Since the first community pantry popped up at Maginhawa Street in Quezon City, a lot of other people have followed suit nationwide, setting up their own mini food drive or community pantry in their areas. The Philippine Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) even set up a community paw-ntry for animals, proving that the spirit of bayanihan extends not only to people, but to fur babies too.
Well, as a treat to book lovers nationwide, kind-hearted netizens Stefan Punongbayan (@Punongbayan) and Alfonso Manalastas (@not_alfonso) started their own community e-library. This initiative contains PDF versions of a plethora of e-books, which range from Academics, Comics, Fiction, Poetry, Zines, and even board exam reviewers. Following the principle between the community pantry movement, people are encouraged to contribute according to their capacity, and read as much as they desire.Â
“Welcome to our little community e-library. We started this project to promote convenient entertainment and education in the time of COVID-19,” the site’s community guidelines read. “In this digital and tumultuous era, we believe that written resources should be shared and never gatekept.”
The community e-library is a testament to the willingness of Filipinos to share their resources amid these trying times. You can even contribute e-books from your own personal library to share the literary gems you have in your virtual arsenal.
While there are a lot of ways to pass the time while staying at home as much as possible, broadening your horizons through reading and learning is a great way to stay sharp amid the pandemic. It’s also a great opportunity for you to read something new without having to spend at all. All you need is a mobile device or computer and internet access to check out the drive, and you’re good to go!
