Former service leader to Room to Read, Zoe Pringiers had the idea of using existing book donations to benefit our cause by making a second-hand bookstore. This initiative allows us to establish a regular source of income for our objects while also promoting sustainability as the initiative leads to a reduced environmental footprint.
Our service constantly receives book donations from people in our community, we felt that both our service and community could benefit from a secondhand bookshop. Knowing this, we immediately started taking action. Thevuni (my co-leader) and I had a meeting with our service teacher to plan and organise upcoming sessions so we could operate smoothly and effectively.
Ex-leaders Liam and Zoe along with myself and Thevuni had a meeting with Dr Kleiss to select a room where we felt would be most appropriate, we had finalised that the SCN Meeting Room would work as it is not in active use and the bookshop would be a better use of the space.
Because we had a wide variety of books we wanted to develop a category system where each book would fall, we had four categories: kids, middle school, young adult and adult. Non-fiction books were a separate category.
Along with the actual books we wanted to make sure the space itself was inviting. Initially, it looked very clinical, to change this we added fairy lights and shelves and tables against every wall. This made it feel more welcoming.
As for accounting and management, we currently operate with Google Sheets. All service members sign up to work the shop at specific times (initial operating hours: Tuesday after-school, Wednesday lunch, Thursday after-school).
So far we have raised 12,000 rupees in selling both books and board games
Retail Prices
- Board Games – Rs. 5000
- Paperback – Rs. 500
- Hardcover – Rs. 1000
Learning Outcomes
- LO4: Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences
- LO5: Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively
- LO6: Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance