As part of trying to make myself the best information professional I can, I have been volunteering to try to expand my horizons and abilities. One of the places I found is called the Toy Rescue Mission. It is in Tacoma and does a wonderful thing. It takes new and "gently used" toys and books and makes them like new again -- some of the volunteers even build furniture or sew clothes and blankets -- and allows parents in need to come in for two years for one birthday for each of their children, Christmas and Easter. The parents get to "shop" for several items, a few books, toys and a board game. They can then take this home to their child and provide them with gifts they would otherwise not have. The picture is prior to the Easter givewaway, with the cellophane peaking up from some of the Easter baskets.
I worked in the Literacy section until September 2010, in addition to the piece below that I produced for the newsletter, I also created a training procedure for those who followed me in that position. This isn't technically library related, but its more than just handling books. I was helping to provide reading material to those who might otherwise miss it. And I worked to organize by age and category, so there's even a little cataloging going on, but mainly it was learning. A lot.
Below is a piece I wrote for them about my experience.
Things I Didn’t Know Once
I am the oldest of two children and due to a combination of late-blooming parents and geography, always envied kids who got hand-me-downs. Now, decades later, I find myself sorting through donated books of all shapes, sizes, ages and conditions, cleaning them as I gently as possible. If it’s a colouring or activity book, I make sure none of the pages have been marked up and then add crayons, or pencils and a small, donated toy and place the lot in a Ziploc bag. And, for the first time in my life, I find myself wondering what it must be like to never have toys that are untouched by another’s hands.
I have learned a number of things volunteering at the Toy Rescue Mission, helping to sort and prep books for parents to pick out and give to their children for birthdays, Christmas, etc. Most recently, I learned that even those without a penny to spare wait until the last minute to Christmas shop. I have learned that there are levels and levels of used and only the best go on the shelves here – the closest possible to new. I learned that are numerous agencies that have their own uses for pre-owned books, where those that aren’t quite perfect can go and be loved, appreciated, read and possibly chewed on by small children.
I didn’t know that there are agencies that take the books that are in poorer condition than that and either physically recycle them, or send them to places such as Africa where books in virtually any condition are a treasure because of their rarity. I do know now that this agency that survives on donations of goods, money and time, with a few grants here and there, but without any public funds, serves far more than itself. That the dispersing of books to homeless shelters, daycares and needy schools is repeated with donated toys, clothing and anything else that passes through the doors and cannot be used by the Toy Rescue Mission. That nothing is wasted that can be used by someone, somewhere.
I now know, in much more visceral sense than I did before, how valuable this place is. How many people it serves and in turn, how many serve it. And I learned that there is as much gained by volunteering. If not more.
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