Times Colonist book sale to raise funds for literacy

The Times Colonist book sale, which benefits literacy-related projects on Vancouver Island, is a little over a month away. But first, there’s a need for books — lots of them. A drive-through book drop-off will be held at the Victoria Curling Club, 1952 Quadra St., on Saturday, April 16, and Sunday, April 17, from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

The sale will be held two weeks later at the curling club on Saturday, April 30, and Sunday, May 1, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day. The book drive has raised more than $2.5 million since it began in 1998.

Victoria’s READ Society hit the ditch this winter. With grants down and its savings drained, the volunteer-driven nonprofit had to lay off paid staff, cut programs and move to a smaller office — which meant it was a big deal when this year’s $15,000 Times Colonist book drive cheque arrived.

The money meant READ could keep its core programs, including the ones for kids who need help with reading, writing and numeracy skills. Many of these students come from homes where the parents don’t have the skills themselves (sometimes mom and dad can’t even sign the society’s registration form). Either READ’s tutors help the children, or they’re left behind forever.

“Why should the kids pay that price for the rest of their lives?” asks the society’s co-chairwoman, Carol Carman.

So, yes, she’s grateful for the Times Colonist Raise A Reader money, which is why she and others from the READ Society can be found volunteering when the TC book drive rolls around.

Which brings us to today’s message: We want your books. And your backs.

Yes, dear reader, it’s time once again to get ready for our annual book sale.

If you’re a local, you know the drill: Readers donate good-quality used books, which volunteers sort for resale to the public. The proceeds fund literacy-related projects on Vancouver Island.

As has been the case since 2010, both the book collection and book sale will be held at the Victoria Curling Club at 1952 Quadra St.

The sale will take place Saturday, April 30, and Sunday, May 1, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day.

The drive-through book dropoff will be two weeks earlier, Saturday, April 16, and Sunday, April 17, from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

If you want to donate, please pack books in boxes or bags that you don’t want back. No encyclopedias, textbooks, magazines, medical books, outdated reference works, Reader’s Digest condensed books or National Geographics, please.

It would be greatly appreciated if the boxes were small enough to be lifted by pathetically weak — and quite possibly dyspeptic — newspaper desk jockeys.

It would be even more greatly appreciated if some relatively healthy people (that is, those able to lift loads heavier than one pint) were to share the job.

To be blunt, we’re looking for volunteers to help with the grunt work on the weekend of the dropoff. The book drive is fuelled by a terrific group of communityminded people (most of whom have nothing to do with the newspaper) who throw themselves into the cause, but after almost 20 years of this, some have hit their best-before date when it comes to heavy lifting.

If you or someone you know (I suggest nominating your son-inlaw) feels like a couple of hours of back-breaking toil in the April sunshine (we hope), please contact the Times Colonist’s Bruce Cousins at bcousins@timescolonist.com.

It’s a good cause. The book drive has raised more than $2.5 million since its inception in 1998.

The Times Colonist Raise A Reader fund gave $267,000 to 161 recipients — most of them schools — for literacy-related projects on Vancouver Island this year. Most of the money was raised through last spring’s TC book sale, triggering a $108,000 contribution from the provincial government.

The eagerness with which the recipients accept the grants reflects how little money is out there for literacy. Some schools rely solely on the Raise A Reader money to stock their shelves. (It was, in fact, cuts to school library funding that prompted the Times Colonist to launch its book drive back in 1998.) Some organizations need the funds to stay alive.

And if outfits like the READ Society don’t extend a hand to those who are falling back, who will? Literacy matters more than ever. B.C. used to be a place where you could quit school at 15 and go to work with little education, but those days and those jobs are long gone.

That’s a problem — but donate books, buy books, or lift books, and you’ll be part of the solution.