Part with books and impart knowledge…….Brinda Majithia
An online city portal has initiated a book donation and collection campaign
Don’t we all have school text books, encyclopedia and the comics as our childhood archives? The heap of magazines that just collect dust in some corner of our house? Though our elders rightly said that books impart knowledge and should not be sold. Here is an opportunity where you do not sell but give away books to the needy.
Vinay Somani, trustee of Karmayog, who began the ‘Donate Books, Receive Books’ initiative says , “We realised that the books we own and read are unlikely to be read again, but cannot give away to the raddi-wala because of some emotional attachment, but are willing to part with it. As long as they can be read by someone else, preferably through a library. So it seemed that donating books could be an easy way for people to help others.”
The aim of the campaign was that that nobody should ever throw away any kind of book. The same books that seem of no use to us could be of great help to someone else. Karmayog, an online portal is about connecting those who wish to support a particular cause, with those who need support from people or an organisation. Every human being has an innate desire to help others and such campaigns give people a direction and the right approach to be a Good Samaritan.
Vinay further adds, “It’s been just a month that this idea has been implemented and the response has been extremely encouraging. People are cleaning out their cupboards, and then emailing us the details of the books they wish to give away. We have already received around 1500 books and also distributed them to the needful.”
The vast variety of the books they receive are then distributed to the NGO’s, schools, libraries who make it accessible to a lot many people. From among the many who have benefited from this campaign, Sangopita, which is a school for the disabled at Thane and St. Joseph’s High School at Wadala are few of them.
Rohini Patrao, school counsellor at St. Joseph’s High School, Wadala, says, “This campaign proved to be a boon for us as we have recently revamped our school library. We wanted students to refer books and go beyond their textual knowledge. Our Principal, Father Bernard went to their centre and selected books that would be helpful for our students.”
Such campaigns can indeed go a long way, improving the lives of many in the small deeds that we do.
Fact File
* Karmayog, established in 2004, is an organisation that connects citizens, groups, corporates, academicians, media and government through online and offline methods.
* Donors can donate books to the collection centers or directly to NGOs, and NGOs, libraries, orphanages etc. can pick up books from the collection centers
* For details log on to: https://www.karmayog.org/donatebooks and fill out the form depending on whether they are a donor or a receiver