Literacy Lambton’s annual Give-a-Book campaign, which runs until December 11, has just accomplished. The campaign, which was started about 30 years ago, involves distributing books to community agencies — from Habitat for Humanity, for families moving into newly built homes, to Victim Services Sarnia-Lambton, to help comfort kids affected by trauma.
When all the donations were counted in this year’s annual Christmas-season campaign, they came up one shy of the 3,787-book record set in 2022, said executive director Tracy Pound. She added:
“I didn’t expect we would come so close to that. Obviously, times are tough, and yet our community still just shows that they are willing to step up and help when there’s need.”
The campaign set a record of 3,104 books in 2021 that was up almost 900 books from 2020. With inflation running high, Pound was expecting something closer to 3,500 books this year. “I thought (2022’s) would be a very hard goal to match,” she said, calling getting there a tremendous success.
Now, hopes are to perhaps top 3,800 in 2024, she said:
“If we could even meet the 3,800 mark, I would be over the moon.”
Pound used grant money to order 1,400 books in August, for instance, at a huge discount, paying about $2 a book, she said.
The organization’s “elves” — retired educators with a good eye for age-appropriate reads — help divvy up the others and match them to agency requests, she said.
“If we’re nearing the end and we have some extra (books) in that age group, we’ll box up some more,” she said, adding “it is just weird how the numbers came so close.”
Various community organizations donated, and local bookstores offered discounts on titles bought for the campaign, Pound said, noting most donations this year were books, not cash.
“I think that’s a very encouraging thing as well,” she said. “I love that people have chosen to support our small businesses.”
Navkiran Dhaliwal is a seasoned content writer with 10+ years of experience. When she's not writing, she can be found cooking up a storm or spending time with her dog, Rain.