Cape Town - The Liberty Promenade Liberty Promenade Mall in Mitchells Plain has called on Capetonians to help them change the storyline for learners by donating books to 10 Mitchells Plain schools in dire need of reading material, through the mall’s Read Dream Repeat campaign.
The schools are looking for activity books, reading books, coffee table books and encyclopaedias, but mainly reading material fit for children under the age of 18.
The public and businesses can drop off new or pre-loved books until September 17 at the Food District or information desk at Liberty Promenade Mall.
Mall marketing manager Najeeba Small-Ebrahim said the Mitchells Plain schools were Oval North, Westridge, Beacon Hill, Tafelsig and Portland high schools and AZ Berman, Hyacinth, Beacon View, Cascade and Mitchells Plain primary schools.
Nazeem Jacobs, principal of Oval North High, said: “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.”
Jacobs said they encouraged reading and reminded learners at the school to make sure they had a library card.
During visits to public schools in Mitchells Plain last year, Liberty Promenade discovered there were many schools which either had no library facilities or limited library facilities, and were in dire need of books.
This prompted them to start the Read Dream Repeat campaign to promote the importance of reading.
Last year’s book collection drive saw over 13 400 books being donated and distributed to various schools but the intention with the 2022 campaign was to beat that number and place a focus on collecting children’s books to address this specific need.
Heart FM helped this initiative with an outside broadcast from the mall on August 13 to encourage their listeners to donate and support the book drive.
To date, 3 821 books have been collected.
Liberty Promenade general manager Brenda Bibby said: “As a community-focused mall, contributing to uplifting the community is central to our purpose. We see this initiative as a fitting opportunity to bring back this campaign that has the potential to, once again, make a lasting contribution to the schools in our area.”