Write to Read BC

Tag: reading

  • Initial visit to Halalt, Lyackson

    Just south of Chemainus, BC, is the Indigenous community of Halalt, Lyackson. Write to Read BC learned about this community’s library ambitions when Ada Mawson approached us in January 2017. Ada Mawson is the Success By 6 coordinator for the area, and she accompanied us to a Halalt meeting in March.

    There is a definite need for a community library.

    We are now working with the community to locate a Britco module for the site. Things are moving very quickly with the community, as they have been committed to make this work and are doing everything that will ensure this will happen.

    The Rotary Clubs of Steveston, Chemainus, and Parksville will be partnering on this project.

    We expect the library to be ready for opening before the end of the current term of the lieutenant-governor of BC ends in late 2018.

  • Planning a Klemtu visit

    Write to Read BC volunteers intend to visit Klemtu, BC, and are enthusiastic about the chance to meet with the community to learn about their vision and their library needs.

    The volunteers are currently arranging transportation and funding for the trip, which they want to do when the weather is fair.

    We hope our funder will be able to participate in the building of a Version 4 library—one that’s built on site rather than prebuilt. and then shipped.

  • Readying Ahousaht shelves, books

    The building for the Ahousaht community library is in place, and Write to Read BC’s construction response team has visited the site to view the building.

    Our library response team is now putting together a collection of books. Furniture has to be made and delivered when the library response team sets up the library.

    The library will likely open in the fall of 2014. It’s another success story for the partnership model, which matches communities, Write to Read BC volunteers, and other partners.

  • Windsor Plywood supplies at cost

    Write to Read BC representatives met the owner of Windsor Plywood for Vancouver Island, who agreed to supply Write to Read BC with the plywood we were looking for at cost.

    The plywood and other materials will become bookshelves that Nanaimo Correctional Centre will build for Write to Read BC projects.

    $20,000 cash donation

    Also, the owner, Randal Jones, donated $20,000 to Write to Read BC toward library construction costs.

  • Tsay Keh Dene library arrives

    In Tsay Keh Dene, the library is now onsite. Our Write to Read BC library response team visited and set up the library shelves and furniture. Next, Indigenous books will be ordered.

    Once we have the computers installed in the library we will be ready to open it.

  • Oweekeno library opens

    The library opening in Oweekeno was both formal and festive. A Wuikinuxv Elder blessed the building, and Chief Rose Hackett cut the ribbon alongside Judith Guichon, lieutenant-governor of BC and Peter Hansen of Rotary Club Lionsgate.

    Oweekeno volunteers.
    Volunteers in Oweekeno celebrate the Wuikinuxv community’s new library.

    The Chief also presented a ceremonial paddle to the lieutenant-commander of the navy ship HMCS Calgary, at a community dinner with navy crew members, in the Big House.

    Local youth then sailed the Rivers Inlet area aboard HMCS Calgary for four hours, as guests.

    Also in attendance were members of the RCMP on their regular visit to Oweekeno.

    This library was sponsored by the members of the Rotary Club Lionsgate of North Vancouver, who raised the necessary project funds. The modular building was donated by Britco Structures.

    The Oweekeno community will employ a librarian to supervise the building. Write to Read BC’s library response team collaborated with local volunteers on the selection and cataloguing of books.

    Oweekeno is on the BC coast, south of Bella Bella, accessible only by boat or plane.

    The cost of the project was $60,000. Moving the modular building by sea from Vancouver to Rivers Inlet cost $20,000, which the Jack Gin Foundation paid.

  • Nooaitch library opens

    This summer’s grand opening of the Write to Read BC library in Nooaitch was attended by Elders, band members, Judith Guichon, lieutenant-governor of BC, Rotary Club members, Britco Structures, TELUS, and a reporter from Shaw TV.

    The ribbon-cutting at the opening of Nooaitch library.
    Children hold the ribbon tight for the ribbon-cutting at the opening of Nooaitch library.

    Britco donated the modular building that houses the library. Rotary Club raised funds and its members volunteered on the project. TELUS provided the high-speed connection so people can attend courses and conferences online in the library’s learning centre.

  • Quatsino library, daycare open

    Write to Read BC volunteers joined the village of Quatsino to officially open its new library on February 7, 2017. Quatsino community leaders and lieutenant-governor of BC Judith Guichon also joined the ceremony.

    The village is on Vancouver Island, 15km south of Port Hardy. Most of its residents of Quatsino work in forestry, fishing, and eco-tourism.

    Quatsino library and daycare centre.
    The beautiful Quatsino library in ludes a day care centre.

  • Old Massett library seeks partners

    Old Massett band members talked about their concept of an Aboriginal library with Write to Read BC team members, recently. They were joined by Beng Leng Favreau of Literacy Haida Gwaii, and Christoph Neufeld from Britco Structures (now Boxx Modular).

    Britco is providing modular buildings to house a number of Write to Read BC libraries.

    The partnership now needs to find a Rotary Club to adopt this community fundraising project, so work can begin.

    The community is very excited that we are preparing to do that. A visit to the community by Steven Point, the governor-general of BC, has also raised interest.

  • Opening a library in Nooaitch

    A library opening today in Nooaitch, BC, also represented a new kind of library for Write to Read BC. The new facility, near Merritt, BC, not only offers books and recorded media. It also has Internet-connected computers that offer remote access to courses and conferences. The Nooaitch library was Write to Read’s eleventh partnership to install libraries in isolated, Indigenous communities across BC.

    At the Nooaitch opening, Chief Marcell Shackelly said the library is a tool that builds a vision for their band’s future.

    The previous Chief, Joyce Sam, partnered with Write to Read BC to start the Nooaitch project. Sam is excited to see how the band will use the new building. “It’ll get us together,” she told a Merritt Herald reporter, adding that it’s a place for children to read quietly, or for learners to study for an exam. “All the tools are there, the resources are there,” Sam said.

    The opening was a festive event. Judith Guichon, the lieutenant-governor of BC, also attended.

    The ribbon-cutting ceremony at Nooaitch's library opening, near Merritt, BC.
    Two band chiefs and the lieutenant-governor of BC cut a ribbon to open Nooaitch library