In the spring I received a Neighbourhood Small Grant of $500 from the Campbell River Foundation to create a lending library for Way2Go. I initially thought we would have a tote that we could bring back and forth to monthly meetings. With the help of Sulyn Cedar and Carol Foort, it grew from there. We asked the Way2Go community for suggestions of books to purchase and welcomed donations of relevant books. Thanks to the generosity of the grant and the Quadra Community, we now have almost 100 books, and more coming. Way too many for a tote! Denise Chisolm of the QI Caregivers Support Group contacted us saying that they had thought of starting a library and wondered if we might combine our efforts. It seemed like a good fit, and they added a few books to ours. Barb offered space at the local Vancouver Island Library!
We have beautiful books depicting this sacred time of life and practical books to help navigate the potentially difficult ‘real world’ requirements. We have books that explore the emotional journey of caring for loved ones before and after their deaths. We have books that help us to care for ourselves. We have books that offer personal accounts of near-death experiences. We have books by local authors. We have books from various cultures. We have poetry, we have prose. We have the Way2Go Guide and a compilation of Margaret Verschuur’s wide ranging DI articles. We have children’s books that present death in a healthy way to the young (actually, they can be useful for adults too).
Thank you, Campbell River Neighbourhood Small Grant committee. You have seeded something wonderful!
