Festive shopping meets charity with Street Lit

THE Denis Hurley Centre (DHC) is appealing for donations of books to support their street bookseller project, Street Lit, which offers Durban’s homeless an opportunity to earn an income by selling pre-owned books. During the festive season, book vendors will be scattered along the Durban beachfront in their bright green vests. Drop in to buy a book at the ampitheatre near the Sunken Gardens, at the beach front fleamarket or along the new promenade.

To donate books to this worthy cause, pop in to one of the local drop off venues:

• Our Lady Of Fatima Catholic Church on 157 Kenneth Kaunda Road in Durban North from 9am to 3pm this week until Friday, 20 December.
•  Grace Family Church on 400 Umhlanga Rocks Drive in uMhlanga betwenn 8:30am and 3.30pm until Tuesday, 24 December
• I Care on 57 Hambridge Avenue, Somerset Park  between 8am and 4.30pm any day except on public holidays.

DHC director, Raymond Perrier said the project has enabled 10 formerly homeless people to become entrepreneurs selling second hand books while also empowering the community to buy and read books in an accessible and affordable way.

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“Street Lit is the Denis Hurley Centre project to help homeless people by giving them the chance to sell second-hand books. We hope soon to get permission to sell on the beachfront over the Festive Season and we therefore need a lot more books, fiction and non-fiction, adult and children’s books,” says the DHC’s Raymond Perrier.

Perrier added that the goal of the project is to train and empower 100 sellers.
“It is the perfect social cohesion project – and a perfect passion project for this season. We would love donors to write a little message in the book about themselves and what they thought of the book which can be read both by the homeless person selling the book and ultimately the person buying it – allowing the message of goodwill to travel through the retail chain of the books gathered and sold,” he added.

Also read: Durban North residents help homeless with water resistant roll up mats

At the SAB Foundation Awards recently, Street Lit was came in the top six nominees out of 2000 applicants nationwide. In order for this project to be fully realised, additional funding will be required, so the generous grant from SAB has sparked an awareness-creating campaign and fund-raising drive.