Katikati’s Monster Book Sale is only a month away – but organisers want the community to know that they are still collecting donations for the annual event.

The sale – a well-loved, popular community event – is a fundraiser for Katikati’s St Pius X Catholic Church. “There are always queues of people lined up at the door before we open at 8am; they’re nearly tripping over each other,” organiser Pauline van Rijen said.

This year, the book sale will take place at the Katikati War Memorial Hall from 8am to 5pm on September 19 and 8am to 2pm on September 20.

“Most books are $2 and $3 and only special books will have a special price,” van Rijen said.

The sale began in 2007 as a fundraiser for the new church built at 85 Beach Rd, she said. Once that was paid for, the organisers decided to carry on “because it was so much part of the Katikati calendar – everybody loves it!”

Today, it was so well supported that van Rijen said the church had stopped its other fundraisers because it only needed to rely on funding from the book sale to cover its costs.

“I won’t disclose what we make from the sale but it allows up to upkeep our church,” she said.

The church began collecting donations in July and will continue to do so until two days before the book sale. “Our donation cut-off is September 17,” van Rijen said.

“The main thing that is popular, of course, is the fiction books but we collect anything. We do find that categories like business, reference, religion are not good sellers but we say ‘yes’ to everything.”

People were encouraged to drop off clean, saleable donations of books, jigsaws, indoor games, CDs and DVDs to the front entrance of the church.

“We ask people to bring us whatever they have got – but not magazines, encyclopedias and old cassette and video tapes.

Van Rijen said said “we do receive a lot of rubbish” so she asks that donations are in good enough condition to sell.

Donations can be dropped at the church at 89 Beach Rd at any time. Church volunteers sort and price the books and put them into storage.

“Katikati Squash Club help us deliver and set up the books in the town hall for the sale,” van Rijen said.

For any questions on donations, phone her on 021 0289 4793.