The final cheque has arrived, the last penny has been counted, and the 2020 Times Colonist Literacy Society fundraiser has been a huge success — one for the books, you might say.
This year, even though COVID-19 made it too risky to hold our usual book drive and sale, we raised $125,206.55 for literacy work on Vancouver Island.
That is down from the $165,000 we raised with last year’s book sale, but let’s keep it in perspective.
Our first book drive, in 1998, raised $20,800. It was not until our sixth sale, in 2003, that we cracked the $100,000 barrier for the first time.
Over the years, we have donated $5 million to literacy work and school libraries — all possible because thousands of volunteers collected and sorted used books, and thousands of book lovers donated old books and bought new ones.
This year, we were determined to continue our fundraising work, even if we could not bring crowds together for a book sale — so we asked for help.
That $125,000 came in 291 donations, including a big one this week: The Golf for Kids organization, a long-time supporter of our literacy work, sent a cheque for $15,000.
“With overall fundraising activities greatly reduced as a result of COVID it is critical that quality organizations such as the Times Colonist continue to set the standard for community support,” Dale Douglas said in his note accompanying the money.
The non-profit Times Colonist Literacy Society runs the fundraising work with the help of the Times Colonist. Last Friday, the newspaper donated $1 for every copy sold at a newsstand. That meant $4,269 more for the fund.
Some of this year’s donations were large — including $10,000 from the Oak Bay Firefighters and $30,000 from a private donor who chose to remain anonymous. Our mini-drive in August brought $30,000 from Russell Books, which bought all of the donated items.
There were many smaller donations, with plenty in the $25 to $100 range. They came from readers like you, and from many of the people who would have volunteered at our book sale. (Let’s hope we are able to have a sale next year, so we can see them all again.)
Thanks to everyone who donated. Your commitment to literacy is appreciated, and it will make a difference.
That $125,000 will be supplemented by a grant from Decoda Literacy Solutions, which handles literacy work on behalf of the provincial Ministry of Education. The annual grant is based on our ability to raise funds, and as soon as we know the amount, we will let our readers know.
Collecting money is only the start. The fun part is distributing the money to literacy organizations and school libraries, with a goal of giving more people the gift of reading.
We are asking for applications from interested organizations, and an application form is on our website.
The application deadline is Nov. 30. Our goal is to review all applications in early December, and distribute the money by the end of the year.
This year’s effort is already paying dividends. When Russell Books collected all of those boxes of books back in August, it had more books than the store could hope to sell — so thousands of books were made available to local organizations at no cost.
The region’s Little Free Libraries were restocked, as were the library shelves at the Wilkinson Road jail and Our Place.
Some books were shipped overseas. A small library in a village in Ghana is better off, thanks to the support of Greater Victoria’s readers.
In other words, your generosity has already made a difference. And there will be much more to come when we start to hand out the cheques.
We will continue to take donations, giving our 2021 efforts a head start. You can donate online, or you mail cheques to the Times Colonist Literacy Society, 201-655 Tyee Rd., Victoria V9A 6X5.
Thanks to everyone!
dobee@timescolonist.com
