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 Throughout her life, Harriet Drury Van Meter was deeply committed to making the world a better place through community activism. After moving to Lexington, Kentucky in 1929, she married Dr. Farra Van Meter. Following the birth of their three children, Mrs. Van Meter became immersed in philanthropic work, serving on the boards of the Kentucky Commission on Mental Retardation, the Kentucky Commission on Child Welfare and the Kentucky Council of Churches. Her passion for education led her to become a renowned Sunday school teacher and Headmistress of the Sayre School. In addition, she founded the Manchester Center, a community gathering place and library serving some of the Lexington's poorest neighborhoods.
Yet, in these conservatives time, Mrs. Van Meter felt compelled to do more. She recognized the injustices of racism and segregation and, through her involvement with the International Women's Club, opened her home to students of many nationalities who were attending the University of Kentucky.
 In 1965, Mrs. Van Meter traveled to India as part of the Association of International Educators. She journeyed throughout the country and was moved by the dedication to education in an area where books and other resources were expensive and difficult to obtain. Always one to take action, Mrs. Van Meter placed an ad in an Indian newspaper, offering books to interested recipients. When she returned to the United States, book requests began arriving in droves and she started sending volumes from the basement of her home. These initial shipments gave birth to the International Book Project. Forty years later, Mrs. Van Meter's philanthropic legacy is alive and well as IBP continues to distribute millions of books to marginalized and impoverished communities around the globe. |
