The Bright Red Bookshelf program recirculates gently used children’s books back into the community where they are made available free to families.
Cariboo Chilcotin Partners for Literacy started the program seven years ago and since then thousands of books have been distributed.
“We started with four bookshelves and now have 14 in operation,” says Claire Schreiner, the volunteer co-ordinator. They can be found in places where children and adults are often waiting: the arena and pool, Atwood Clinic, Boitanio Mall, Cariboo Eye Care Clinic, CC Gymnastics Club, Child Development Centre, Community Services Co-op (Second Ave), government building, Heartland Toyota, Ministry of Children and Family Development, Mountview Elementary, Pregnancy Outreach, and Barton Insurance. “There are probably many more possible sites but as it is a volunteer run program we can’t fulfill all requests without volunteers to build the bookshelves and take care of them,” says Schreiner.
Anyone interested can contact either Claire 250-398-4173 or Lil 250-6867 for more information.
Our major partner in this project is the Williams Lake Association for Community Living. They look after the bookshelves and are the Distribution and Storage Centre for the project. They accept the donations from the boxes under the bookshelves (2 red bins) and then clean and prepare the books for return to the bookshelves.
CCPL members are passionate about getting books into the hands of all families in our community. We encourage donations of gently used children’s books. They can be dropped off at one of the bookshelves (there are bins underneath the shelf for donations). If your business or organization would like to get involved, please give us a call. Let’s get books into the hands of families so that no child is ever without a book!
Contact Claire Schreiner at 250 398 4173 or Lil Mack at 250-392-6867 for more information