Host a ‘Great Book Swap’ 2021

The Great Book Swap is a fantastic way to celebrate reading, and raise much-needed funds for remote communities. Schools, workplaces, libraries, universities, book clubs, individuals and all kinds of organisations can host one. The idea is to swap a favourite book in exchange for a gold coin donation.

Here’s a letter from Executive Director Karen Williams—-

“The Great Book Swap is back and registrations for 2021 are now open. Register your school, library or organisation to hold a Great Book Swap anytime throughout the year. Last year the pandemic stopped many individuals, schools and organisations from hosting a Great Book Swap, but we’re hoping 2021 will be our biggest year yet.

“We are aiming to raise $350,000 to gift 35,000 culturally relevant books to children in remote Australia and we need your help! Visit our new-look website, and access some great features and resources to help make fundraising easier, fun and more successful than ever.

“Why not check to see if a Great Book Swap aligns to your organisation’s Reconciliation Action Plan, or you can ask your employer to match donations? It is also a great conversation starter to get teams talking and sharing their reading interests and passions.

“Get ready to celebrate reading, hold your business or organisation to their social responsibilities, and raise funds for an excellent cause.”

REGISTER NOW

Holding the Great Book Swap brought us together as a team, we had a chance to share our love of reading and raise money for an excellent cause.”—-Alice Dickins, Heide Museum of Modern Art.

Thank you for your support.

Happy swapping!

Karen Williams
Executive Director.

“READING OPENS DOORS”
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Indigenous Literacy Foundation
https://www.indigenousliteracyfoundation.org.au/

I reckon swapping could work for little Street Libraries with a BBQ and live music 🙂

♥ Gretchen Bernet-Ward

Indigenous Literacy Day

Indigenous Literacy Day 2018

You have the month of September to sign up to the new Indigenous Literacy Day fundraising campaign and fill your virtual shelf with books for children in remote communities. Participate in the launch on Wednesday 5 September and discover how to fill a bookshelf for children in the remote Australian outback.

It’s something new, something a little different, something the Indigenous Literacy Foundation believes you’ll enjoy sharing with your friends and family, and something that gives you the opportunity of ensuring kids in remote communities have access to quality, new books.

Commencing on Indigenous Literacy Day (5 September 2018) the new ‘Fill a Bookshelf’ fundraising campaign aims to raise $300,000 to help ILF gift 30,000 new books to schools and service organisations in remote communities where books are scarce.

How does it work? The idea is simple…

Sign up online to create a fundraising page and receive an empty virtual bookshelf.
Ask family, friends, colleagues to donate a virtual book to your page (in the form of a donation)
Fill your virtual bookshelf!
Change the lives of Indigenous children.

Your donations will help buy new, carefully selected books for children who have none. To put it quite simply – without your support, in a very real sense – bookshelves in remote Indigenous communities are empty.

All children in Australia deserve the same opportunities – in education, employment, health and wellbeing. Evidence shows that literacy is the pathway to CHOICE for these opportunities, and BOOKS are the building blocks for literacy. If you believe this too, sign up today!

I BELIEVE – SIGN ME UP ‘Fill a Bookshelf’ and celebrate Indigenous Literacy Day!

The Indigenous Literacy Foundation
PO Box 663 Broadway NSW 2007
Australia

Indigenous Literacy Day is a national celebration of Indigenous culture, stories, language and literacy. Indigenous Literacy Day aims to raise awareness of the need to support literacy in remote and isolated Indigenous communities of Australia.

Indigenous Childrens Book Moli Det BigiBigi — ‘Moli det bigibigi’ (Molly the Pig) a new children’s picture book written by Karen Manbulloo, from the remote Binjari community near Katherine in the Northern Territory. Written in Kriol and English, ‘Moli det bigibigi’ is a story based on a real-life pet pig of the Binjari community, found in the bush by Karen’s brother.

♥ Gretchen Bernet-Ward

‘Don’t Keep History A Mystery’

Read a story which is thousands of years old. I’d like to share the email I received from Mr Miller on National Sorry Day and to commemorate National Reconciliation Week––

“My name is Glen Miller, I am a Board Director of the Indigenous Literacy Foundation and a descendant of the Butchulla people of the Fraser coast (Queensland). Today we acknowledge the 10th anniversary of National Sorry Day, a milestone in Australia’s history. This National Day of Healing is at the heart of our steps towards reconciliation. Tomorrow marks the beginning of National Reconciliation Week and we reflect on this year’s theme: ‘LEARN, SHARE, GROW – DON’T KEEP HISTORY A MYSTERY’. Here, we are invited to explore our past as a country; learn, share and acknowledge the rich histories and cultures of the First Australians; and develop a deeper understanding of our national story.

“Today I would like to share a story that is thousands of years old, that has been passed on from one generation to the next, and nearly came to be lost…

“For many thousands of years the Butchulla people have been travelling between Queensland’s K’Gari (Fraser Island) and the mainland; catching winter mullet in stone fish traps set along Hervey Bay and trading with the mob up around the Bunya mountains. There are three laws that the Butchulla people live by: 1) What’s best for the land comes first, 2) If you have plenty, you must share, and 3) Do not touch or take anything that does not belong to you.

“While these were the laws that were taught to the children, they were also told stories that describe the origin of the land: The Legends of Moonie Jarl. These stories tell how the wallaby got its pouch, how the boomerang was invented, and how the little firebird came to have that bright scarlet spot on its back. These stories were told to me as a boy by my uncle Wilfy in the The Legends of Moonie Jarl. The year was 1964 and it was the first Aboriginal children’s book published and authored by Aboriginal people.

“Three years after its publication, Indigenous people were finally recognised as Australian citizens and 50 years on the stories continue to be shared among the Butchulla people. In 2014, our Foundation re-published The Legends of Moonie Jarl so now the stories are available to share with all Australian children.

Indigenous Literacy Foundation “A book isn’t just for reading; it’s more powerful than the information it provides. Reconciliation Week is an opportunity to look at the truths that need to be told and celebrate our stories. This National Reconciliation Week I invite you to learn and share these rich histories and cultures of Indigenous people, and develop a deeper understanding of our national story. Please support the work of our Foundation by purchasing a copy of The Legends of Moonie Jarl or making a donation.”