Asda and The Children’s Book Project have celebrated reaching the milestone of one million pre-loved children’s books donated and redistributed.

For more than 18 months, customers have been invited to donate pre-loved children’s books at dedicated collection points in more than 300 Asda stores nationwide. The books are then sorted, redistributed and gifted to schools, children’s centres, food banks and community organisations, helping children build libraries of their own.

The charity partnership was celebrated at Asda’s Hunts Cross store in Liverpool, one of the retailer’s most successful book donation locations. Asda shared that “community champion” Alan Arnold has helped collect nearly 6,000 books since January from “generous” customers.

Tracy Butler, lead manager – Asda Foundation and local community, said: “We’re incredibly proud to have reached the milestone of one million donated books through our partnership with The Children’s Book Project.

“This achievement belongs to our customers and colleagues, who have embraced the campaign and helped give pre-loved books a new lease of life. Whether it’s a favourite bedtime story, a well-loved adventure or a book that helped spark a lifelong love of reading, every donation has the power to make a difference to a child somewhere in the UK.

“We’re especially grateful to colleagues like Alan in Hunts Cross and the hundreds of community champions across our stores who have helped make the campaign such a success. Together we’ve helped ensure that more children have access to books and the opportunities that reading can bring.”

The achievement comes during the UK’s National Year of Reading, and highlights the important role communities can play in encouraging children to read.

The one million books donated include titles for children aged from birth to 14 years old and “represent countless new opportunities for children to discover the joy of reading”.

The Children’s Book Project estimates that one million books is equivalent to a book for every child in more than 3,000 primary schools across the UK.

The Children’s Book Project’s Liberty Venn added: “Asda’s belief in our mission that every child should have books of their own has been nothing short of transformational. For over 18 months and in more than 300 stores nationwide, they have made it easy for families to donate their pre-loved children’s books as part of their weekly shop.

“From an initial pilot in two regions to a national roll out, Asda has taken care to develop this campaign at a pace that we, as a young charity, could handle. The result is one million beautiful outgrown children’s books available for us to gift to new homes nationwide. That’s one million additional books in homes where there were very few books previously, and one million additional opportunities for a story at bedtime. Absolutely incredible.”

Customers can continue donating pre-loved children’s books at participating Asda stores across the country.

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