Auxiliary set to close its books

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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 17/01/2018 (2262 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There have been many, many pages written in the Bethesda Health Care Auxiliary’s story but it is a book that’s now reached its end.

The auxiliary will hold its final used book sale at Clearspring Centre March 21-24, after its members voted last Tuesday to wind down operations of the eight-decade old Steinbach organization.

It’s a bittersweet moment for folks like auxiliary chair Phyllis Toews, who has led efforts of the group for many years.

GRANT BURR | THE CARILLON
Verna Thiessen and Phyllis Toews look over books in the Bethesda Auxiliary sorting and storage space at Clearspring Centre. After eight decades of service to the community, Toews said members voted last week to cease operations, making their spring book sale this coming March a last hurrah for book lovers seeking a deal in support of Bethesda Hospital.
GRANT BURR | THE CARILLON Verna Thiessen and Phyllis Toews look over books in the Bethesda Auxiliary sorting and storage space at Clearspring Centre. After eight decades of service to the community, Toews said members voted last week to cease operations, making their spring book sale this coming March a last hurrah for book lovers seeking a deal in support of Bethesda Hospital.

“People came together that maybe otherwise wouldn’t have. We just work together very, very well,” she said, reflecting on her fellow auxiliary members.

For the last fifteen years, the group’s annual book fairs have been the highlight of their efforts to support health care, which first began in 1938.

“We’re going out on a high note,” Toews said as she flipped through the organization’s latest annual report and pointed to the over $36,000 in fundraising that the group’s book sales generated in 2017. It was the highest fundraising total collected since the sales began.

Along the way, those sales have collected nearly $325,000 in support for Bethesda Hospital. Going back to 1980, the auxiliary has gathered a total of $616,000 through various fundraising which has translated into all types of equipment purchases for the Steinbach hospital.

Health and books are very much intertwined, Toews argues, a belief that has spurred the fundraiser along for years.

“It’s amazing what literacy does for a community,” she said.

Book fair sales began in 2003, first in the hospital’s community services building before quickly finding more room in a high traffic location at the mall.

Toews praised the support of Clearspring Centre management in helping the book fair grow but the prospect of changes at the local mall has meant that group’s space, which it has enjoyed for storage and sorting, may be required for other uses.

That got everyone thinking, it seems. Toews noted that fundraising efforts have been supported by a strong core of about 20 volunteers, almost all who are over 70 years old. Another 150 or so volunteers are counted on when sales, held in spring and fall were held.

“To start another era in another place, just didn’t seem reasonable,” she said.

“We’ll pay the public to help us pack up,” she mused, a nod to the “rock bottom” prices for this year’s final sale in two month’s time.

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