Our Charity Work
Supporting communities and worthwhile causes matters to us. This page shares a little about the charitable work and wider social contribution that sits alongside our day-to-day business.
We Love to Give Back
Since 2009, Books Asia has donated over £100,000 worth of foreign-language books. We are constantly working with charities, support groups and local hospitals, ensuring that all sectors of the community, irrespective of age, gender or means, have access to home-country media.
ECHO Refugee Library (Greece)
After the closing of the Greece-FYROM border in March 2016, over 50,000 asylum seekers remained in Greece, waiting to have their asylum claims heard and processed. The ECHO Refugee Library project exists to provide them with opportunities to equip themselves with skills and knowledge for the future that lies beyond this long wait. Books Asia has provided £3,000 worth of books for refugees, and will continue to support them through their ordeal.
Oxfam Book Depot (UK)
We donate a large number of multicultural books to Oxfam's Huddersfield Book Depot each year. These are then distributed to Oxfam's diverse community shops across the UK, not only raising funds, but also encouraging communities to use the stores.
Age Concern (UK)
We've provided multicultural media in 6 Indic languages to help set up an in-house library at Age Concern Leeds. We are working to replicate this initiative at other branches.
NHS Charities (UK)
We've set up a library of Indic books for parents visiting Royal Manchester Children's Hospital. We are also consulting with NHS teams in Yorkshire and Lancashire to help set up in-ward libraries of multicultural media, including books, magazines and DVDs, for in-patients.
Dosti Leeds
Based in Leeds, Dosti offers a supportive environment for Asian women with mental health issues. We have provided enough multicultural media to help set up a library to accommodate the needs of all their community sectors. We will continue to work with Dosti, in particular with the supply of Indic self-help media.
Shantona Women's Centre
Based in Leeds, Shantona aims to bring about social change and justice by promoting health awareness, reducing social exclusion and broadening access to health services. We have recently set up a Bengali media library at Shantona, and hope to expand the stock with further donations.
Would you like to talk to us about donated books?
Since 2009, Books Asia has donated over £100,000 worth of foreign-language books to the above charities, allowing them either to sell the books and raise funds, or to set up libraries that encourage wider communities to use their facilities.
We are keen to support further charitable causes.