eKourier Oct 2016

CHARITY

One Small Gesture Can Mean The World To Another

Kennards Supporting The Community

I t’s amazing what can happen when human beings come together to help one another. One small gesture can mean the world to another. Joanne Ritchie Founder of Books For Fiji tells her story about how Books For Fiji was born and the journey so far. Kennards Self Storage donate boxes when needed to this worthwhile cause. “Books For Fiji (BFF) started in 2015. It was my first visit to Fiji but fortunately we have friends there, on the island of Taveuni. We were heartily welcomed into the local village of Sogulu near our friends’ house. After touring throughout the island we discovered the want and need for kid’s books. The schools have very little, and no libraries. I knew I could get wonderful books back here in the Northern Beaches of Sydney from my children’s old schools. Upon returning home I called the boys’ schools. Yes, they regularly cull the library shelves and I was welcome to come and get boxes of books. That was the beginning. Word got out via the International Association of School Library-ship, Oceania (IASL) and many schools responded. We now can get many good quality, already accessioned, library books. My husband and I collect the books throughout Sydney. I sort them into kindy, primary, secondary, fiction or

non-fiction and re-box them. We have now shipped eleven pallets of good quality library books to Fiji. The first pallets were quite fragile and not very stable, until Kennards Self Storage donated their strong medium size heavy duty boxes to our project. These are easily palletized storage boxes. They kindly continue to donate boxes for our shipments. The project now grows with a life of its own through the help of our many friends.”

“A huge thank you from Floraville School community (pictured above and below) to Kennards Self Storage at Belmont for providing discounted Kennards Boxes that we needed to ship our donations that the kids at the school collected for Fiji. We sincerely appreciate your support.” Jenny White, Deputy Principal, Floraville Public School.

Joanne Ritchie, Books For Fiji.

Sharon Dux EA to MD

18 Kennards Kourier Oct 2016