2023 End of Financial Year Book Drive

Happy end of financial year! 

Shipping Updates

ABCA has accomplished a lot in the first 6 months of this year including:

•              A shipment of books to Gauteng, South Africa;

•              A shipment of books to Cape Town, South Africa;

•              A shipment of books to Nairobi, Kenya;

•              Books delivered to Zambia through our southern Africa division managed by Lauren Klevansky;

•              The first packing of books in Sydney since COVID temporarily suspended our Sydney operations. Thanks to Robyn Young, our Sydney manager and Richard Young, books have been collected by our shipping company and are on their way to Gauteng;

•              In Melbourne, we are waiting for the shipping company to pick up packed boxes of books destined for Durban, South Africa.

Philanthropic Update

Since ABCA was granted a Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR) status with the Australian Tax Office in 2022, which means that all donations of $2 and over are tax deductible, we have received two substantial philanthropic donations.

•              Thanks to an introduction from Janet Lambrou, the Harry Cohney Charitable Foundation took on the role of 2023 Patron of ABCA Africa (the Kenyan division of ABCA)  which allowed us to send a shipment of books to Kenya for the first time in many years and has enabled the manager of our Kenyan operation, Rosemary Odongo to secure space to store books for distribution.

•              Thanks to an introduction to ABCA by one of our directors Sisay Dinku a generous donation has recently been made by the Scanlon Foundation which will finance 2 further shipments of books to our southern African division.

Help Needed

We need your help. Our next task is to pack and ship much needed books to Port Elizabeth from our Melbourne headquarters. Due to the uptick in the number of shipments we are managing to organise this year, we have run low on books and packing boxes. It would be wondrous if you could spread the word to encourage quality book donations to ABCA. Our book nook at 15 Seaview Street is always open for drop-offs.

Thank Yous

As always thank you to you, our volunteers, for your ongoing book deliveries from close and far, for your loyalty and enthusiasm without which our operations would not be possible.

Thanks to Robyn Young and our Sydney volunteers who despite COVID lockdowns and restrictions kept the ABCA flag flying in Sydney so that we have been able to continue operations there.

Thanks to Lauren Klevansky and Andrea Wainer and all the other volunteers who look after the book deliveries and distributions in southern Africa, and for organising our second foray into Zambia.

Thanks to Rosemary Odongo as our ABCA Africa director for continuing to fly the ABCA flag in Kenya with sterling patience even when we were not able to get books there due to customs issues. We look forward to working with you to extend our ABCA presence in Kenya.

 Posted July 2023