in education, and this will benefit the entire community.”

Similar events will be held this year to celebrate the distribution of books and library supplies in Ethiopia and Cameroon. The MoneyGram Foundation grant is expected to provide 30,000 students per year with access to books. To date, the MoneyGram Foundation has awarded over $1,150,000 in grants to support education for children in Africa.