Sheep River Library

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April 10th to 16th is Volunteer Week across Canada and the theme this year is “Passion, Action and Impact!” Volunteer Canada describes volunteers as “Real-life superheroes who accomplish remarkable feats with real impact. They may not be faster than a speeding bullet. And they may not be able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. But their contributions are most definitely creating community change that is more powerful than a locomotive!” Sound familiar? They could be talking about our fabulous team of dedicated volunteers at the Sheep River Library who recently spent hundreds and hundreds of hours helping the staff and Board of the library to ensure that the recent move into the new building went smoothly.

Volunteers attended pre-move meetings where they signed up for specific tasks and despite a week of wintry weather conditions the move was accomplished in record time. More than fifty volunteers spent up to 6 hours a day moving books, audio/visual equipment, furniture and supplies into the new location and then cleaning, re-shelving and organizing items. A talented group of people finalized the lay-out and design of the Tile Wall and yet others volunteered their time baking and providing tea breaks for all the workers.

This was an example of the Diamond Valley Community coming together and embodying the Volunteer Canada Theme. Passion has always been evident in our volunteer group, but never more so than since the initial plans for the new building were first discussed. Action has been evident in the thousands of volunteer hours that have been donated over the past three years and in the tireless efforts of the “Friends” who have secured much needed funding.  Most significantly, the passion and actions of the volunteers will in turn have a huge impact on the community as a whole as the library is now able to offer more choices, more programs and more opportunities for all residents. In addition to the 'shelf readers' and individuals who replace borrowed books to their rightful location, there are several teams of volunteers undertaking new positions.

Terrific Tuesday Talks will provide the tea and support for this new program which will run from 2 till 3:30 the last Tuesday of every month. The Library Garden Group will look after the indoor and outdoor flower pots. And a whole team of people are organizing the Grand Opening events!

The move was just the beginning! There are many volunteer tasks in the new library and if you would like to help out please drop by and look over the list of choices. Our biggest challenge at this time is to enlist volunteers for the evening hours and we are currently looking for people who can commit two to three hours on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday evening. Another project for a team of volunteers is the Art Group to arrange for the bookings and set up for emerging artists that need a location to exhibit their work. Please talk to Muhammad if you are interested in any of these new volunteer opportunities.

So, a huge “Thank You” to everyone who has been involved in our volunteer program since it began to expand three years ago -you are truly “Real-Life Super-Heroes”.