Words by Smiley Team
The power of reading and books is undeniable for children – it sparks imagination, creativity, and also allows them to bond with their parents or whoever is reading to them.
This was the basis of Doorstep Library, a charity that brings the gift of books and joy of reading to the homes of children in disadvantaged areas of London.
It started with a pilot project on an estate in Fulham in 2008, the CEO, Katie Bareham, tells Smiley News. The project was originally run through another charity – ATD – which ran street libraries and used books as a way of engaging with families living in poverty.
Doorstep Library’s founding chair was a local resident in Fulham and a long-term volunteer with ATD. In 2009, Katie joined as a volunteer and joined in on the vision to set up a separate charity to focus simply on the Doorstep Library project. “Local authority funding was up for grabs,” says Katie, “I had time on my hands, was looking to get into the charity sector – so we set it up and it all came together!”
From 2010, Doorstep Library has been an official charity – they went from having one project, to having five across Hammersmith and Fulham.
Initially, the concept was to use books as a tool to engage with families and support them to connect to other services in the area. For Katie, one of her biggest drivers is getting books into the hands of families that need them. “Not just giving them books,” she says, “but giving children and parents to enjoy those books together. Reading for pleasure should be a part of everyday life.”
The aim is to inspire both parents and children to explore the world of books together. Before the pandemic, they would recruit a team of volunteers per project – a project is defined by a location or estate.
Volunteers would go in pairs to houses on this estate with a rucksack full of books and ready stories to children in their homes or on their doorsteps – for 20 minutes or so – and lend them books until the next week.
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“They just knock on doors,” explains Katie. “It really does engage with those families who are socially isolated and aren’t receiving access to services elsewhere.”
During Covid, the charity realised that the families they supported needed them more than ever. “We didn’t stop, we adapted,” says Katie.
Now, the charity operates two models: the home-based, doorstep model, as well as the online model where they replicate what they do in the home, but on Zoom with a pair of volunteers. Having this option means they’ve been able to branch their support outside of London, too – and they’ve worked with other charities to provide tech to the families that may not have access to it.
The key is to try and get parents involved in the sessions, says Katie, so they can replicate it outside of the sessions.
Doorstep Library is looking at growing massively over the next three years – they currently support 500 children and hope to take that up to 3000.
And that means volunteers are needed – volunteers head to read to families once a week within London, or online (where you can be based anywhere). In-person volunteers are required to support a couple of hours once a week – or they can be stand-in volunteers, too.
The charity is also in need of donations to support what they’re doing, to help them keep a steady supply of books and carry on delivering their services to families in need.
If you’re interested in volunteering, visit DoorstepLibrary.org.uk.
