Books for sale all in a good cause

Cliff Robinson reckons every child deserves a bedtime story.

Robinson, Timaru Rotary Club’s Bookarama convenor, is a firm believer books will be around for a long time to come, in spite of modern options.

‘‘There will always be a demand for books, particularly children’s books,’’ he said.

Bookarama is an annual event fundraising for different small charities, and every year thousands of books are donated.

‘‘We have people from Timaru and Pleasant Point donating books in good condition and we have thousands of books on display. Some people drop them off during the year and we have boxes at ser- vice stations that are sorted and categorised for the event,’’ he said.

Bookarama is not restricted to books. It has a wide range of old records, CDs, cassettes, DVDs and videos.

The event will have a team of three to six volunteers helping out during the week of the event. However, help and membership is hard to come by.

‘‘Young people are not working hard enough to pay us a decent pension. They should take more interest in the club because if we don’t get the support we will have no option but to close up shop,’’ member John O’Reilly said.

People who help are helping local groups, because the funds raised go out to the community, Robinson said.

He is grateful for the support given by the business community, including the loan of the building being used for Bookarama.

‘‘We are expecting queues of people waiting to get in [on opening day]. As long as I can sell the books and people get a good deal [it will be a successful event].’’

Bookarama will run from June 7-14 at the corner of North and Latter streets. Tuesday is the last day to drop off books at local service stations.