Books for a Better World has a very talented all-volunteer board of directors from a variety of different backgrounds, located all over the United States. We meet around a kitchen table and via webcam, and our unwavering focus is to bring books and school supplies to the deserving children in our partner countries. We invite you to learn more about us and what we do.

Kira Gartell  President Kira has volunteered for Books for a Better World since 2004, starting by helping her mom, Alice, with buying and organizing books, but continuing on to travel to Central America to deliver those books to rural areas. As a board member, she is excited about helping Books for a Better World reach more children.  Kira currently lives in Bloomington, Indiana with her husband, their two cats, and one dog. She is an avid Swing dancer, and also plays the French horn in the local orchestra.		Lisa Schuring Vice President & Volunteer Coordinator Lisa first volunteered for Books for a Better World in 2014 when she and son Nick served as Books for a Better World ambassadors in El Salvador for Nick’s Eagle Scout project. The experience was transformative and she knew she had to make Books for a Better World a bigger part of her world.  Lisa served a service mission for her church in the Dominican Republic in 1987-1988 and graduated from Brigham Young University with a BA in Spanish and a minor in International Relations in 1990.  Currently she is an ESL tutor at Sage Creek Elementary where she tutors and tracks 30 adorable K- 6th grade ESL students.  She has always loved children’s literature and uses it as an important tool in helping her ESL students become proficient in English. She and her daughter Aubrey traveled with Books for a Better World to Honduras and Nicaragua in 2015 where she fell further in love with this wonderful organization and the beautiful Central American children it works to benefit.  Lisa resides in Mapleton, Utah with her husband Dan and their five children.
Jennifer Turner  Treasurer		Elise Riker  Secretary
Alice Finn Gartell Book Coordinator Alice retired after 18 years as General Counsel of the Arizona Education Association. She graduated from Arizona State College of Law, summa cum laude, in 1989.  Alice’s passion is promoting literacy and reading. She loved to read as a child and is dedicated to bringing books to children who have none. In 1999, Alice began giving children’s books and raising funds for a small library in Akumal, Mexico, that had less than 50 children’s books. That library, Hekab Be Biblioteca, now has over 4,000 children’s books and a vibrant literacy program for children and adults.  Before her death in 2004, Books for a Better World Founder Kae Robb asked Alice to buy books for Books for a Better World so that its mission would survive.  Alice joyously agreed and has been buying thousands of children’s books for Books for a Better World ever since. With her daughter Kira Gartell, she has also helped deliver books for Books for a Better World since 2007. Although her official title is “Book Coordinator” of the board, Alice prefers her nickname “La Reina de los Libros” or “The Queen of the Books.”		Dayna Tanner Education Chair Dayna fell in love with the children of Central America with her first step into a tiny school in the mountains of Honduras. Within minutes, Alice Gartell looked at her and said, “You are hooked, aren’t you?” Dayna was hooked, and still is! She became a Books for a Better World volunteer in 2017, shortly after retiring from 20 years of teaching Kindergarten and Special Education. Dayna earned a Bachelor of Science Degree from Brigham Young University and a Master’s of Education degree through Southern Utah University. She also carries teaching endorsements in English as a Second Language, Special Education, Early Childhood Education, Elementary Mathematics, and is trained in Reading Recovery. She is passionate about the process of literacy and teaching children to read. Dayna admires the teachers of Central America who do so much with so little and is grateful to be a part of providing books and inspiration to both teachers and students.
Holly Nipperus Board Member		Dana Friedeman Board Member