Paying it forward with second-hand books for students
Mullingar Congress Centre is a hive of activity all times of the year, but now in particular as their annual second-hand school book sale is under way.
Centre coordinator, Susan Bray, says “It’s another of the services we offer people in the community.”
“We started our second-hand school book sale eight years ago now, and we found, because we’re a non-profit community centre, that there were many families out there in need of second-hand books because the cost of school books is just through the roof, particularly for an entire leaving cert curriculum,” she said. “There are always new editions coming out, and we see barely used books coming in that will benefit people.”
Mullingar Congress Centre only take books that are on the current school curriculum and are in good condition, and charge a €2 handling fee for processing the books, which means that by October, the money made on the books is returned to the seller, and whatever doesn’t sell is returned too.
“The sooner parents bring in the books, obviously there’s a better chance of them selling,” said Susan.
On the day we visited Mullingar Congress Centre, we met Julia Coyle, who had come from Killallon in County Meath to drop off books.
“My son is just finished his Leaving Cert and normally I would go into the local bookstore in Navan with the books but since Covid they stopped that service. So I looked online and found this great service here in the Congress Centre,” said Julia.
“I’m all about paying it forward, and we’re all trying to stop stuff going into landfill, so I thought I’d travel to Mullingar and see if there were of my son’s books that could be passed on. I appreciate that people need second-hand books because school books are very expensive. And you’ll often find, as I found out with my son, that you buy the book and they don’t even read it because handouts from the book are distributed in class!
“It means those books are in perfect condition by the end of the year and hopefully they’ll help another family out. You look at all the people coming to Ireland and they don’t have money for the books, and ordinary Irish people don’t have money to spare because of the cost of living, shopping, electricity, heating and so on, so hopefully the books I’ve dropped off today will be of some use to students.”
To sell or buy second-hand school books, drop by the Mullingar Congress Centre, beside Cusack Park on Friars Mill Road, Monday to Thursday 10am-4pm, and Fridays from 10am-3pm, or call 044 9345060.