FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE- Saturday March 1, 2025
This is the third year of the sale that supports literacy programs in local jails.
Timed to celebrate World Book Day, the Free to Read Book Sale is taking place in the main concourse of the Old Quebec Street Shoppes and will feature over 7500 books for sale! Donations of books can be dropped off at the Tool Library and other locations around Guelph starting Saturday March 1, 2025.
The Guelph Tool Library hopes to collect and sell 7500 books in 2025 through donations from the public and book drives by community partners. The sale is in support of the Books for Inmates Program, a program that supports literacy programs in correctional facilities across Southwestern Ontario. One of the challenges for the Books for Inmates Program is to acquire the necessary books for literacy programs. Desired books, such as technical books and books in other languages, are typically not donated. The book sale hopes to sell those books that are frequently donated, such as best sellers and detective stories, and use the proceeds to purchase the desired books for the literacy programs.
The Guelph Tool Library is partnering with a number of groups in Guelph to collect books and support the program. Donation boxes are set up at the Guelph Tool Library, Habitat for Humanity ReStore, the Guelph Grotto Climbing Gym, the Guelph Bible Chapel, and All Saints Lutheran Anglican Church.
Students from Guelph Collegiate Vocational Institute are also doing a book drive with students leading the effort. The Guelph Tool Library also continues to look for other community partners that will act as drop off locations for the book donations.
Free to Read Coordinator, John Dennis stated
“all the books will be $1 each and we will have many different categories for shoppers to browse through. This is our third year and the book sale continues to grow. We hope that readers in Guelph will donate books to this worthy cause and come shopping to find some great bargains and help us meet our fundraising goals.”
The Books for Inmates Programs serves the nearly 4000 people that are incarcerated in provincial correctional facilities in Southern Ontario on any given day.
Wilma Alexander has been collecting donated books for literacy programs in Correctional Facilities since 1995 and she has delivered more than 40,000 books.
Wilma stated that
"The Books for Inmates program looks for thrillers, books in other languages, and popular reading, but also tries to supply the huge demand for educational material, self-help, biography, science, history, and especially dictionaries! The underlying aim of her project is to redirect surplus and underused material to people who need and value it, thereby providing benefit to both the donors and the recipients of the books."
The collection drive launches Saturday March 1st. Anyone wishing to donate gently used books can drop them off at one of several locations throughout the city, including The Guelph Tool Library, Guelph Grotto, Habitat for Humanity ReStore, and the All Saints Lutheran Anglican Church.
The program organizers ask that any books donated are undamaged, not written in, and with no missing pages.
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