Books Abroad

-      Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been working with Books Abroad, a Charity in Rhynie whom send books across the world to disadvantaged countries.  My work with them has contributed to part of my studies, as I’m currently out of uni for a 6 week work placement.  Whilst here, I’ve been given the task of looking over their social media, as well as taking a look at their promotional materials and looking into ways to help them gain some sort of media coverage.  This is exactly the type of work that I want to be moving into when I finish my studies, and so I’m absolutely delighted that they have given me such an opportunity to give it a try.

The charity founded as LINK in 1982, and were initially based in a cupboard in the Brander Library in Huntly.  In 1991 they moved to their current offices in Rhynie and changed the name to Books Abroad.  Years later, they expanded into the adjacent warehouse units where they now stock their hundreds of books that are kindly donated by various schools, libraries, individuals and organisations. Currently, their output sits at 125,000 books per annum, which is a fantastic figure for a little charity from the North East of Scotland!  The majority of the work at Books Abroad is carried out by unpaid volunteers, who give up a couple of hours every Monday and Wednesday to help sort out the books and have them ready for shipments.

Since starting back in 1982, Books Abroad have assisted over 2,100 schools and other organisations world-wide with new requests for books arriving daily.  Recently, they have been working hard and sending large shipments of books in 20 foot containers to in-country partner organisations such as library services or local charities who distribute the books to their client schools on their behalf.  It can take months for shipments to be organised and ready to be sent off, and so it’s a great achievement to see these being packed off and sent away for all of the volunteers!

The majority of the funding that Books Abroad receives is provided by a variety of charitable trusts and foundations to whom they are extremely grateful.  The remainder comes from membership fees, donations, and fundraising events.  Without the funds, Books Abroad would not be able to carry out the fantastic work that it does on a daily basis.  They currently only have one part time member of paid staff, who works on being the person of contact by taking calls, replying to emails and ensuring that shipments are being received by the people to whom they are sent off to.  The rest of the work is completed completely free of charge by the volunteers.

Books Abroad are always looking for volunteers to help out in the warehouse.  It’s an extremely rewarding project to be a part of, and when the charity have the opportunity to help others across the world, whom may not have the reading materials that they have today had it not been for them, is something that I think should be recognised by everyone far and near.  They are always on the lookout for book donations too, as they receive new requests every day for books to be sent across the globe.

If you would be interested in joining the dedicated volunteers at Books Abroad, or you would simply like to help out by dropping off some books, you can send an email to info@booksabroad.org.uk

You can also make a cash donation to the charity via Vodafone Text Giving by sending a text to 70070, quoting " Book43 " followed by the amount you would like to donate e.g. £1, £3, £5etc.  Text donations are free to Vodafone customers, whilst other networks may charge you for your text.  All proceeds go directly to Books Abroad, making it a great and worthwhile tool for the charity to take advantage of.

If you would like to know more about what it is that the charity does, or have any queries at all, please feel free to leave a comment below.  I’m here with the charity until the middle of March, and so I am more than willing to help them spread the word in any way, shape or form.

You can also check out their Facebook and Twitter pages (I've been helping to run them recently, so you should definitely give them a like/follow) by searching for @booksabroad

Until the next one,

Lauren x