Last Minute Gift Ideas That Give Back

December 21, 2018

Whether you forgot to buy someone a present or you’ve avoided shopping until now, here are two gift ideas that will also support projects from the Canadian librarianship community:

Indigo eGift Card

When you purchase an Indigo eGift Card through this fundraiser, 20% of the value of the gift card is provided to  the GELA Prison Storybook Project.

The Storybook Project is the Greater Edmonton Library Association’s (GELA) longest-running program to date. Since 2008, the project has worked with women who are incarcerated, to support their connections with their children, grandchildren, siblings, nieces, or nephews — or any child in their family. GELA volunteers acquire new picture books and other books for young readers that we bring to the prison. A woman will choose one of the books, and read it aloud, while a GELA volunteer records the reading. GELA then packages the recording and the book to send to the child.

We have sent out over 2000 packages to young people on behalf of their relatives. This program is fully volunteer-run and funded by GELA’s fundraising endeavours. Your decision to donate proceeds towards this project means so much to children and adults who are involved.

Note: You can make other online purchases from Indigo via this fundraiser, but the amount provided to GELA is lower (3% for purchases of Books, Style, Paper, Home, and Kids products).

Bites by the Books: A Cookbook from the Canadian Librarianship Community [PDF edition]

It’s not too late to purchase and download a PDF copy of Librarianship.ca’s Bites by the Books: A Cookbook from the Canadian Librarianship Community.

Five dollars ($5) from each purchase will be contributed to these two initiatives:

• GELA Prison Storybook Project
• Twice Upon a Time

GELA Prison Storybook Project

The Storybook Project is the Greater Edmonton Library Association’s (GELA) longest-running program to date. Since 2008, the project has worked with women who are incarcerated, to support their connections with their children, grandchildren, siblings, nieces, or nephews — or any child in their family. GELA volunteers acquire new picture books and other books for young readers that we bring to the prison. A woman will choose one of the books, and read it aloud, while a GELA volunteer records the reading. GELA then packages the recording and the book to send to the child.

We have sent out over 2000 packages to young people on behalf of their relatives. This program is fully volunteer-run and funded by GELA’s fundraising endeavours. Your decision to donate proceeds towards this project means so much to children and adults who are involved.

Twice Upon a Time

Twice Upon a Time: free books for Ottawa’s kids, is a volunteer run organization that provides free books for children from birth to twelve years old. Our mission is to support early literacy skills and foster a love of reading through book ownership by making books available in the home. Children who visit any of our locations can choose a book for themselves to keep for free, each time they visit. Our books are received through donations and purchases, and are carefully sorted to ensure that the books we give to children are in new or near-new condition. Twice Upon a Time was founded in 2014 by a diverse group of volunteers who are passionate about early literacy and books.

On #GivingTuesday 2018, Twice Upon a Time launched its newest annual Development Appeal Campaign – Joie de livre! French Books for Ottawa’s Kids. This is our major project of building capacity to meet the urgent demand for French language materials. 28% of books chosen by children at our sites are in French. Much of the French language material donated is dated, of poor quality or not representative of our community. This means we must supplement French donations in order to offer adequate and appropriate material for the children who visit.