The Children's Book Bank Blog

Recently we created a new video about the Book Bank, showing the wonderful interior as well as talking to some of those who work at the Book Bank, some of the teachers, donors and the kids who use the Book Bank.  Make sure to take a look and share it around!

On Wednesday April 25th, Bank of Montreal Financial hosted a charity dinner in honour of the Children’s Book Bank.  The event was hosted at First Canadian Place, in the Executive Dining Room on the 68th floor.  Needless to say the view of the city was amazing!

The evening started out with cocktails and an opportunity for the guests, donors and the Book Bank staff and volunteers that were attending to mingle and chat. There were chances to share anecdotes from the Book Bank’s success over the past four years with anyone unacquainted with our organization, as well as thank those who have been invested in the Book Bank’s success.

Following dinner was a panel discussion on “Coming to Canada: Urban Immigration Challenges and Opportunities” moderated by Noel Hulsman with the following guest speakers:

• The Right Honourable Adrienne Clarkson, former Governor General of Canada

• Ratna Omidvar, President of Maytree Foundation

• David Booth, Professor Emeritus at Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto.

Some of the panelists shared personal stories about immigrating to Canada, and offered insights into how newcomers to Canada experience hurdles with literacy in its many forms.

We would like to thank the following organizations for supporting the Book Bank through purchasing tables and attending the evening:

Barrick Gold
BMO Financial
Cannacord Genuity
Cisco Canada
Dundee Securities
GMP Securities
Home Equity Bank
KPMG
Oxford Properties
Peterson Law
PricewaterhouseCoopers
Royal Bank

It is with these donations that the Children’s Book Bank is able to continue to remain open, providing books and literacy support to families in the community.

A special thanks to BMO Financial for hosting the event and to Cisco Canada for its support of the event.

The Book Bank had a special visitor at the beginning of April – someone who has been a longtime supporter of our organization through book drives in London, Ontario.

For the past three years, Ontario’s Minister of Health and Long-Term Care, Deb Matthews, has hosted a children’s book donation drop-off at her MPP office.   This visit was the first opportunity for Kim Beatty, Founder and Executive Director of the Book Bank, to meet Deb Matthews and thank her in person.

Matthews’ efforts to collect children’s books were motivated by trips she made to First Nations communities in Northern Ontario with former Lieutenant Governor James Bartleman.  She recognized the need for books in her own backyard in London, Ontario and throughout southern Ontario.

“Literacy really is the key to success. If you can’t read and write, your options are severely limited,” said Matthews. “Books are a great passion of mine because reading opens a world of ideas and adventures, and I know the people of London will once again be generous and eager to share.”

We’d like to thank Deb Matthews for finding ways to transport the thousands of gently-used books she collected from London to our storefront at 350 Berkeley.

Our ability to open the door at 350 Berkeley Street each day to families in our community depends on the support of a fantastic group of individuals:  our volunteers.  We want to recognize the caring, creative and outstanding work of our volunteers during National Volunteer Week.

At the Book Bank, volunteers are involved in almost all components of the storefront operation.  Here’s a quick look at some of our volunteers’ responsibilities:

• Greeting customers as they come into the storefront;
• Helping new families get familiarized with the store layout;
• Answering questions and requests from children and adults – suggesting a good book, finding a specific title, recommending materials that match a child’s reading level;
• Unloading boxes and boxes of book donations from donors’ cars;
• Sorting, filtering and organizing book donations;
• Maintaining the aesthetics of the store:  creating book displays, tidying the shelves, freshening up the collection with new titles;
• Reading stories to local classes who visit the Book Bank with their teachers.

Our organization depends on a volunteer force of 35 individuals who work a weekly or bi-weekly shift.  The majority of our volunteers have a background in libraries or education and possess a passion for literacy development and reading.   Their passion for helping connect children with books is unceasing and inspiring.  We cannot offer them enough thanks.

