By Maria Prato-Gaines, Staff Writer
MONROE — Through the support of its patrons, one local business has found a way to give the gift of oxygen this Christmas.
Bookswim.com, an online book rental service based in Monroe, has launched a holiday gift card program to sponsor the planting of evergreen trees.
Bookswim will tally up the number of gift cards it’s sold by the beginning of January and will ideally have the trees planted by the end of 2008, the company’s press release says.
”The beauty of doing it all at once in bulk is that it’s 75 cents a tree,” said Eric Ginsberg, the company’s public relations representative. “It doesn’t make sense not to do it.”
Partnered with Eco-Libris, a non-profit organization that balances out book production by planting trees, Bookswim will continue its gift card campaign until Christmas Day.
”We have relatively similar goals,” said Mr. Ginsberg. “One advantage to renting books is to limit the number of books produced. (Eco-Libris) is planting trees to offset this.”
Mr. Ginsberg said that customers can purchase a gift card for any dollar amount and at the same time help plant a tree in any number of reforestation projects around the world.
These trees may take root in Central American forests located in Nicaragua, Belize, Guatemala or Honduras or in Africa’s Republic of Malawi, according to Eco-Libris’ Web site.
Finding small ways to make a business Eco-friendly is not always an extremely difficult task, Mr. Ginsberg said.
”It’s both good conscience and good business to take care of the earth,” he said.
The bonus to buying a card at Bookswim.com isn’t just the fact that patrons can go green, Mr. Ginsberg said, but that customers can find a present that won’t make it into the re-gift pile this year.
”Book rental gift cards make great last minute gifts for parents, seniors who may not be able to make it to the bookstore or library (or) kids who need a constant supply of fresh books,” says George Burke, chief marketing officer of Bookswim.com, in a press release. “The holiday gift giver can be proud of the dual nature of the honorable gifts of both reading and replenishing nature.”
Mr. Ginsberg said Bookswim.com’s membership starts at about $15 a month, allowing a member to check out two books at a time.
If interested in purchasing a gift card or buying a membership, log onto www.bookswim.com.
”It’s a holiday gift that’s going to keep on giving,” Mr. Ginsberg. “You get books and oxygen. Give the gift of air.”
