While much of Remembrance Day centres around commemorating war and the lives lost, Richmond Public Library will be focusing on peace.
For the last couple of weeks, and leading up to Remembrance Day on Saturday, all library branches are offering residents the chance to post a message of thanks and peace to a veteran.
And in the library’s main branch at the Richmond Cultural Centre on Minoru Boulevard, a special “peace quilt” is being hung on the wall to mark the occasion.
The latter of the two symbols of peace, explained the library’s head of Kids’ Place, Kate Adams, was a collaborative project with Richmond school kids from Grade 1 to 4 back in 2013.
“We received some school visits, we read some books about Remembrance Day and about peace; each student then drew on an individual panel for the quilt,” said Adams.
“And then the Richmond Quilters Guild helped us sew it all together. We have two (quilts) and we alternate displaying them each year at Remembrance.
“There are some really thoughtful messages on there. All they were asked was ‘What does peace mean to you, in the context of Remembrance Day?’”
As for the Postcards for Peace, library visitors are encouraged to take a moment to write a message of appreciation, or describe how they will remember the sacrifices and achievements of Canadian veterans or Canadian Armed Forces members.
Completed postcards will then be delivered to Canadian Forces personnel.
“You can post them anywhere. But if you post them here, we will send them for you. We will empty it right after Remembrance Day,” added Adams.
“They are available at all library branches and kids can draw a picture on there if they prefer.”
Richmond Public Library also has a collection of materials on war, conflict, and the significance of Remembrance Day. Browse through the library’s resources online at YourLibrary.ca.
