Combined goal of well-fed minds and bodies

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This article was published 10/07/2023 (874 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Feed the body, feed the mind.

That’s the philosophy behind a new partnership between Harvest Manitoba and Share the Magic Book Program, which distributes books to families in need.

Christine Melnick, a former librarian, knows about the power of literacy. That’s why she founded the program in 2004, when she was an NDP MLA. She would go to garage sales and see boxes of books, some unused, being sold cheaply. At the same time, she knew that only a few blocks away, there were homes with few books, if any at all.

Since then, the program has thrived, largely due to private donations of books.

“We give away books for babies as well as adult fiction and non-fiction. We have beautiful donations of books for adults,” Melnick said.

The large surplus of adult books is what inspired Melnick to reach out to Harvest Manitoba.

Mika Peterson, senior manager of volunteer services at Manitoba Harvest, said it’s grateful to receive the books — about 500 books each month.

The books go to more than 360 partner organizations for distribution.

“It is very important for us to nourish our communities not only with food, but with other programming and other resources as well to ensure that… folks have access to what they need to have a fully balanced and healthy life so when Chris approached us with books… improving literacy within our communities, it was such a gift to us,” Peterson said.

To date, the program has given away 700,000 books.

Tracey Manning, a grandmother of two children, Anastasia and Virginia, who are 6 and 12 years old respectively, received 10 books as part of a recent book drive at King Edward School.

Manning said Virginia likes three bedtime stories every night.

“She follows along and is starting to read the books with her auntie (Yvonne),” Manning said. “I see a difference with her. She is learning faster and enjoying it.”

The book program has partnered with the Rotary Club of Winnipeg to send 30,365 books to northern and remote communities

“We get very beautiful responses back from the communities. There’s one line in common we get from all the responses: the children could not believe they could take the books home and keep them,” Melnick said.

“This tells you that there’s not many books in the homes or in the communities and how do you learn to read if you don’t have a book?”

Melnick said literacy skills are vital.

“It’s very hard to get by in a world where you can’t read a street name or can’t read a bus schedule,” Melnick said.

Melnick said her organization works in partnership with the Winnipeg School Division and 13 inner-city schools through the Boys and Girls Club.

graham.mcdonald@freepress.mb.ca