Read between the lines

Major Rotary fundraiser promotes love of books

Once again, the Rotary Club of Mount Gambier has been inundated with donations of quality books for its annual Book Fair with volunteers now working around the clock to sort the generous donations in readiness for their October 14 and 15 event.

The event was first held in 2014 and since then has raised tens of thousands of dollars for local community charities and Rotary projects, averaging around $7000 in funds raised over the past few events. This year’s event will see the majority of the money raised diverted into mental health projects and services, including the local headspace, with some being earmarked for the RFDS.

President Ian McDougall said choosing the beneficiaries had been an easy choice. “We hear so much about mental health now, especially in young people, and we want to be able to help with that,” he said. “The RFDS is also a great cause and some of our members have had to used the service more than once.”

While it is a focus, the Book Fair is not just about the funds raised. There’s also a strong motivation to get young people in particular interested in reading. In fact, it was in 2021 that the Book Fair decided to offer all children’s books free of charge, and that initiative has become a mainstay of the event.

It’s a sad fact that many households simply don’t have books available for kids to read, with electronic devices dominating their spare time. Being able to sit down and read and enjoy a book is a skill worth encouraging as it stimulates imagination and creative thinking much more than a video game.

While adult books do have to be purchased, they sell for only a dollar or two, so again the Book Fair offers a chance for the whole family to stock up on many hours’ worth of reading at very little cost.

In the lead up to the Book Fair, Rotarians are now spending hours at their shed on HastingsCunningham Reserve, sorting through the many thousands of donated volumes. They cover everything from humour, through gardening, cooking, Australiana, nature and geography, militaria, religion, art, motoring, railways, business, self-help, sport and of course a huge number of novels and general fiction titles.

This year, the club had four bins located at Big W, ABC South East, the Mount Gambier Library and Coles and it resulted in thousands of books being donated to the club for the major fundraiser.

“We have just been inundated with quality books,” Mr McDougall said. “We get so many great books from readers who want to send their books to other people for them to enjoy.”

ROLLING THEIR SLEEVES UP: (top) Pat McEwen, Julian Mattay, Ian McDougall, Bruce Ridland & John Buchanan sorting books in 2022.