Some of our regular book sale crew, Sally (left), Mindy (centre) and some of our Karen friends at Dovercourt last year.

Saturday September 26 came with an early start, it was going to be a busy day. The second week-end of our annual Kleo book-sale at the Royal Canadian Legion,Westboro Branch  was today. Although we had loaded the books from our donated storage locker at Dymon Storage, into our vehicles the night before, the unloading, set up, and preparations would take a few hours.

This year we were also setting up a table in Winston Square just beside the Legion and we would need to have someone man that station for the day.  We had changed the day of the sale from our usual Sunday to Saturday in hopes that we could catch the sidewalk traffic of people going to the Westboro Farmers Market. Volunteer extraordinaire Mindy offered to be the girl on the street. Always steadfast to the volunteer roles she takes on, you can count on Mindy to be the first to step up to the plate as needs are identified. The weather gods were with us and presented a beautiful sunny fall day, I felt positive about our result.

I rolled out of bed early so that I could meet Sally, always the first on the scene of KLEO book-sale events. Ever faithful Bob followed in stride and we prepared to arrive at the Westboro Legion to open the doors. The Royal Canadian Legion has been donating their downstairs hall for many years and in return we leave our leftover books behind so they can raise funds for their important work. As we were unloading our car load of books Sally drove up with her van full of books and a neighbours son to help for the morning. Although Sally retired from the board she remains an Honorary Board member, she is a valuable resource with many years experience working with the Karen people in Ottawa. She is well respected in the community and brings  a focused calm wisdom to our group.

It wasn’t long before Eva appeared with her car load of books.  Eva, another of our committed board members whose organizational skills and dedication had led us to become the organization we are today. As Eva fell into step, her books were quickly unloaded and she set to the task of unloading other vehicles that were arriving. Just ahead of our new volunteer Pat a couple of Karen men, Lardo Thaw, Saw Htoo, and Eh Hser arrived and joined Bob to take on the bulk of the heavy work.

One hour to opening; inside the buzz of volunteers fell into pace with the huge task organizing thousands of book. Kleo’s Book-sale team of volunteers had pre-organized the books into categories, and fiction and crime had been sorted alphabetically. This is just one of the reasons people come back year after year. I flitted about trying to direct traffic as the categorized books came in. Standing in the middle of the room I heard my voice,

“History goes on the second table on the right, biography at the back, puzzles on the stage”  I was like a traffic cop at an accident in the middle of a traffic jam. A cacophony of movement as we raced to our meet our nine a.m. opening.

At 11:00 I looked around, last minute touches were being done and folks were browsing through one of the most organized book-sale to be found in Ottawa. It was time for me to head to the next event of the day.  I was to receive an award presented by the Friends for Peace organization at city hall at 1:00 and needed to get home to dress.

A very special thanks to our Book Sale Committee, Gail, Betty, Liz, and Sally who contributed to the decision making, spent many hour finding donations, and of course  countless hours sorting.

Finally to all the volunteers Michele, Fran, Valerie, Sue, Lynn, Pat, and the many Karen youth in Ottawa who contributed to our success by handing out flyers,carrying books and creating posters.