TL;DR – The annual Share-A-Textbook project is here and you can donate your pre-loved textbooks at all FairPrice stores.
NTUC FairPrice launched its annual year-end Share-A-Textbook project where instead of throwing away used textbooks, the public can donate them to the under-privileged. Mr Seah Kian Peng, chief executive officer of NTUC FairPrice, said:
“Each book we collect and each book we put into the hands of others is more than just an act of giving. It’s a platform to share knowledge and even memories with those who receive it.”
The project is now in its 34th year and here are some other numbers to think about:
The supermarket chain first started the Used Textbooks Project in 1983 and later rebranded as Share-A-Textbook in 2010.
The number of books they hope to collect this year.
The number of students who will benefit from this project. NTUC FairPrice has worked with volunteer welfare organisations and Community Development Councils to shortlist these students from low-income families, aged seven to 16.
Besides Changi City Point, you can also donate textbooks at all 159 FairPrice stores islandwide from now until Dec 4. This includes all FairPrice Finest supermarkets, FairPrice Xtra hypermarkets, Warehouse Club and FairPrice Xpress outlets. Some FairPrice stores do not have book dropboxes, but you can pass your books to the cashiers.
This project will also help the environment as it recycles the books. Singapore saw 1.1 million tonnes of paper disposal last year.
Over the past 33 years, more than 3.9 million textbooks had been collected.
If all the books collected thus far were laid out end-to-end, we will be able to circle Singapore’s coastline 5.4 times.
This equates to saving more than 37,620 trees and,
Has since helped some 220,000 students save on textbooks expenses.
The number of volunteers so far, and they need more. Interested parties can e-mail fptextbook@fairprice.com.sg