On the Independence eve, a small group in Bengaluru started ‘1000 Book Project’ with the aim to donate books to rural children. Seif Sulthan, founder of Hope Foundation and a management trainer, initiated the project with aim to send 200 books each to remote schools in five different parts of the country.
Witnessing the deep urge among underprivileged kids of urban areas, Seif along with his small team, decided to send 200 books each to different parts of India that include Bhopal, Ladakh, Mizoram, Ahmedabad and Belthangady in Dakshina Kannada. The team is aiming to collect 1000 books, for which, they have roped in to many bloggers on networking sites.
The project was launched by Mangaluru City Police Commissioner TR Suresh, who accepted the first 10 books on Wednesday.
Speaking to a local daily, Seif said “Books are scarce there. Even the government school had few books. There were just about five books in the library. Also when we gave the children a magazine of the airlines, they were very excited to read it. The urge for reading among children is amazing. There is no internet or tabs there. Every reading material they get, they are excited about. That was when we thought of working on a project through which we can send books to five corners of India.”
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In an attempt to motivate people to donate books, they have also introduced prizes. “A lot of sponsors came forward wanting to do something. Anyone who comes and donates books will get a coupon that will go to a raffle draw. At the end of the project, about 10 winners will be selected. The total value of the gift vouchers will be about Rs 15,000. The campaign was out on social media on Monday evening and by Tuesday, they had about 165 books pledged, said Seif.
The 10-day project, launched on August 15, will go on till August 24. They are accepting new and good quality used books, but no text books or note books, because they are sending it to different parts of the country.
