Books for Douglas Park

October 30, 2015

All’s well that ends well for Douglas Park Community School after a roller coaster ride of emotion when the school was informed that they were disqualified from the Adopt-a-School contest hosted by Indigo. Despite leading the pack, it was initially determined that the rules had been broken in the online nomination process, though it was unclear just what the infraction was. CKNW reporter Shelby Thom (a Langley Schools graduate) took up the cause and was instrumental in publicizing the story of disappointment for the Douglas Park community (visit CKNW). Shortly after the news of the unfortunate loss of the $10,000 contest prize, Indigo announced that they would provide a donation equivalent to the prize amount ($10,000) to Douglas Park Community School to enrich the school library. The Douglas Park parent community and many other local Langley supporters also donated 445 books as a part of the contest.

Also in the wake of the disappointing news, Cathy Jesson of Black Bond Books called into CKNW while Douglas Park Principal Esther Schmit was on the air and offered to donate 1000 books to the students of Douglas Park. Cathy Jesson and Mel Jesson referred to the ‘local connection’ Black Bond has to the Langley community and how the second location of Black Bond was opened in Langley and how ‘…this is our community, our backyard…’. Cathy personally picked 700 of the books presented to Douglas Park and helped deliver them with Mel. Enthusiastic students helped unload the boxes and boxes of books that will be distributed to classrooms for reading centres. Needless to say, the students were thrilled with the new books!