A Community In Need. Library Burns to the Ground. Please Join My Book Drive!

In July 12th, 2013 a small community in the Province where I live here in British Columbia Canada lost their only library. The Thistalalh Memorial Library also known as the Bella Bella Library  was devastated by fire, smoke and water. Bella Bella is a community that is 652 Kilometers (405 miles from my home) to get there I would have to  drive, take 2 ferry boat's or fly in to visit this picturesque area. Google maps tells me the journey would take me more then 15 hours. In the image below, I live at "A" and Bella Bella is located at "B"

 The very small and remote community of Bella Bella can only be accessed by air or sea and has a population of around 1500 people.

This community lost more then just a library in July. They lost also lost a community gathering center, they lost books but they did not loose hope. "Our library was founded on the belief that “we are our stories”, and our goal was to create a meaningful and positive space for our community members and visitors to our remote First Nations village to share and enjoy stories and storytelling."

 Well you may be wondering why I am writing about this to fire and community today. The truth is I was so moved by the loss of this library and effort of the world wide community of book lovers who like me are determined to help Bella Bella and the Thistalalh Library rebuild, That I just had to share thier story with all of you. 

 

Now Bella Bella is not the easiest place to get too and shipping of books is very expensive as many of you know. But I have found, used and written about how much I love The Book Depository. The Book Depository has FREE WORLD WIDE SHIPPING. 

Bella Bella's Library has a request for Children's Books, "As we recover from the fire, our first priority will be locating children’s literature. Following that, our most beloved sections included indigenous literature, international fiction, eco-literature and natural history, and non-fiction. If you’re still not sure what book to choose, you can browse our wishlist for ideas! Thistalalh supports independent book merchants, so wherever you are, please consider helping to keep small businesses afloat by shopping local."

   They also have a wish list for specific titles, it is on Amazon but you can also check The Book Depository for the titles requested for those of you who may wish to help them rebuild. 

If you would like to help out by donating a book you can mail your books directly or use the wonderful service offered by The Book Depository as I have. 

  Books can be mailed to:
Thistalalh Library
c/o Jessie Housty
PO Box 786
Bella Bella, BC
V0T 1Z0

 

I choose to use The Book Depository and sent two children's books that my boys enjoyed this summer as well I also sent Meet Kaya . My hope is that the children in Bella Bella will enjoy them for years to come.

 

Bella Bella is a community with a large First Nations (Indigenous Canadian's) population. Our First Nations People here in Canada are wonderful story tellers, passing their stories and lore to their children the same way as Kaya's Family does in her stories. If you would like to donate to the Thistalah Library's Rebuilding Effort there are many ways you can help. You can visit

 bellabellalibrary.com and donate books or if you prefer you can find a link to their  financial donations page on their website. 

 

I have been in touch with The Bella Bella Library via Email and am pleased to hear of all the efforts that are taking place to help Bella Bella Rebuild the Thistalalh Library. If you would like to join me in  helping please visit their library website by clicking any of the highlighted words in this post.

Please join my efforts in this on line "BOOK DRIVE" and show your support for this community. To purchase books for this "Book Drive" I have used the money I earned from my on line writing. I am committed to purchasing more of these books for the Bella Bella Library with money my writing earns. For those of you who have been asking I do not get paid to write my daily blog here but I do get some add revenue usually twice a year. That money comes from those of you who visit my blog and it's sponsors by clicking the adds that appear between my posts on my blog. "These penny per click adds" can add up, I love it when I can use the funds for the greater good. I would like to take this time to thank you for visiting my blog as often as you do and for visiting my sponsors.
As with all my posts I would love to hear from you so please leave me a comment here or email me at karenmowen@gmail.com