Celebrating volunteers’ impact for sick and injured kids

Winnipeg, MB (Mar 14, 2023) – For as long as she can remember, Carol Irving has been involved with the Children’s Hospital Book Market—and it’s a cause that hits close to home.

Carol’s aunt was one of the original Book Marketeers in 1961, when the market was first established to raise funds to support children’s healthcare.

“My aunt lost a son to brain cancer. Losing a child is an unimaginable tragedy, and her doctor suggested she volunteer with an organization involving children to help with her recovery,” Carol recalls. “I wanted to support the Children’s Hospital too, since I had firsthand experience losing someone I loved—my cousin—to a childhood disease.”

Volunteering at the market soon became a family affair. When Carol was younger, she volunteered alongside her aunt and other family members, and later became a pricer—and then, shop manager—in the children’s book section. She also acted as chair of the board until she took on her current role as the market’s volunteer coordinator in 2004, organizing the hundreds of volunteers who make the market happen twice a year.

Like Carol, long-time volunteer Gail Kushnier also became involved with the market because of family. “My sister asked me to come down and help,” she remembers. “I’ve been a volunteer all my life as my father was a big advocate for volunteering, and the Book Market was a terrific fit.”

Coordinating the children’s book section was perfect for Gail, who is ecstatic to see how much the market has grown through the decades. “We probably had four or five tables of books at the time—now, I manage between 70 and 80 tables in 100+ categories.”

Carol says most Manitobans are unaware of the sheer volume of people-hours required for the market to run smoothly. The process kicks off with a group of volunteers who unload, sort, price and pack the donated books.

“Everything starts in our facility,” she notes. “After they’re packed, the warehouse crew takes the boxes and puts them on pallets, where they’re shrink-wrapped and taken to our second warehouse to get ready for sale.”

Volunteers load supplies onto trucks to be taken to St. Vital Centre, where the market resides, and unpack them in a space dedicated for the market. Another group arrives a few days prior to the sale to help set up tables; another offloads 96 pallets of books (with 48 boxes on each) from four semi-trucks, which are then unpacked and arranged.

Finally, there are the volunteers at the sale itself, who replenish books throughout the day, work the cash register and bag customers’ purchases.

“Then, at the end of the sale, everything is collapsed and packed up—and we start the whole process again,” laughs Carol. “You need a lot of volunteers to do what we do, and everybody is here for their own reasons. When people come to volunteer here, they can’t believe the atmosphere and support.”

Now a Winnipeg institution, the Book Market raises hundreds of thousands of dollars annually for Child Life programing at HSC Children’s Hospital. This year, funds will go toward the Children’s Hospital Foundation’s $75 million Better Futures campaign, Manitoba’s largest-ever donor-driven campaign in support of child health.

“The reasons are threefold to attend the Book Market: Money goes to the Children’s Hospital Foundation. People don’t throw books in the landfill. It gets inexpensive books to people who love to read,” says Gail. “You can’t really beat that.”

Through it all, Carol remains grateful for the many volunteers and customers who participate in the market. Her favourite part?

“When we start at 10 a.m. on opening day and there are a gazillion people at the mall, with line-ups everywhere, it is so rewarding,” she says. “But the most rewarding part of all is seeing the joy and happiness of volunteers when we say, ‘We have raised X dollars for the Children’s Hospital Foundation.’ That sends a very strong message that it’s all worthwhile.”

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