What does Rani from Bundelkhand, Alok’s second graders from Ahmedabad, Preeti from Sirohi, Atharva from Panshet and Parvati from rural Tamil Nadu have in common you say?
Well, YOU, dear friend!
Because of your generosity and a deep conviction in building a Reading India, we finished our
Donate-a-Thon of 50,000 books. It took a little time, but together we did it. In this journey of 10 months, we hosted over 141 unique campaigns, reached 300+ libraries, made books accessible to over 1 lakh children and made many many new friends.
We couldn’t have done this without our wonderful partner organisations who chose the
Donate-a-Book platform to build libraries or without our generous donors who placed their trust in us to get ‘a book in every child’s hand’. It’s been a long journey but a rewarding one.
Through Donate-a- Book many organizations have kick started their reading programs and built libraries that are helping India’s children read books in languages they love and understand.
There are so many heartwarming stories, that recounting each one is an impossible task.
Like the story of a tribal hostel in
rural Tamil Nadu where a library was established for the first time, thanks to the efforts of setting up a campaign on Donate-a-Book by its wonderful volunteer. The hostel caters to girls from the Irula tribe and provides them with an access to education.They experienced the joy of holding a book with colourful pages and lovely stories thanks to the donors who made it possible and to Lakshmi, the volunteer who decided to make this possible.
In the tiny village of Kolwadi, in Pune district St. Thomas English Medium School (STEMS) is
the only English medium school serving a big area and a bigger community. To take its students’ learning beyond textbooks they set up a campaign to get books for their reading program. Their campaign was funded in 3 days of going live and they have additionally set up a library for children from nearby communities.
A passionate individual who set up a campaign to raise books for a library she runs in Cuddalore, saw Satya Special School’s (Puducherry) campaign on Donate-a- Book and was so moved by their work, that she now volunteers with them to conduct reading sessions for the special kids they work with.
And did you read about about the
‘return-gift’ we got from the little ones from Ahmedabad?
Excuse us while we wipe away the tear that threatens to run down every time we recall these stories.
Donate-a-Book has been a platform of joy–
… the joy of fresh brand new books in one’s hand
… the joy of meeting a book and making it your friend for life
… the joy of knowing you have helped a child smile and giggle and ponder and think
… the joy of a brand new library smelling of paper and ink
… the joy of making connections, collaborations and conversations
