The Bright Red Bookshelf program recirculates gently used children’s books back into the community where they are made available free to families.
What a great idea!
That’s what the committee of Cariboo Chilcotin Partners for Literacy has been hearing over the past seven years since the program was officially launched in Nov. 2009.
And children must like the idea, too, because thousands of books have been distributed.
“We started with four bookshelves and now have 14 in operation,” says Claire Schreiner, the program’s volunteer co-ordinator.
They are around the city and can be found in places where children and adults are often waiting.
These places include the Cariboo Memorial Complex arena and pool areas; Atwood Clinic; Boitanio Mall; FYidoctors eye care clinic (formerly Cariboo Eye Care Clinic), CC Gymnastics Club; Child Development Centre; Community Services Co-op on Second Avenue; the government services building; Heartland Toyota; Ministry of Children and Family Development; Mountview Elementary school; Pregnancy Outreach, and Hub International 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.
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 collect the donations of books from the two red donation bins that are under each of the bookshelves, 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.