Foodshare to serve up Easter book fair

AFTER half-a-century running the much loved Easter Book Fair, the Y Service Club of Bendigo has passed the event to Bendigo Foodshare.

The Book Fair is run by volunteers and led by Garth Keech and his wife Margaret, who have been sorting and classifying thousands of books a week.

Ms Keech said after many years as a successful fundraiser for the Y Service Club, taking over the running of the book fair was a smart decision for Foodshare.

“Someone had to step up and take over what had been run by the Y Service Club very ably and fantastically for 50 years,” she said.

“It’s not a large amount of money from a permanency view, but it is a permanent source of money. So, I could see the use of that for us at Bendigo Foodshare.”

Mr Keech said he has a greater understanding of books since he started sorting through donations.

“I am learning a lot,” he said. “One of our favourite tasks is trying to categorise them because some books defy categorisation.

“If in doubt [place it in] hobbies!”

Mr Keech said he wants to find the books new homes rather than see them go into landfill.

“The idea is to get the books back out into circulation,” he said.  “Somebody has read them and then given them to us.

“Now we want to give it to somebody else at the right price and hopefully not have it end up in landfill.”

Bendigo Foodshare chair Sue Clarke said more volunteers are needed for the preparation and running of the book fair.

“Bendigo Foodshare’s heart and soul is its volunteers,” she said. “We have over 250 volunteers who work with us, but this is a new enterprise for us which means we need additional volunteers.

“The fair could be for people who have a real interest in books or even just an interest in meeting other people.”