Have a book somebody could use?

Have a book somebody could use?

NGO Karmayog has launched a nationwide a book donation and collection
campaign so that books and magazines lying in our homes and offices can
reach needy people

By Vrushali Lad
Posted On Tuesday, June 23, 2009 at 03:53:45 PM
Mumbai Mirror Online

Every book has a re-read value and somebody may need what you don’t. Knowing
this, the NGO Karmayog has recently launched a ‘Donate Books, Receive Books’
campaign all over the country to facilitate the donation and collection of
books, magazines and CDs that one may not need but can donate to those who
do.

What inspired this idea? Says Tanya Mahajan from Karmayog, “A desire to get
as many people to have access to books, and through books to knowledge was
the inspiration. Many NGOs working with children, in schools and colleges,
or with the elderly, or the ill in hospitals and institutions, need books of
all kinds that would help their beneficiaries. Very often, their funds do
not extend to purchasing these books, and hence they depend on donations
from well-wishers. Many others have books, read once, or lying unread in
their houses and offices, not knowing what to do with them. The ‘Donate
books, Receive books’ initiative is to bring these groups of people
together.”

Vinay Somani of Karmayog adds, “We wanted to make people realise that there
are many people and organisations that can use and need the books, magazines
and CDs that are lying unused in our homes and offices, or which we
regularly sell off as raddi or waste paper. Public libraries, reading rooms,
old people’s homes, public hospitals are some places where magazines and
light reading material is always needed. Apart from these, children’s homes,
orphanages, schools and colleges are always in need of books for their
libraries. We would like to ensure that each book that is donated is read by
at least one more person, if not many more, before it ends up as waste.”

Under this project, a person wishing to donate books, magazines, any printed
light reading material or CDs can visit a designated collection centre and
drop off the donation there. From the collection centre, of which a few are
already set up in Mumbai apart from the Karmayog centre at Fort, the books
are picked up by the end beneficiaries. The process begins with a needy
person or organisation mentioning his/their specific need on the Karmayog
website. Seeing the list of requirements, a potential donor may donate
accordingly.

“Over the past five years, we have been enabling people to donate material,
services and time to NGOs and others, and also enabling NGOs to request for
volunteers, materials and services as needed by them. Our website has easy
to fill forms if they would like to donate material. Similarly, NGOs or
anyone needing books or other material can fill a form with their request.
The filled forms are circulated to the 43,000+ Karmayog group as well as
displayed on the Karmayog website,” Mahajan explains. She adds, “From
feedback received, we know that whenever any material is offered, NGOs very
quickly – mostly within a week – contact the concerned person and pick up
the material. With this background, we decided to have a focussed initiative
on books.”

The NGO is now hoping that several more collection centres will come up. “We
have suggested that any easily accessible place where people can stop by and
donate books could be centre. For example, a doctor’s clinic, a bank branch,
a shop, the housing society office, any office or home, can be a collection
centre,” says Mahajan.

Thus far, the initiative has received a good response from the country and
even abroad, the NGO claims. “The response all over India and even abroad
has been very good. Some of the responses include requests for books from
Arunachal Pradesh, while there is also an offer of support from the
Andamans. In Mumbai, our collection centre has received over 1,000 books
already, and we have passed some of these on to three organisations. We
expect several more book donations to be made within the next few weeks,”
avers Mahajan.

Have a book? Want a book?
– Interested persons can log on to https://www.karmayog.org/donate-books and
fill out the form depending on whether they are a donor or a receiver
– The forms to be filled require reasons for wishing to donate, why the
concerned material is required, what use it will be put to, what is the
category of reading material required, and so on
– Some collection centres also make arrangements to send the books to their
end beneficiaries
– Both donors and receivers must mention full contact details to ensure
better records