Our Big Book Sale Celebration September 26
Natalie Appleton
How did Rotary become stewards of Calgary Reads Big Book Sale; what’s the impact we had on helping local children become joyful, skillful readers—and how can we build momentum and value within Rotary as we look to the 2024 sale?
How our stewardship of Big Book Sale is uplifting a generation of readers
Did you realize the impact of the Big Book Sale on young readers before our Sept. 26 meeting? Two weeks ago, we had the opportunity to tell the story of the Calgary Reads Big Book Sale and how Rotary came to be the stewards that will help local children become joyful, skillful readers. It was also a chance to formally celebrate the impact of our incredibly successful 2023 sale!
Here is a recap of what was shared, as well as the enthusiasm and questions shared by attendees:
What is Calgary Reads anyway?
For 22 years, the early literacy organization Calgary Reads helped children learn to read with book access, one-to-one tutoring and rich reading experiences. Much of this work was funded by proceeds of the Calgary Reads Big Book Sale, which just celebrated its 19th year.
So…for many years, Calgary Reads was both a beloved early childhood literacy organization and a beloved book sale.
How did Rotary become the steward of Calgary Reads Big Book Sale?
After the pandemic, Calgary Reads needed to ensure more children could receive the help they need learning to read by Grade 3. In 2022, the non-profit began its dandelion story and ‘spread its seeds’ – its early literacy initiatives—across Calgary so agencies with greater resources could shoulder this important work.
With our great care for uplifting the next generation and literacy, and our community involvement, Rotary Club of Calgary was the perfect partner to take on the Big Book Sale.
How did we do at the 19th Big Book Sale in May 2023?
Rotary led 5 functions:
1. Parking
2. Cash
3. Hospitality room
4. Stuff-a-truck
5. Banners
Rotarians showed up in so many ways!
83 Rotarians volunteered:
47 RC Calgary Downtown members
21 RC Calgary Fish Creek members
13 RC Calgary West members
1 RC Calgary at Heritage Park member
Together, with Calgarians:
200,000 books made it to our sale tables
1,150 volunteers gave 10,000+ hours
14,176 readers found new books
$501,000 was raised to help Calgary children become stronger readers
Those dollars meant partners could help children furthest from opportunity with:
real books of their very own
- Early Words, Canadian Children’s Literacy Foundation
- Book Bank (and Rotary Christmas hampers!), UCalgary Owerko Centre at Alberta Children’s Hospital Foundation
Strong reading role models
- wee read, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Calgary and Area
- LENA Start, YW Calgary
- MRU Reads, Mount Royal University
Rich reading experiences
- Little Red Reading, UCalgary Owerko Centre at Alberta Children’s Hospital Foundation
- Summer reading tents, United for Literacy
Advocacy
- Left Unread, Enough for All
More
- Youth Centres Calgary Literacy initiative
- Fish Creek Rotary Club*
- Calgary West Rotary Club*
*Any club that had more than 10 members volunteer received a cheque for $10,000 so they can invest in registered charities with literacy project for children aged 0-8!!
Why is this support so critical?
• 1 in 4 Canadian children are growing up in a home without books
• When children have a home library, as little as 20 books of their very own, they achieve 3 more years of schooling than children who don’t have any books at home.
• 1 in 6 Canadian children struggle to read at grade level
• 75% of children who do not overcome early literacy challenges struggle through their life
• Low literacy is connected to mental health struggles, low civic engagements, poverty, addiction, incarceration and homelessness.
Through Big Book Sale, Rotary is:
- Giving children a strong start in school and in life
- Building a thriving community that reads
- Growing our network of inspired and involved Rotarians—by demonstrating how we’re ‘people of action’, recruiting and retaining engaged members
What we heard from you:
Some themes of feedback shared that day and during our brief ‘table talk’ where we asked your thoughts on…
…images that stand out for you from attending the sale
…how we can grow the involvement of Rotarians
…what excites you, or what questions and concerns you have
“Let’s create more opportunities to volunteer in fellowship as groups of 20 or so”
“Why wouldn’t we get a whole bunch of us together to do a ‘done in a day’ stuff-a-truck with books?”
“Bring kids” “Bring friends” “Bring spouses” “Collect books at our businesses”
“Make a culture of volunteering the way we used to do BBQ’s”
**Special thanks to Mike, Manon, Tim and Brian for sharing their experience volunteering at the sale!
Interested in sharing your thoughts? Please email Steacy steacylee3@gmail.com.
What can you do year-round to support Big Book Sale?
- Save your adult books and donate in April
- Donate children’s books year round on Book Bank donation days
- Volunteer for the Big Book Sale committee
- Start keeping a list of books to buy in May
- Follow on social media and sign up for the newsletter at www.bigbooksale.ca. Be the first to know about exciting Big Book Sale 2024 news!
Stay tuned as we share more news about the 2024 sale in the new year, including ways to volunteer as a group and stuff-a-truck!
Thank you’s!
Thank you to our amazing volunteer book sale committee leads, including:
- Tami Tranquada
- Shirley McIntyre
- Dawn Cruickshank
Thank you to the Rotary Big Book Sale committee members:
- Steacy Pinney & Steve Allan – Co-Chairs
- Trevor Axworthy – Board Liaison
- Randy Topolnitsky – Director Community Service
- Manon Mitchell
- Michael Colborne
- Vern Kimball
- Brian Guichon
Thank you Rotary Club of Calgary for helping spread the words so children can open the door to a lifetime of opportunity!
To learn more about the Calgary Reads legacy and dandelion partners, visit www.calgaryreads.com. To learn more about Calgary Reads Big Book Sale and join the newsletter, visit www.bigbooksale.ca
