Volunteer Appreciation Brunch

Early in February, Friends of the Vancouver Public Library gathered in the Alice MacKay room at Central branch to celebrate a year of great volunteering successes. This brunch is hosted annually by the Friends board of directors, and honours all those who have committed time, skills, and enthusiasm to the Friends mission.

We were joined by Diana Guinn, Vancouver Public Library’s Director, Neighbourhood and Youth Services. Diana shared with Friends some of the VPL’s highlights of 2017 including the opening of the nə́c̓aʔmat ct Strathcona branch. She also talked about some very exciting upcoming capital works in 2018 and beyond. And she showed how Friends fundraising contributions are enriching branches with much needed furniture and unique local art.

People volunteer with Friends in many capacities, but a great many of them participate in year-long book donation sorting, as well as the Spring, Fall and Christmas book sales, and of course in book’mark The Library Store. This year, we joined with Karen Cannon (coordinator, book donation sorting) and Jocelyn MacNeil (coordinator, book sales), and Adele Makcrow (manager, book’mark The Library Store) and Tracy Proke (board representative, book’mark The Library Store) in celebrating the following volunteers for their milestone contributions to Friends:

2 years
Book Sales
Bryan Wood
Christine Richard
Courtney Downey
Kaitlyn Renney
Kim Phan
Mei Tanaiyiama
Nobu Kawaguchi
Richard Zhao
Sarah Astifo
Jin Zhang
Sylvester Phua
Sue Farrar
Barbara-Anne Eddy
Tricia Sirrs

Book’mark: The Library Store
Paula Wilson
Amanda Rice
Urjita Vaijak

5 years
Book Sales
Doris Ecker
John Leung
Lorin Ritchie
Mel Chow
Sue Teahan
George Rudolph

Book’mark: The Library Store
Linda Stephens

10 years
Book Sales
Clarice Misomali
Casey Wilson
Ellen Au-Yeung

Book’mark: The Library Store
Dellie Lidyard
Christine Forget

15 years
Joan Berlow

Lifetime membership
Trudi Coblenz
Founding Member 1996, Book Ball, Book Sale from 2003, VPL Events

The Board of Directors’ very own Tracy Proke was awarded Friends Volunteer of the Year, for her excellence in representing book’mark The Library Store both on the board and working in the store weekly throughout the year. Tracy is also responsible for organising the wonderful catering at this brunch and other Friends events.

Friends Board of Directors sincerely thanks all the guests of the Annual Volunteer Appreciation Brunch, for coming together in celebration of an excellent year of Friends volunteering. Each person there has given time, expertise, and passion to Friends of the VPL over the past year, and that has translated into some great successes in advocacy and fundraising for the library. It has been a real privilege to volunteer with you all this past year, and we wish you the very best for a successful 2018 of volunteering with Friends of the VPL.