Cape Town - As part of their community outreach, Liberty Promenade Mall is looking to beat last year’s book collection drive record in hopes of uplifting communities.
With just over 13 400 books being donated and distributed to schools, the intention with the 2022 campaign is to beat that number and place a focus on collecting children’s books in order to address this specific need.
Marketing manager at Liberty Promenade, Najeeba Ebrahim, said that as a community-focussed mall, contributing to uplifting the community had been the centre of their purpose
“During our visits to local, government schools in Mitchells Plain last year we discovered that there are many schools who have either no library facilities or a limited library facility and a dire need for reading books.
“As Liberty Promenade we’re extremely proud of the role we as a mall play within this incredible community of Mitchells Plain. And because we are passionate about education initiatives, we wanted to promote the importance of reading. There are so many benefits of reading. It expands children’s vocabulary, it improves their concentration, it assists with communication, it improves their writing skills.
“Last year we knew we set an overly ambitious target. But we are absolutely humbled by the response from the public. We received tons of books and were very thankful for the community’s contributions toward this initiative that will change the narrative for so many deserving learners,” said Ebrahim.
Beneficiary high schools include Oval North, Westridge, Beacon Hill, Tafelsig and Portland, as well as AZ Berman, Hyacinth, Beacon View, Cascade and Mitchells Plain primary schools.
As the centre sets their eyes on the 10 schools, Oval North High principal Nazeem Jacobs said this initiative would help pupils in the community and open up their minds, allowing them to enter a different world.
“We have seen how some learners experience difficulty reading and I always tell parents that spending less time on their cellphones and more time reading is the first step to improving their results.
“We encourage reading at our school and remind learners to make sure they have a library card. Starting from Grade 8, we encourage kids to share the list of books they have read through the holidays. You can’t go anywhere without reading. It truly opens your mind and allows you to enter a different world,” said Jacobs.
Collection points have been set up in the mall’s Food District and Information Desk. Books can be dropped off in line with the mall’s trading hours until September 17.