Donate Your Books
Natalie Appleton
Did you know the books in your home could help Calgary children become stronger readers? Read on to find out what to donate to Calgary Reads Big Book Sale—and when—so there are more books and more proceeds to support critical early childhood reading work in our community.Get ready to donate books to help children get critical early childhood reading support
How many books are sitting on shelves in your spare room or living room that may never be opened again? Beyond the books that we might consider absolute favourites, most of us never read a book twice. So, why not give the books you’ve read to a good cause: Calgary Reads Big Book Sale.
Now in its second year of being stewarded by our Rotary Club, we’re gearing up for the 20th Big Book Sale, being held May 10-20 at the Calgary Curling Club. While our hundreds of volunteers can’t wait to open the doors to thousands of eager readers, what comes first is the even more important phase: collecting donated books!
Last year, 200,000 books across all genres made it to our sale tables and garnered proceeds of nearly $501,000. Those dollars support nearly a dozen local early literacy initiatives that help children get books of their own, rich reading experiences, strong reading role models and critical advocacy. Examples range from Early Talks—which guides caregivers in improving back-and-forth talk with infants so children have more words to be school-ready—to the literacy-infused mentoring of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Calgary and area, which trains volunteers to help kids strengthen reading skills and confidence using the free, open-sourced weeread.ca.
Helping children become joyful, confident readers sets children up for success so they can shift from learning to read, to reading to learn. This support has never been more important, and donating your gently used books is an easy way to have a big impact.
What kinds of books can you donate?
The list of what we do sell is surprisingly long, and even includes audiobooks, DVD’s and collectibles. A better question is what can you not donate?
We cannot accept: textbooks, dictionaries, encyclopedias, Readers Digest, bibles or other religious books, Harlequin, Avon or Signet romances, magazines (including National Geographic), or book sets such as the Time/Life series.
Where and when can books be donated?
- Calgary Curling Club
April 26, 9am-5pm
April 27-May 5, 9am-8pm weekdays; 9am-5pm weekends
This is the best way to donate books, but we also come to the community at these three donation events:
- Stuff-a-Truck Events
#1
Saturday, April 27
10 am – 1 pm
Melcor YMCA NW (upper lot)
8100 John Laurie Blvd
#2
Saturday, April 27
12-3 pm
Jayman BUILT
3132 118 Ave SE
#3
Sunday, April 28
10am-1pm
Rundle College SW
7375 17 Ave SW
Just pull up, open your trunk and volunteers will load your boxes into the truck!
To learn more about donating books and how we’re raising the next generation of readers through Calgary Reads Big Book Sale, visit www.bigbooksale.ca