NYU London’s Richard Twiddle, who works in student life, tells us about a new initiative enabling students to give back just as they are arriving in their new city.1. How long have you been at NYU London and what is your role? I have been with NYU since April 2017 and work as part of the Student Affairs Team as a Residential Life Assistant.
2. How did the NYU London Spring 2018 Pop-Up Donation Bookstore develop? I understand that a personal experience was a source of inspiration for you. Can you describe that for us?
A couple of months ago I was asked for money from a guy begging outside a local supermarket near to the NYU London Academic Centre and he had a similar accent to mine (I’m originally from near Manchester) and it made me look twice. I looked at him and could see he was pretty young so I got chatting to him and he told me that he needed money for a hostel. He then went on to tell me that he wasn’t looking to have a nights sleep as he found the hostels scary but just really wanted a shower. He had been sleeping rough for a couple of months and his leg had become infected and really needed to be seen by a doctor. He wanted to go to the local NHS walk-in clinic but as he hadn’t showered in 5 days, was too embarrassed to go to there smelling the way he did! As I listened to his story and also found out he was just 22, I became sad but also pretty angry that as a rich country we aren’t doing more to help young homeless people. All he wanted was a shower, something we all take for granted everyday!
I couldn’t really stop thinking about the conversation we had and realised that I had to something and as I had recently sorted all the books our incredibly generous previous students had left for the incoming students, I had an idea to organise them properly and charge a small donation through a start of semester sale. I fleshed out the idea a little a put together a proposal which I sent to my senior management. I was really pleased that they gave it the green light and it really started from there.
3. What was the goal of the Bookstore and how was it structured? How did students respond to the initiative?
The goal of the Bookstore was really to make as much as possible for Centrepoint which is a young persons homeless charity in London, through charging £1 per book to new and returning students in NYUL Spring ’18 orientation week.
I basically spent a couple of weekends sorting all the books, building ikea shelving units (which was possibly the hardest part), and then clearing, cleaning and rearranging a disused office into a bookstore. As my Dad works for Penguin books, I grew up with a passion for books and especially bookstores and the way they can become great spaces for learning and sharing ideas so I really loved creating the space.In the end the books were divided general into key texts and course books, not quite as accurately as I hoped but time was pretty short and after sorting them all I pretty much knew each title we had, so I could direct students to where their books were located.
The student response was amazing and I was really touched by their interest in what the money was going to and many students gave much more than the suggested £1 per book price tag. I wasn’t sure anyone would come to be honest, so it was even more amazing when I opened the door 15 minutes before the official opening and there were students waiting outside. From there it went a little crazy for a couple of hours as the space is not the biggest, but it was a great way to see everyone interacting and chatting about the books they needed and the courses they were on.
4. How much did you raise and where was it donated?
Student customers browsing at the Bookstore.
On the day we raised £612 which was way beyond anything I had expected to raise. Since the opening day I have placed ‘honesty boxes’ in the room and students can go in anytime between 7am-11pm and take a book and leave their donation in the box. Since the opening day we have already raised another £100 and are now looking to hit the £1000 mark in the next few weeks.
All donations are going to Centrepoint London (centrepoint.org.uk) which provides a real home for young homeless people aged 18-25 and allows them to stay with them while attending school/courses or training for work and provides them with counselling and any additional support they may need.
5. Do you think this event will be repeated or a similar event organised?
Yes, I hope to repeat the sale every semester. We hope the students who bought books either from our store or from regular bookstores, will donate these back to us at the end of the semester, as they have generously done in the past. They will then be sorted and made ready for the next semester students and hopefully we will continue like that for years to come.
I have also been chatting to the guys at Centrepoint about how we could possibly help some of their residents out with things they need for when they move into their own homes. As we get a lot of items left by students who don’t want to pay for extra baggage on their flight homes, these items could be donated for the guys who leave Centrepoint and often don’t have a lot of money to set up home.
6. Do you have anything else you’d like to share?
I have spoken to the guy who made me think of doing this several times since and he got to the doctors and is much better. He doesn’t want to move into a shelter but appears to be looking after himself much better. Hopefully one day he will benefit from Centrepoint’s amazing facilities, which NYU London students help to make happen. Students can now come to NYU London and give back to their new ‘home’ city within days of arriving so I’m pretty happy I was able to facilitate that.
THANKS NYU London Spring ’18 students, you’re the BEST!