Hello Darling Readers,
So the end of year is nearly here. No doubt your Christmas list is bulging with book wishes, and you’re making room for all your new paperback lovelies. You’re probably sorting through your bookshelf, looking which books will be ‘keepers’ and which you can pass on to friends and family, or put up for a book swap.
Well, how about an alternative? Instead of gifting your books to your nearest and dearest, how about donating books to the homeless and marginalized?
The Benjamin Andrew Footpath Library is a wonderful organization. Founded in 2003, the non-profit charity looks to give reading resources to homeless and marginalised people. It all started when a soup kitchen volunteer saw a man reading a book while he waited for the food van to arrive. She started bringing him a few books every week, and thus the Footpath Library was born. The library is currently based in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and will be opening in Perth early in 2012.
I love this organization – they’re a group of book-loving volunteers who are challenging misconceptions about the city’s homeless population.
I know lots of us in the book blogging/reviewing community get inundated with books throughout the year. Some of them we don’t even read, for various taste and time constraints. So I would implore you to do something wonderful and pass those books on to people who will truly appreciate them (and clear some room on your, no doubt, bulging bookshelves!).
The Library has a few stipulations about what sorts of books they’ll accept, and it goes without saying that they should be in excellent condition.
- Women’s, men’s and children’s fiction
- Non-fiction, including dictionaries, simple cookbooks, parenting, and self help
- National Geographic, Australian Geographic, motorcycle and car magazines.
Please note, out of respect for our customers we do not accept:
- True crime
- Travel/wine/restaurant guides
- Get-rich-quick/investment/ financial guides
- Coffee table books
- Home decorating, gardening, sewing, craft, fashion
- Sport (unless biographies)
- Any books with suicide, depression, or drug themes
- Computer manuals
- Text books of any description
- Magazines, except National Geographic, Australian Geographic, motorbike and car
- Encyclopaedias
- Street directories
- Religious material
- Used crossword/puzzle books.
And it’s not just books they accept – the Library also appreciates donations of bookcases, knitted goods and monetary offerings.
This is a really great cause for Australian-based book bloggers to get behind.
Merry Christmas!
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