It’s time for Page Two: News that might not make the front page for Monday, February 16, 2026.
There’s a book in a box in a back room at the Eagle Hotel.
The book is called “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind.”
It’s about a boy in drought-ridden Africa. He read about windmills in a book in a village library and ran with the idea. He built a windmill out of old junk. It brought electricity to his family and water to their farm.
The boy co-wrote the story about his life in Malawi. A publisher in New York printed the book. Then a copy of the book turned up in Alaska where it’s been read and shared.
Now the book is packed away in a box. The box and 95 other boxes of books will be shipped to Kenya. It’s about 2,000 miles north of Malawi.
Ninety-six boxes of books, about 2,000 pounds, are going from Palmer, Alaska to Kenya, Africa.
The story of how that 2,000 pounds of books came to the Eagle Hotel starts with Alys Culhane, and the nonprofit she founded called the Bright Light Books Project.
Culhane is a writer, bicyclist, and horseback rider. She has been passionate about reading her whole life.
She discovered that the Recycling Center had a book problem five years ago. Along with plastic bags and cardboard boxes, people wanted to recycle their old books. More than 30 boxes of books accumulated.
It was too much.
Culhane collected a handful of books and went out looking for new owners. Then she came back for more. Then more. Then more again.
She took a bicycle trip to Eagle. And gave away books at stops along the way.
The Bright Lights Book Project was born.
Culhane found a large space at the Eagle Hotel. Volunteers help her categorize, clean, stamp, store, and distribute thousands of books. Books come and go from all over. 48 boxes arrived from Kodiak just last week.
Bright Lights bookshelves can be found in public places all over Palmer from shops to schools to the Palmer Senior Center.
Culhane has helped with library revitalization in Nome, Bethel, and Old Harbor. And she has sent books around the world, including Belize, the Philippines, India, and soon, Kenya.
Brad Schmidt of Alaska English Adventures put Culhane in touch with a schoolteacher from Kenya. The teacher needed books for her school. Culhane found old textbooks from the Mat-Su and Anchorage school districts. Then she got to work.
She figured out the logistics to ship the books by working backwards. A company in Carrollton, Texas will ship the books to Kenya. A company in Tacoma, Washington will ship them to Carrollton. And another company will get the books to Tacoma from Palmer.
Then there was the packing. Culhane packs books carefully for shipping.
And that’s how the book called “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind” is returning to Africa after its temporary home in Alaska.
Culhane is proud that “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind” is in one of those boxes. It illustrates the deeper purpose of Bright Lights.
The boy built a windmill to help his family. He figured it out with the help of a book. And then he wrote a book about it.
Culhane said, “If a single book can do something like that, then what are we doing with all these books sitting here on shelves. Let’s get them out there!”
“Our core mission,” she said, “is envisioning literacy to change lives.”
They’re doing it, one book at a time.
More info can be found at brightlightsbookproject.org/
The films Super Salmon and Undammed are followed by a panel discussion on free rivers and salmon at the Palmer Train Depot tonight from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
The Mat-Su Middle College is hosting a family information session tonight at 6:30 p.m. and next Tuesday the 24th in the Glenn Massay Theater on the Mat-Su College campus.
Bridgette Preston will share 90 years of Palmer Library stories at the Palmer Historical Society monthly meeting tonight at 7 p.m. at the Moose Lodge.
The Sitka Music Festival is hosting a classical performance tomorrow night from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the Sacred Heart Church on Bogard Road. The program includes Chopin Preludes selections, Mendelssohn Sonata in D Major and more. Find tickets and information at sitkamusicfestival.org.
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This Page Two article was written by David Cheezem and read by Lee Henrikson. If you have an idea for a Page 2 topic, please email us at page2@radiofreepalmer.org.
That’s it for today and the news on Page Two on Monday, February 16, 2026.