National Volunteer Week Spotlight: Friends of the Caledon Public Library

By ROB PAUL

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

It's National Volunteer Week from April 18 to 24 and one of the most important volunteer groups in Caledon are the Friends of Caledon Public Library.

They're the support system for all the great and diverse programs offered by the library and they've never been more important than during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The Friends are a registered non-for-profit volunteer organization that supports that supports programs and services of CPL through fundraising, advocacy, and volunteering. They coordinate large book sales, support writing contests, and help the Library purchase a variety of materials, including books, musical instruments, furniture for reading areas, book club sets, and much more.

The Friends have been around since 1993 are made up of President Marty Harrison, executive member Helen Young, Jacky Bennett, Victoria Edwards, Carol and Wayne Martin, Kat Todd, Jessica Skup, Jules Maule-Ffinch, Denise Durnford, and Diane Delaney.

Harrison is serving her third term as president and has been a member of the Friends for over 20 years.

“Our mission is to support the library in any way that we can in the community and to fundraise,” said Harrison. “That's our focus and anything we do goes directly to the library. We're always out there encouraging people to join as formal members, but always reaching out to people to join as volunteers also. Everyone is from the area and part of it is their own passion for the library to support the community and give back. We've done all kinds of things; we've always done used book sales because the library always has books they're weaning out and people donate books and people love to browse and shop. People are extremely generous about donating books, those were usually three-day events but since COVID started we haven't been able to do any of our public sales.”

The pandemic hasn't stopped them, only inspired them to think outside the box to raise money. One of the big hits has been their Mystery Box Sales where they sell unopened boxes of books (that were quarantined). 

Funds from the Mystery Box Sales have helped support the Flash Fiction Writing Contest, Adult Poetry month in 2020 and 2021, the Summer Photography Contest, the Elizabeth Scavetta Teen Short Story Writing Contest, the Book to Photo Contest, and the Teen Fan Art Contest during the pandemic.

“When COVID came, we were getting ready for the April Caledon Home and Lifestyle show and had a number of boxes ready for sales,” Harrison said. “So, we had a lot of books boxed up and ready to go and we had all these boxes when COVID came. Somewhere along the line during our executive meeting we were wondering how we could be involved during COVID and an online sale seemed like a good idea. Everyone was going online when COVID first started so we tried advertising some boxes of books and it evolved to an online sale of adult and children's book boxes and we had a great response. So, people would order and pay for their boxes and with masks and gloves we would give them the box at the Albion branch, and they'd take them home. We raised money for the library that way and also gave some people some access to something different because they're stuck at home. We just had our biggest sale ever before we had to go back (into the stay-at-home order).”

As the Friends try to constantly evolve and appeal to people of all ages, they're opening up the Mystery Box Sale to other forms of entertainment like video games.

“We're going try that (video games) next,” said Harrison. “People donate them when they get the current games, but people are still playing these other ones. In the last sale we started doing DVD's and that worked so now we're going to try these games and see what happens. It's a way to raise money and something for people to do!”

Knowing that the library would need their support through the tough times of the pandemic, Harrison wanted to make sure they could be there for the community and it's been a huge reason as to why Caledon Public Library has so many people taking advantage of their online offerings.

“It's really important to us to be able to [fulfil] our mission,” Harrison said. “We're members of the community and we know how we need people to reach out so we want to be able to reach out in the way we can so that everyone is benefiting.”

“They've been really key,” adds Caledon Public Library Manager of Communications and Community Development Mary Maw. “Since COVID hit, they've sponsored seven contests and those contests have allowed us to really engage in the community. It gives people in isolation an outlet for their creativity and they're so excited that we're able to support all of the creative arts in the community. The Friends advocate on our behalf, too. They're out there and they share the message of the library and the message of these contests. It's been instrumental in keeping the community engaged because I think there's been a lot of virtual fatigue. The contests are really giving the isolated residents the opportunity to do something and making something and then they get to share it with the community. With every contest we do, we then host a virtual award ceremony so residents can get recognition that way too and connect with likeminded people in the community.”

Part of the reason Harrison and the Friends remain so involved and work so hard is because they know that a library can be a hub in the community that fosters lasting relationships and sparks creativity 

“Libraries now are so much more than the books,” said Harrison. “The contests and all the programming that gets people into the library for other reasons, really shows how much more the library is. We really work with them (Caledon Public Library) as a team.”

“I always say they're a strong and mighty group,” Maw said. “The secret to the group is that they all have different strengths. They're not a big group, but boy oh boy, the small group we have are so dedicated, passionate, and hard working—they're amazing.”

The upcoming video game sale won't be in the same mystery box format, but the library will list the video games by title and platform and the sale will be the same way online as it has been with the books. Once a game is purchased, contactless pickup will then be arranged at one of the branches to ensure health and safety protocols are followed—more information came be found at caledon.library.on.ca.