Photo courtesy of the Red Deer Christmas Bureau Facebook page.
The Red Deer Christmas Bureau's third annual Book and Bottle Drive is today (Jan. 11).
Central Albertans can donate their gently used books and bottles, along with artificial Christmas trees and decorations at the Red Deer Christmas Bureau (#2 4630 61 St.) between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.
“The Book Drive is to collect books for our literacy centre,” said Teresa Kutynec, President of the Red Deer Christmas Bureau. “Any books we can't use, we will have a book sale at the end of January.”
Books for all age groups, and all genres are accepted, Kutynec just asks that magazines and encyclopedias are not donated.
“Retired teachers will go through all of the books, pick out the ones that our client's children would like, and save them for Christmas time,” Kutynec said.
Any donations that aren’t saved for clients will be sold at the community book sale on Jan. 25, in support of the Red Deer Christmas Bureau’s Literacy Program.
The community response to the bottle drive has been very successful, collecting 10,000 books in the first year, and raising approximately $6,000 from last year's book sale.
“We thought this would be a great fundraiser during the off-season for us, and it’s been very successful,” Kutynec said.
She is hopeful that the Book and Bottle Drive will remind Central Albertans that the Christmas Bureau accepts donations year-round.
Anyone interested in donating is encouraged to call the Red Deer Christmas Bureau at 403-347-2210 or visit their website for more information.
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