The Rotary Club of Brandon #1344 is putting their final touches on their “Spring Healthy Book Sale” Thursday, Friday and Saturday - March 31, April 1, 2, 2022 at the Victoria Inn in Brandon.  

It’s the 35th year for this annual book fair held each spring, though Covid has put the pause button on this as well as all many other events in the Wheat City!  

Local Rotary Club member, Marty Snelling, has been part of the organizing committee for years – and says The Rotary Club is excited to be back in action supplying their patrons with great reading material – and supporting their community at the same time. 

He says this year they’re getting ready for a huge book sale. Judging by the number books put into each box, and the number of pallets they have, they’re looking at approximately 75,000 books! 

“We’ve got a really good supply! We normally have about 32 pallets of books and we already have 32 and every time that we’re sorting we’re adding another one or 2 pallets of books just about every week now. Yes, we’ve got lots of books!” 

Snelling says they have a wide variety again this year with lots of children’s books, hard-covered novels, pocket books, history, music and art books and more! They have sorted the books by category for visitors to find their favorite genres easier. 

With the Rotary Club Book Sale held at the tail-end of the Royal Manitoba Winter Fair, they’re hoping to have a great response from Brandon and Westman residents, as well as visitors to the city, as the Royal Fair draws people from far and wide. 

In addition, Snelling says they have extended their hours into the evening for 2 of the days. “We’re going to be open Friday night as well as Thursday night, so we’re going to have 2 evenings to come and buy books. People have asked for that in the past, but we’ve not been able to get the volunteers needed to support having the two nights open to the public.” 

“But now, we feel we’re going to do it, we’re going to try it and we’re hoping that with the Winter Fair, people will take time to take in the book sale as well,” he adds. “I think having the book fair open 2 nights till 8:00 pm will help!” 

Money raised goes right back into the community! The Rotary Club of Brandon #1344 supports numerous projects in the Westman Region throughout the year, including health and wellness projects such as Cancer Care and local addiction programs in Westman. Family projects include the Ashley Neufeld Softball Complex and the Riverbank Discovery Centre. 

“Just a whole variety of projects for families, seniors, health care needs and social needs,” he notes. 

Their latest community initiative was to purchase over 20 iPads for local Personal Care Homes for residents to connect with their friends and family members throughout the pandemic. 

“We had one woman from Elkhorn celebrating her 92nd birthday and she had her birthday party over the iPad and everybody sang Happy Birthday to her,” shares Snelling. “The people in the Personal Care Home were just loving it because of all the people they work with, they get quite attached to them and have gotten to know their families as well.” 

“So, that was a real positive project,” he continues, “but if some people are still looking for iPads for a specific Personal Care Home, they should contact the Rotary Club because we still have some funding for that project.” 

 

Mark your calendars for the Rotary Club of Brandon #1344 “Spring Healthy Book Sale” (35th edition)  

Thursday, March 31: 9 am to 8 pm 

Friday, April 1: 9 am to 8 pm 

Saturday, April 2: 9 am to 2 pm 

 

LOCATION: Victoria Inn – 3550 Victoria Avenue, Brandon – in the Imperial Ballroom access from the east parking lot