Soham has been coming to the
library
since the age of 2 when his mother would bring him to storytimes and
other
library activities. At 14 he took over
from the chess teacher, who was leaving, and has been running the chess
club
ever since. Now 19 and in pre-med at
McGill, he comes every Friday afternoon to help those who need help and
play a
game or two with the children, teaching all the time.
Quiet though he is, his enthusiasm has kept the chess club going
throughout the years. Volunteering at
the library has helped him not only with his other volunteer work, but
also
with confidence. “I used to be
really
shy and withdrawn. Being in a position
where you have to talk and negotiate with people and make sure
everything is
under control has helped. You’re
building that communication skill, that openness and I think that
helped not
just in the volunteer work, but in all aspects of life”.
Katie is also going
into pre-med
after she finishes CEGEP. As a new
immigrant from China, she was looking for “a place” and
found it at the
library. She liked the atmosphere and
there grew a connection with Elizabeth Macdonnell, the branch
librarian, which
she still values. She started
volunteering by shelving books and over the years she has done
storytelling at
the Chinese New Year events, helped out at the Halloween and Christmas
parties,
and with the celebrations for the library’s 75th
anniversary, and
helps the children with their homework.
Volunteering at the library has helped her with communicating
with
people. In her soft-spoken manner, Katie
explained how it helped her to “get to know people, to learn to
ask questions,
understand them better and get to know them better”.
Pauline
is a reader.
She would come into the library and ask for
the latest books and take out 5 or 6 of them only to return them in a
week for
more books. Turning 19 in June and
taking Liberal Arts at Dawson, she has been coming to the library since
the age
of 13 when her family moved into the area.
She found the library to be “a cozy, warm place,
it’s home, still
home”. Pauline started, like Katy,
by
shelving books and moved up to helping with circulation, and when the
library
was automating re-labelling books and basic cataloguing.
She also helps out with library events,
especially the ones that “bring people together and teach about
other
cultures”. Volunteer work has helped
her to communicate with people better, encouraged her to do other
volunteering,
and to go into library work.
They all
feel that
the library is a second home and a
place that has helped them grow by letting them volunteer.
As Soham puts it “You guys brought me up
pretty much. I mean, sure mom’s
there
and all but – it takes a whole village to bring up a
child.” And now they are all part of
the village
helping the next generation of children at the library.
