Paige's Book Gallery owner Lesley Stead is participating in the Kiwi Christmas Books initiative. Photo / Olivia Reid
Paige's Book Gallery owner Lesley Stead is participating in the Kiwi Christmas Books initiative. Photo / Olivia Reid
New Zealand charity Kiwi Christmas Books is taking donations in Whanganui for the first time at Paige’s Book Gallery.
The charity was established in 2019 by creative writer Sonya Wilson with the premise of buying books to give to children at Christmas.
“Everyone can see that kids plus books equals a really good thing,” Wilson said.
Five years later and 43,000 brand-new books ($860,000 worth) have been donated to children throughout the country. This year Wilson hopes to have $140,000 of books donated to hit the $1 million mark.
In the months leading up to Christmas, participating bookstores will have a donation box for new books that can be bought from the store. The books are picked up by Kiwi Christmas Books and distributed by local charities.
Paige’s Book Gallery is the first and only store in Whanganui to participate in the initiative, meaning for the first time Whanganui children will receive books from the charity.
Kiwi Christmas Books will gift books to Whanganui children this Christmas.
“The books that are purchased will stay in Whanganui, they will go to Whanganui families,” Paige’s Book Gallery owner Lesley Stead said.
Whanganui’s selected charity is Birthright Whanganui but more local charities may receive donations to distribute, depending on how many books are donated at Paige’s.
In other towns and cities, the charities include refuge centres, children’s hospitals, food banks and children of mothers in prison.
A study from the University of Cambridge in 2023 found that socio-economic status affected children’s mental development but reading for pleasure resulted in increased brain development across all socio-economic statuses, even for children with lower IQs.
“It’s the gift that keeps on giving,” Wilson said.
Kiwi Christmas Books founder Sonya Wilson established the charity in 2019 for people to buy books to give to children at Christmas.
Stead said the reason she connected with Kiwi Christmas Books was because it was “the most excellent and simple concept” and it was also “achievable” to donate.
“If they say ‘well I’ve got $15 to spend’, we can help them select a book, then it’s placed in the container for collection in December.”
The charity takes any new books, from pop-up books for young children to young adult fiction, chapter books and non-fiction.
Paige’s Book Gallery has no specific goal other than to try to encourage as many people as possible to donate.
“It’s just the more, the better it will be for the children of Whanganui,” Stead said.
“I think it’s a very worthy charity and a very worthy project that they’ve undertaken and we’re fully supportive of it.”
Books can be purchased and donated at Paige’s Book Gallery or on the Kiwi Christmas Books website until December 11.
