Blackwell's rolls out Christmas 'Giving Trees' for children's charities

Blackwell’s stores are expecting a surge of book donations this year with the chain's annual Christmas "Giving Trees" scheme.

Branches in Manchester, Oxford, Cambridge and Edinburgh are all participating in the scheme, which supports local charities by providing books to children who may not receive them at Christmas. As in previous years, customers visit the bookshop, pick a tag from the tree, and buy a book to donate that fits the description on the tag. 

The scheme has run for more than a decade, and was first rolled out in the Edinburgh branch. "Our customers love our Giving Tree and have supported it tremendously over the years," said Fiona McDonald, children’s department manager at Blackwell’s Edinburgh. "When people are doing their Christmas shopping, they frequently think about other people, and the Giving Tree provides that mechanism for them to benefit local children who can experience the joy of a brand new book at Christmas, especially if it’s one they have requested."

The Edinburgh Giving Tree will support charities including Edinburgh Young Carer's Project, Seaview Respite Centre, Children's Hospice Association Scotland, Citadel Youth Centre, Moredun Young People's Centre, Northfield Young People's Centre and Ripple Retreat.

In Manchester, the chain is working with the South Central Foodbank. Paul Thornton, manager at the Manchester branch, said: "People might not necessarily associate books with food banks, however, when we were looking for an appropriate charity for this year’s Giving Tree scheme, our local food bank seemed to be a great choice, as it means that families who use food banks will now also be able to have brand new books this Christmas."

Jacari, a charity which provides free one-to-one tutoring for disadvantaged migrant, asylum-seeking and refugee children, and reading and children's literacy charity ARCh Oxfordshire, are the two charities being supported by Oxford’s Giving Tree.

Thea Hobbs, children’s bookseller at the branch, said: "The organisation this takes behind the scenes is pretty extensive—liaising with our partners, publicising the scheme to our customers, creating the tags, collating the lists, wrapping and sending the books—but the Giving Tree is absolutely something we believe in passionately. Year after year, our charity partners tell us what a wonderful initiative this is, and year after year our customers, including many children’s authors, rally to the cause."