On World Charity Day, the FPC Christmas campaign is launched: Pass the Helpful Book

#PayHelpfulBook is the slogan of the holiday fundraising campaign of the Powszechnego Czytania Foundation, the aim of which this year is to collect funds to buy books for people in need, primarily those in care of Social Welfare Centres. The initiative starts on 3 December, on World Charity Day, known worldwide as Giving Tuesday and will last throughout December.

The end of the year, the approaching holidays, is a special time when it is worth sharing goodness and helping those who need support the most. The Universal Reading Foundation encourages us to support those in need on this occasion, equalizing their chances for a better future, supporting the development of their competences, and also helping to cope with difficulties and supporting mental resilience. The tool that allows this is reading.

The campaign draws attention to the need for books in every person's life. Reading supports development, especially at an early stage of life. It helps to reach full potential, discover talents, opens to the world and other people, helps to achieve mental well-being. Access to books is extremely important. This also applies to owning them, at home. This is still one of the main barriers to popularizing reading.

The Foundation is based on reading studies, which indicate a large-scale reading exclusion in our country. In Poland, 20% families do not have a single book at home, another 10% have only school textbooks. This means that 30% of our fellow citizens remain without a single book to read.

Why is it worth supporting campaigns aimed at distributing books and promoting reading? Books have the power to equalize opportunities. If a child likes to read, this has a greater impact on their educational success than their socioeconomic background. This is very important
in the context of helping communities struggling with difficult life or financial situations. – says Maria Deskur, president of the Universal Reading Foundation.

Owning books is very important in making friends with them. In addition, studies confirm that teenagers who had at least 80 books at home achieve
at school, they do better than children from homes where there are no books**. Contact with them is also important in local libraries, local centres and community centres.

Thanks to contributions and donations, the Foundation can reach people excluded from book culture and at the same time those who are in the greatest need. The packages are primarily sent to families under the care of social welfare centers and community centers, as well as to children in orphanages. As part of its activities, the Foundation donates books wherever they are most needed. This year, the special goal of the collection is to help areas affected by the effects of flooding.

Campaign Give me a helpful book will be visible primarily on the Internet, with particular emphasis on social media, where the Universal Reading Foundation wants to unite supporters, readers and all recipients in a joint commitment to invite those excluded from the book culture. A helpful book, like a helping hand, should be extended with those in need and their future in mind, not only, but especially, before the holidays.

An illustration promoting the initiative Give me a helpful book was made by one of the most famous Polish illustrators, Dawid Ryski. Once again, thanks to the support of Fonia.Digital, which will support the promotion and broadcast the display campaign, users of devices throughout Poland will be able to see the graphics on their screens. As always, we are happy to support FPC's reading and activities. As a company based on developing technology, we especially understand
in today's times the importance of reading books. We want to contribute to equalizing opportunities for children and young people in Poland. – says Dominik Karbowski, Co-CEO of Fonia.Digital.

This year, the publishing industry is involved in this collection, as every year, by providing books for gift packages. The Universal Reading Foundation has also started cooperation with the Give a Christmas Campaign, which has been fulfilling the Christmas dreams of children from Social Welfare Centers for years. Thanks to joint actions, books will reach precisely those most in need. Children for whom we prepare Christmas gifts often dream of books. We are happy to be able to fulfill these dreams. Joining forces with the Universal Reading Foundation as part of Christmas activities means that together we can do even more – says Marcelina Kowalewska, coordinator of the Give a Christmas Campaign.

The first book packages with gifts will reach the residents of the Social Welfare Centre in Kłodzko, one of the places that suffered the greatest losses in this year's flood, before Christmas. The funds raised will help prepare further packages to other places throughout Poland. We are pleased that in this year, which was exceptionally difficult for the residents of our region, we can count on support, not only the most obvious one. Books are an important gift for children - it will help them not only to become readers, develop knowledge
and interests, but reading together will also bring a lot of joy. – says Anna Borak-Kula, director of the Social Welfare Centre of the Kłodzko Commune.

The Universal Reading Foundation encourages you to support the initiative Give me a helpful book. You can make a donation at: SUPPORT – Universal Reading Foundation.
FPC also encourages companies, institutions and all interested parties to join the collection, promote, share materials and take actions supporting the statutory goals of the Foundation.

Campaign page: https://fpc.org.pl/podaj-pomocna-ksiazke