by Curlan Campbell, NOW Grenada
- Grenada Community Library & Resource Centre celebrates 6th anniversary
- Storybook Masquerade Fundraising Gala on 30 November
- Honourees to receive recognition for promoting literacy
Founder of the Grenada Community Library & Resource Centre, Oonya Kempadoo, will be among the list of honourees at this year’s Storybook Masquerade Fundraising Gala to receive recognition for their role in promoting literacy.
Other honourees Alesia Aird, Ayisha John, Sibongile Dickson, Kerrisha Nelson, and Pastor Clifford John have all played their part in ensuring that the library located on Lucas Street remains open.
Operations Manager, Michelle Warren, believes it is deemed quite fitting to acknowledge the contribution made by those people who are key players in the formative years since the establishment of the Library in 2014.
“These are the key players and of course Oonya Kempadoo who responded to the closure of the public library and thought there was a need for a library in St George’s because the question was “How can we have a country without a library?” said Warren.
“Special friends of the library means that you have donated towards community building through literacy, love and collaboration which is our motto. So, once you purchase a ticket we refer to you as a special friend and we also share our annual reports with you. Any events that we have we will invite you. We share our newsletter with you and you are especially welcome to bring your children to the library and just support the library throughout the year.”
The Storybook Masquerade Fundraising Gala will take place at the True Blue Bay Resort on Saturday, 30 November 2019. “The event will celebrate the 6th anniversary of the library as a registered company. It is going to be a spice-filled evening with live music, a 3-course culinary experience and we are going to be featuring the book Buxton Spice. We are asking the public to come on out and support. We encourage businesses to make a gift to their staff if they don’t want to have a staff party,” Warren said. “Some people are not even aware that the library is here so I think one of the weaknesses that we have is public relations. We don’t have a budget for PR so we need people, volunteers, and special friends to help spread the word.”
Part of the library’s mandate going forward is to maximise the advertising potential of social media to promote the activities of the library and to help generate much-needed funds to ensure that the library remains open.
Kempadoo’s novel ‘Buxton Spice’ chronicles the life of a racially mixed young girl by the name of Lula, growing up in Guyana in a time of racial tension between the East Indian and Afro-Caribbean populations.
