Following the birth of their second child in early 2003, Carlyn and Dave Hooyer decided to take Carlyn's mother, Evelyn, to visit some garage sales. Evelyn was surprised by the number of inexpensive books, and, after seeing that many of them would be useful to her as an elementary school teacher or useful for her students, she decided to take some back home with her to the Philippines.

After Evelyn left, Carlyn and Dave continued to send books, which went into a gazebo area at the back of Evelyn's house. It didn't take long before young people heard about the books and came to read, sometimes all night and into the early morning. Carlyn found it sad that the children and their mothers had nowhere to meet. Then she said to herself, They need a library.

With children too young for school, the Hooyers decided to rent out their house and go to Manolo for a year to build a library. Before leaving, they collected books - buying some from garage sales and asking the families hosting the sales if they'd contribute books that did not sell. Boxes were then filled with books and shipped to the Philippines.

Once in Manolo Fortich, the Hooyers moved into a rental house just a short walk from the planned building site, which was right behind Carlyn's parents' house.

Through a connection at the local LDS branch, the Hooyers recruited a couple of young students as architects and four laborers to help get the project going. At the height of the year-long construction, the crew peaked at thirty employees.

Meanwhile the Hooyer's ward in Washington continued to collect books. One young man held a book drive as part of his Eagle Scout project, and children from the ward even donated books from their personal libraries.

Finally, in August 2007, The Library opened. Now it is open Monday through Saturday; students from the Manolo schools and the bordering communities come to use the library. Carlyn's aunt and mother, both recently retired from elementary school teaching, serve as volunteer librarians.

Despite all the work required, the Hooyers are certain the outcome is worth the sacrifice. "The knowledge that we are actually positively impacting the lives of people is rewarding and worth the sacrifices we've made," says Dave Hooyer. "We'd do it all over again."

The Library currently has plenty of books, but projects continue to come up under only meager funding. To find out how to help, e-mail Dave Hooyer at dahooyer@gmail.com.