Archive

Food Bank partners with local library to provide books for clients

December 8, 2022   ·   0 Comments

By Brian Lockhart

The Orangeville Food Bank has partnered with the Orangeville Public Library to provide a little something extra for clients who arrive to pick up food. 

The library is supplying gently used books from its overstock collection for the food bank to offer visitors.

For some people, a visit to the library can be difficult if they don’t have transportation, and it can be even more difficult during the cold winter months.

The books can be a nice little addition to a visit to the Orangeville Food Bank, especially for parents with younger children as many of the books supplied are for younger readers.

“We got a call from the library and Darla [Fraser, librarian] said they had books that were above what their collection could absorb as they get new books all the time,” explained Orangeville Food Bank executive director, Heather Hayes. “She asked if we would be interested in having these extra books for clients. We thought the books would be a good addition here. We have a basket here and they fill it up with mostly children’s books, and there are some adult books. There are some titles that I would remember from when the kids were young. There’s chapter books and story books, and all in good condition and recognizable titles.”

The addition of books to the food bank has proved to be very popular. Many clients were surprised to see books were available and enthusiastically took some for their kids to read.

“Parents come and look through the basket while they’re waiting to go into the shopping area,” Ms. Hayes said. “At first we thought it [was] something we would need to replenish once a month, but we’ve had to replenish every couple of weeks because the books are so popular.”

The Food Bank helped 294 kids last month alone.

“Transit will be free in January, but it isn’t right now,” Ms. Hayes said. “Maybe people are a little more judicious with how they spend money for transit and the library is an extra stop. Here, they can come in a grab a book they need. At the library, they are constantly replenishing the books they have in their collection as new titles come out and there is a limited amount of space at the library. The excess books are taken out of the collection. Some people donate books so they make have several copies of one book. We are getting a huge response from clients – the basket is being emptied constantly. We have such a gem in the Orangeville Library, and Darla Fraiser has worked really hard to partner with other community agencies.”

The partnership helps those who may not be able to make multiple trips around town to have a little something extra when they get home.

Readers Comments (0)