Not mundane ... just amazing
When we hear of a fundraiser some just think ... 'ho hum'. Not so Howick Rotary who really know how to put on an event but also the true value of fundraisers. Here is their 'Twelve Winners" description of why their book fair was invaluable for the community and the club. You will rethink after reading this.From small, tentative beginnings in 2001 The Howick Rotary Club’s "Bookarama", second-hand book fair has grown into a major local event and fundraiser which has provided a win win win for everyone. It is not many Rotary projects which have a list of a dozen winners.
The first winner is the environment which benefits from the relocation of some 25,000 pre-loved books with new owners and the appropriate recycling of over 5 tonnes of waste paper rather than its consignment to landfill.
The second winners are the bibliophiles of Howick who get to purchase these pre-loved books, the majority of which have new prices in excess of $30, for just three dollars or less.
Winner number three is the Rotary Club of Howick, its members and their friends and family who for the six weeks of the campaign display a true spirit of teamwork and camaraderie to get the job done.
The fourth winner is the Rotary Clubs Charitable Trust fund which annually benefits from some $25,000 which is then applied through the club committees to community projects.
The fifth winners are the community groups who benefit from the distribution of these funds so that they can finance and progress their projects.
Winner number six is a fairly recent initiative. For the past four year’s a primary school in an adjacent less affluent area of Auckland have collected truckloads of leftover books with which they then conduct their own book sale.
The seventh winners are the school’s families who obtain books they normally couldn’t afford and so managed to have books in houses where their presence is a rarity.
Winners number eight are community groups associated with the school, early childhood centres, aged care facilities, churches etc to whom they donate appropriate parcels of their surplus books.
Winner number nine are the children who use any leftover books for craft projects, the products of which they sell at a big school gala day.
Tenth winners are the schoolchildren of Fiji who are sent all the surplus children’s books via a contact at the school.
Number eleven is the local Salvation Army to whom the school donate toys and other Christmas fare bought with the proceeds of their sales. These are then distributed to disadvantaged families in the area.
And finally winner number twelve are some of the school’s own children and their families who benefit from the Salvation Army Christmas fare.
So what started 12 years ago as a small fund-raising venture has grown into a many factored exercise which epitomises the Rotary test "of being beneficial to all concerned".