CHENNAI: With the winter season setting in, the Christmas preparations have commenced in the city. Post Deepavali, the shops are now decked with lights, bells, tinsels, and ornaments for the Christmas tree. Shoppers have brought out the list to make a pretty Christmas tree. Taking a different route is a popular hotel in the city that is urging Chennaiites to pack cartons of used books for the celebration, and donate it for a cause.
Dual role and purpose
The Hyatt Regency Chennai has organised a book donation drive for the festival of Christmas. The campaign focuses on collecting books for students from nursery to class 12. These print materials will be stacked and showcased as a Christmas tree, set up at the hotel premises.
Later on, these books will be donated to the Presidency Girls School. “We felt the need, and a connection with the girls of this school and decided to build them a library,” says Ruban Das, general manager, of Hyatt Regency Chennai.
For the past two months, the hotel has been in the process of revamping the existing library at the school. The renovated reading hall will provide books for every age group, each class, and will be more spacious. “The students have to carry books from the library to their classroom during the designated hour. Of the 45 minutes 10 minutes goes away in the students walking to and fro,” adds Ruban.
The restored library will have the collection of books that are donated during the drive and will be handed over to the school in mid-January. Ruban notes that the hotel finds a way to give back to society. This year they wanted to distribute something useful and meaningful. “And what better than a book could do that,” he says, pointing out that “When you are reading a book, you are imagining the words and we want them to start as early as possible.”
Participate in a treat
The organisers prefer collecting English books, though other language books are welcome. They are expecting to collect over a thousand books. The donation procedure is very simple. Anybody who wishes to share books, other than study material, can drop them at the hotel. If it is not possible to come down in person, people also can post the books to the hotel with their addresses highlighting ‘Tree Lighting’ or ‘Book Donation’ as a header.
Once the books are deposited in the lobby, every donor gets a cookie in return. The cookie is an invite to the tree lighting ceremony which is to be conducted on Christmas, and meet the girls of the school. The celebration will mark a new start to upskill and achieve. The management plans to visit the library at regular intervals to monitor and maintain.
With ten days left to donate the books, the hotel hopes this campaign to be a successful one so that the tradition can be followed and unlock new organisations each year.
Drop your books at The Hyatt Regency Chennai
Last date to donate: November 30
For details, call: 9176633310