We would not be what we are today without this team of formidable characters.  Thanks so much to our current volunteers Adrienne, Amanda, Belinda, Betty, Brenda, Carol, Carolyn, Chris, Danielle, Davia, Inga, Jane M., Janis, Jen, Jenny, Joyce, Karen, Karin G., Karin V., Katherine, Kim A., Linda, Lindsay, Lydia, Madison, Maria, Nancy, Patty, Sarah, Sharon, Tamar, Tamara, Teresa, Val and Virginia – and to anyone who has ever volunteered with our organization.

The Children’s Book Bank entered into a partnership with another Toronto charity, Literature for Life, in the fall of 2011, to run a early literacy session for young moms (18 years and younger) and their babies.  The partnership was a natural fit:  Literature for Life focuses on the reading skills of the mothers, while the Book Bank concentrates on their babies.

Each month, the Moms bring their babies to The Children’s Book Bank.  With the help of volunteers from the Book Bank, Literature for Life representatives and Dave Page, an Early Literacy Specialist with the Macaulay Child Development Centre, the babies and Moms participate in a circle time: there are songs and stories that demonstrate effective reading strategies to use at home.  The goal of the program is to start healthy reading habits early in life.  The Moms select books from the Book Bank for their babies during each visit and are encouraged to visit outside of the program, as well.

Global News’s Susan Hay returned to the Book Bank to film a feature for her show, Making a Difference, on the program.  Click here to watch it now and learn more about the partnership.

One of the most common observations made by visitors to The Children’s Book Bank after seeing our bookshelves is, “These books all look new!”  I always pause and smile before I let the person know that the majority of our books are gently-used.  We take pride in this perception because there is a lot of work that goes into keeping our collection attractive to our visitors.

(SIDEBAR:  The store was designed to resemble a children’s bookstore – specifically, the set used in You’ve Got Mail with Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks).

Part of the “value-added” process of moving donated books onto the shelves at the Book Bank requires a thorough screening by our volunteers.  They check donated books for signs of mildew, dirt, smell and general signs of age.  Books with ripped pages, crayon drawings and broken spines are not in suitable condition to offer to our respected customers.  Those that pass muster are worthy of the term “gently-used” and sent onto the shelves for our customers to consider.

Another reason why we love gently-used is because kids are the best predictors of books that other kids will want.  The most-requested books at the Book Bank are the same series and titles that families with the resources are purchasing from bookstores.  We generally expect a lag of 1-2 years between when a book is bought at a bookstore and when it is donated to the Book Bank.  Series like Harry Potter, Wimpy Kid and Geronimo Stilton are still popular series at the Book Bank.

The supply of good-quality and gently-used children’s books in Toronto continues to astound us.  How many books do we receive daily?   The answer to that is complicated.  No two days are the same.  Some days there are no donations.  Other days, the planets aligns in such a way that brings in several people on the same day, sometimes at the same time.  We never know who is coming through our door next.  Chances are, it’s someone who loves books.

As we quickly approach four years of operation, we are still excited when a new book donor comes through the door with bags and boxes of gently-used books.   Thank you, Torontonians (and GTA-ers) for going out of your way to bring us your gently-used books so that children in Toronto who would not otherwise own books, have a chance.

On Tuesday, March 6th, The Children’s Book Bank hosted its second annual author event:  ”An Evening with Wayne Johnston”.  The event was hosted at Havergal College in the beautiful Brendan Robson Hall.

The cocktails and mingling before Johnston took the podium provided book-lovers with an opportunity to chat about the latest book awards and other Johnston works (many had read The Colony of Unrequited Dreams).

Guests were then treated to an intimate reading from Johnston’s newest book, A World Elsewhere.  Johnston was a consummate storyteller – we could have listened for hours to his stories about personalities from Newfoundland.  One story in particular will forever be engraved in everyone’s minds: the fallout from his controversial portrayal of Newfoundland Premier and legend, Joey Smallwood in Colony.  Johnston critics (and Smallwood-supporters) came to one of his speaking engagement in St. John’s to ask, “Would you treat Jesus this way?”

Following Johnston’s reading, attendees lined up to snatch a moment with Johnston as well as his signature.  He was generous with his time, answering questions and listening to everyone’s experiences in Newfoundland.  It was a great evening!

Thank you to the following event sponsors:

Events on the Park

The Vine by Robert Groh

Starbucks

Havergal College