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Literacy Lambton is calling for donors to help spread the love of reading this Christmas.
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The non-profit agency’s Give-a-Book campaign is seeking financial donations and donations of new books local partners will deliver to children across Lambton County for the holidays.
Executive director Tracy Pound said about 3,800 new books were given through 34 local agencies last year for children to unwrap for Christmas. This year’s campaign runs to Dec. 15.
Books are gifts that “keep on giving” by transporting children to different places and times, exposing them to the lives of others as well as shared human experiences, she said.
“What I love most about books is that they actually help children build empathy and inspire curiosity, imagination and expand their world view,” Pound said.
“We live in a world where there’s just a lot of hurt these days and if there’s a way that we can teach our children to be kinder and more compassionate, I think that’s probably the best gift.”
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Give-a-Book partners include Sarnia-Lambton Victim Services, Petrolia’s Christmas for Everyone, St. Clair Township’s Operation Christmas Tree, The Inn of the Good Shepherd, St. Vincent de Paul, Salvation Army Family Services, the Sarnia-Lambton Native Friendship Centre and others.
Both financial contributions, which allow Literacy Lambton to buy books in bulk and fill age-specific gaps, and donations of new books are important, Pound said.
Donations of new and unwrapped books are sought from Nov. 1 to Dec. 15 and can be dropped off at Literacy Lambton’s office in the Lochiel Kiwanis Community Centre on College Avenue North, Coles Bookstore in Lambton Mall and The Book Keeper at Northgate Plaza.
Pound said The Book Keeper offers a 20 per cent discount for books purchased and donated at its location.
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“I encourage people to shop local,” she said.
Financial donations can be made at www.literacylambton.org.
The campaign has been supported by Arlanxeo, the Optimist Club of Sarnia Lakeshore and others in the past, Pound said.
“It really is a community effort whether it’s individuals buying books . . . or whether they’re donating online, or it’s a service club,” book clubs, or businesses making a financial donation, she said
Earlier this year, Pound said she was invited to a regional Optimist Club event where clubs were encouraged to bring donations for Literacy Lambton.
“I went there thinking I was walking out with 100 books, and it was like ‘back up the truck,’” she said. “I think it was 375.”
Give-A-Book, which has been running in Sarnia for three decades, has been growing in recent years.
Pound said they set a goal of collecting 2,000 new books in 2021, the year after she took up the executive director’s post, and more than 2,250 were donated. For the last two years, the total has been about 3,800.
The number of community partners has also grown from 21 in 2021, Pound said.
“We have two new ones, actually, this year,” Special Olympics and the Sacred Heart Foodbank in Port Lambton, she said.
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