Improving children's lives through education

Lilipad friends,

We hope you’re all doing well and enjoying some sunshine wherever you are!

We've accomplished exciting things in the last months and we are excited to share them all with you:

• 2 new libraries in Berlin
• New workshop series with Katharina, an educational expert
• Berlin Volunteer Fair

1. Expanding our reach in Berlin

A core section of our work continues to be to provide multilingual libraries and educational experiences to refugee children in Berlin. Last April, we had the opportunity to grow our impact by opening two more of these children's libraries, both in the district of Kreuzberg. 

• Gemeinschaftsunterkunft Alt-Jakobstrasse: Through a partnership with the organisation EU Homecare, we established a children's library in a refugee accommodation hosting mainly Ukrainian families. The book selection for the library was mindfully curated and included story books in German, English and of course Ukrainian (ordered specifically from Ukraine). To ensure the library is active and inspiring for the children, we hired Polina, a young Ukrainian artist, to be our Educational Programs Coordinator for a two-month project.

• Familienzentrum Cuvrystrasse: We've also collaborated with the community centre in Wrangelkiez to open another children's library. Unlike our libraries in refugee accommodations, which are only accessible to residents, this library is open to all children and families. Such libraries serve the adjacent purpose of promoting integration and multiculturalism by bringing families of all backgrounds together. We are lucky to already have a dedicated volunteer, Monika, who'll be responsible for running the library on a regular basis.

Lilipad has now established a total of 9 children's libraries in Berlin or 15 globally.

2. New workshop series

We are excited to announce that we hired a new workshop facilitator, Katharina, an educational expert with years of experience teaching languages and theatre and supporting refugee children to be prepared to enter the formal school system. Katharina is responsible for running regular reading workshops and is supported by incredible Lilipad volunteers that are fluent in the native language of the children. As usual, we ensure that our workshops are at least bilingual to make sure that they're inclusive and cater for the needs of children who have only recently arrived in Germany.

3. Berlin Volunteering Fair

We are honoured to have been invited to the Berlin Volunteering Fair which has taken place at the main city hall a few weeks ago. Needless to say, our work would not be possible without the dedication of an incredible team of volunteers. A big THANK YOU to everyone who's contributed to Lilipad in all shapes of forms over the last few years.

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Crowdfunding Campaign

Thank you to everyone who has supported us so far! Our crowdfunding campaign remains open and we continue to welcome donations - every little bit goes a long way. Your support will allow us to grow our impact in our existing libraries, launch brand-new projects and ultimately change children's lives through reading and education.

There are a few ways you can get involved:

1. Make a one-off donation on Lilipad’s GlobalGiving Project page
2. Become a recurring donor and set up a monthly donation on Lilipad’s GlobalGiving page - this can be edited or discontinued at any time. Your donations will be doubled by GlobalGiving from the 4th donation!
3. Reach out to info@lilipadlibrary.org if you have ideas that could support our fundraising efforts.
4. Reach out to fundraising@lilipadlibrary.org if the company you work for or know of any that are willing to make a corporate/gift donation

 
Thank you again for all the love and support.

Yours,

The Lilipad Team