The Lions Club wrapped up its “biggest ever” book fair on Sunday, raising approximately $60,000 and rehoming at least 25,000 books.
This year’s funds mark an increase of around $7000 on last year’s total, with club secretary Helen Williams saying it may be a sign that books are back.
“I just think people are back into books. You know, ditching things they’ve been watching and just really enjoying it again.”
She says the team was thrilled to see children’s enthusiasm for reading.
“We looked around and found a little girl sitting under the table in an empty banana box with a book. It made our day.”
The club starts collecting for the sale throughout the year, with public donations opening in September.
Helen says they received more than 450 banana boxes of fiction books alone and donations were among the highest quality they’ve seen.
Money raised will be spread across community initiatives, with much of the Lions’ focus on youth programmes, sports teams and local charities.
The team is now focusing their efforts on rehoming leftover books to the Kaikōura Lions, rest homes and refugee families.
Helen says the success of the sale is testament to the community’s generosity.
“This is the biggest sale we’ve had and the books this year have just been amazing. We’ve really got to thank the Marlborough public for all their donations.”
