Biblionef
Biblionef provides books to under-resourced children’s organisations and schools. Their vision is to create lifelong readers who are good citizens who can read and think for themselves, resulting in a society where everyone is literate, has access to education and finds reading both a great pleasure and a necessity.
Their mission is to make books available to children (ages three to 18) in all official languages, for reading pleasure and for education, and in this way to lay the foundation for children to make good decisions through critical thinking, and live balanced and productive lives. They strive to donate only new books, to commission local writers and illustrators, and to focus on African culture and heritage.
During the 2013 financial year, Biblionef used The Solstice Foundation’s grant of R20,000 to cover the costs of posting books to children’s organisations. These were: Primary and High Schools, ECD’s (Early Childhood Development Centres (also known as crèche’s), After Care Centres, Drop in Centres for orphans and vulnerable children, and Reading Clubs. They also delivered Book Bags to Family Integrated ECD Programmes.
In 2014 we donated a further R20,000 to Biblionef for operational costs, and in 2015 and 2016 we increased this to R25,000 per annum.
In 2017 Biblionef was adopted by one of our Corporate Sponsors, Futuregrowth Asset Management, as a CSI project. Futuregrowth has generously supported specific Biblionef projects. These include:
2017: over R44 000 for library equipment for the Rondeheuwel and Silverstream Primary Schools in the Western Cape
2018: over R41 000 in 2018 for the Serasengwe Primary School in the Northern Province for over 500 books in Setswana and English, and shelving for storage, and
2019: R45 500 for home language and English books for teacher training at eight township schools in Cape Town .
This has meant that they have continued to receive the support that they have become accustomed to through our initiative and we continue to have regular interaction with them.Solstice has continued to provide a link between Futuregrowth Asset Management and Biblionef. This year (2021) Futuregrowth has once again has supported our initiatives with Biblionef. They have helped Biblionef to supply books and educational toys to five early childhood development centres in KwaZulu-Natal to the value of R44575. In both instances the Solstice Foundation has provided funds for the administrative costs involved in sourcing and supplying the resources.
For more information on Biblionef, visit their website at http://www.biblionefsa.org.za/
