Huge book sale supports literacy programs for struggling Calgary kids

This week brings a great opportunity to help Calgary kids facing some tough obstacles.

Final preparations are underway for the annual Calgary Reads Big Book Sale.

It’s the 20^th anniversary of the event, which raises money to support literacy programs for local children.

“Twenty years ago, our first sale raised $5,000 and last year we raised $500,000,” sale organizer Steacy Pinney said. “It felt like a miracle.”

Money raised from this year’s book sale will go to seven Calgary agencies that support literacy programs.

The families in those programs are often experiencing things like domestic violence, poverty and homelessness.

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YW Calgary is among the agencies receiving funds from the sale.

“The book sale is amazing,” the YW’s Janelle Wydeven said. “It really helps us to broaden our reach to support more families in Calgary.”

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The event relies on 1,200 volunteers to operate the sale.

The volunteers are busy in the days leading up to event, sorting through the approximately 125,000 donated books.

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Laurette Langereis is one of the veteran volunteers.

“I started volunteering when my daughters were in elementary school,” Langereis said.

It wasn’t long before Langereis recruited her dad Robbert Hoffmann to help at the sale.

“I like to read books,” Hoffman, 89, said. “You never know what you’ll find in the boxes (of donated books).”

Langereis has also been joined in recent years by her daughter Brittany Langereis.

“I just really love seeing all the books,” Brittany Langereis said.

The Calgary Reads Big Book Sale runs from Friday, May 10 to Monday, May 20 at the Calgary Curling Club.

“People are really coming out in support of the book sale because children are really still struggling after the pandemic with lots of learning loss,” Pinney said.

The three generations of volunteers from the Langereis-Hoffmann family get a lot of satisfaction from being part of the effort to support childhood literacy.

“I read to my children from a very young age,” Laurette Langereis said.

Her daughter Brittany agrees that early exposure to books is important, adding: “I think everyone should be given that same opportunity.”

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