Thousands of books are expected to be up for sale at next month's Lifeline Book Fair, which will be again held at the Bathurst Showground as a fundraiser for Lifeline Central West counselling services.
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After last year's Book Fair was one of the biggest to date, the event has expanded to four days: May 12 to 15.
Lifeline Central West executive director Alex Ferguson said the sorting process for the books is well under way, with around 38,000 books expected to be for sale.
"We've added an extra day to the event again due to popular demand last year, but also because Lifeline services are very highly sought after at the moment," Mr Ferguson said.
"The pandemic may have stabilised a bit, but the region is still feeling the effects of the last two years, so we hope to see another welcome local turnout to ensure Lifeline can extend their services to people in need."
While demand for Lifeline phone counselling services has dropped from peak pandemic levels, Mr Ferguson said the rate of calls from people in crisis is still much higher than the pre-2020 average.
"Across Australia, Lifeline phone counselling services peaked at 4500 calls a day during the worst of the pandemic, and is hasn't backed off that much," he said.
"We're currently at around 3000 calls a day, but the pre-COVID normal was around 2200 calls a day, and our volunteers in Bathurst, Orange and Dubbo have been working across the clock."
Mr Ferguson said fundraisers such as the Book Fair are essential in bolstering Lifeline's trained volunteer stocks to assist people who have been struggling.
"Lifeline has essentially been working in overdrive since the late 2010s drought, and the reality is we can only grow our services on the back of community generosity," he said.
"Whether it be counselling for drug and alcohol issues, mental health, gambling addiction or natural disaster relief, these things are keeping Lifeline services busier than ever."
For more information, visit lifelinecentralwest.org.au.
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Sam Bolt
"I'm not in the business of telling people what to do. I'm much more in the business of describing things, situations and stuff like that and leaving them out there, and you can make up your minds about them." -Nick Cave
"I'm not in the business of telling people what to do. I'm much more in the business of describing things, situations and stuff like that and leaving them out there, and you can make up your minds about them." -Nick Cave
