Christmas Book Drive

This winter, with your help, we’ll be getting books into the hands of readers young and old, teaming up with three brilliant organisations: Streetreads, Home-Start Edinburgh and Ecole du Bon Berger.

You’ll find book requests from the three organisations hanging from the Christmas tree in our shop, and we’ll be happy to help you pick out an appropriate book if you’re looking to donate one. You can also use the option below to make a donation which will be used to purchase books to give to each charity and the people they support before Christmas. We’ll hand wrap all the books and we’ll post an update later in December, when they have been handed over.

We donate books to these charities and others year round, and as part of our local school’s donation programme. If you’d ever like to donate after December you can contact us or see the Local School’s Donations page on our website.

Streetreads

Streetreads work tirelessly to get books into the hands of homeless readers, giving away great reads to those in need of them.

Streetreads at Simon Community Scotland has been taking books out to individual rough sleepers, soup kitchens, night shelters and refuges since 2016. It’s always been about connecting people to books, taking books to people wherever they may be and in whatever way they need to access them. Like all our work, Streetreads offers a really tailored service. We work closely with people on the street and in hostels to find out what interests them, what they want to read and what book format works best for them – written or audio, in English or in another language. This means we request donations of exactly what is wanted and needed. More than a book, it is a personally tailored gift in a condition you would be happy to give to a friend or relative. We also provide some ‘take and share’ bookshelves in different locations where donated books can be picked up easily.

Home-Start

Home-Start Leith & North East Edinburgh are a Leith-based charity that work to get books into the hands of vulnerable children and young readers. We’ve worked with them in the past couple of years and were so pleased, with our customers’ donations, to be able to hand over hundreds of wrapped books just before Christmas Day for children across the city.

There can be many reasons why parents ask for our help including feeling isolated in their community, depression or post-natal depression, struggling to cope because of their own or a child’s physical or mental illness, crisis or bereavement within the family, or requiring additional support because of the emotional and physical demands of having twins or triplets. Our volunteers visit families once a week for a couple of hours and they provide non-judgemental practical and emotional support and help build the family’s confidence and ability to cope. The pandemic has had a severe impact on families in our community. The number of families who are homeless has increased dramatically. Families are needing to make tough financial decisions such as heating their homes or buying food, so their capacity to provide a rich Christmas experience normal for so many, will be limited.

We know that books are so enriching to a child’s life, not just because they support their development, but also because they provide a means to escape and to enter into the life of a story, to dream, and to imagine. If you can, support us this Christmas to support our local families in need… because childhood can’t wait.

Ecole du Bon Berger

Ecole du Bon Berger is a unique school based in Rwanda. Founded in 2017 by Justine and Robert Murenzi, mum and brother of Benjamin, co-founder of Tanifiki Coffee Shop (our neighbour!), the school is the first of its kind in the Bugesera district, with 50 staff members and over 600 pupils, giving a high-standard education in French, English and Kinyarwanda. We’re delighted to be working with them for the first time this year, to help get books for their school library and pupils.