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Chess in the Library BIG NEWS
Well, It's been exactly 14 months since Chess in the Library has been established and right now, right here, at this moment, I have some big news to announce!
1. Chess in the Library is going official! That means the Toronto Public Library (TPL) and Chess in the Library (CITL) will be signing a partnership contract very soon. It will outline each partner's mission and goals, as well as the roles and responsibilities in the partnership.
2. Due to the partnership, we will be establishing an executive board within Chess in the Library. The election will be held shortly and the results will be announced no later than 2 weeks (read our website or my blog!). Also, a written constitution will follow.
3. As of now, we have expanded the program to 11 different locations in Toronto excluding 1 more downtown that is still starting-up (Bloor/Gladstone). However, we are working on expanding the program to cities outside of Toronto, starting with Ottawa. The project there is lead by strong Canadian junior, Joey Qin. Joey has already talked to the librarians at his local library and they all love the idea! Right now, it's just a matter of settling down the starting date. Also, I went to Hamilton for a chess tournament last weekend and spoke to a few local chess enthusiasts. They told me that the central library is a very popular place for the local residences to play chess casually. So Hamilton is definitely our second target. Our third target is Montreal as I'm going there for the Montreal Open in a few weeks. I already contacted the tournament organizer about helping us to get in touch with the local libraries there. I have confidence in myself and my team that we can take this big step - expand the program outside of Toronto! :)
That's all for the BIG NEWS....
Once our 11th location officially starts running (end of October), we have absolutely no chess sets left in our storage. We really need to purchase more chess sets very soon and the money that we have from previous donations is not enough. Also, due to the fact that the kids at each branch have improved their skills significantly over the past year (they borrow chess books to read in the library!), we've received many requests of placing a few chess clocks at each branch. Although we did receive some from donations, it doesn't seem to be enough for all of our 11 locations at the moment. Finally, we're hoping to purchase an annual trophy for the library team that wins the Open section of our annual festival (there will be an article on the festival this year in the August issue of the CFC e-Newsletter!) each year. It would be placed in that library for a year and then transfered to the next winning library afterwards. I've done some research on this and the cheapest one costs around $100 including tax (http://www.dgtrophies.ca/AOD/pages/A...nction-62.html). If you know any other good deals, let me know!
When I first founded Chess in the Library last June, financial problems was a big barrier to getting our second location started. It was because of all of donors and sponsors who generously funded our program in some way or other that we were able to expand the program furthermore. From the very beginning, I set ourselves the goal of expanding Chess in the Library nation wide. The goal has not changed today and it never will. My team and I will put in 110% into this project so that simply more kids in Canada can enjoy playing chess. However, financial things we cannot control. We really hope that it's not money that stops us from moving forward. After all, the money goes towards the chess equipment, the kids, and the dream, not us.
If you care about the chess community in Canada and hope to promote chess along with us, please support Chess in the Library's new expansion project. It doesn't really matter how much you donate or what you donate, it's the thought that counts! Even a small donation such as $5 will make a big difference! My team and I will really appreciate anything that you are willing to contribute. :)
Thank you for taking the time to read this~
my contact info is yuanling_1@yahoo.com
1. Chess in the Library is going official! That means the Toronto Public Library (TPL) and Chess in the Library (CITL) will be signing a partnership contract very soon. It will outline each partner's mission and goals, as well as the roles and responsibilities in the partnership.
2. Due to the partnership, we will be establishing an executive board within Chess in the Library. The election will be held shortly and the results will be announced no later than 2 weeks (read our website or my blog!). Also, a written constitution will follow.
3. As of now, we have expanded the program to 11 different locations in Toronto excluding 1 more downtown that is still starting-up (Bloor/Gladstone). However, we are working on expanding the program to cities outside of Toronto, starting with Ottawa. The project there is lead by strong Canadian junior, Joey Qin. Joey has already talked to the librarians at his local library and they all love the idea! Right now, it's just a matter of settling down the starting date. Also, I went to Hamilton for a chess tournament last weekend and spoke to a few local chess enthusiasts. They told me that the central library is a very popular place for the local residences to play chess casually. So Hamilton is definitely our second target. Our third target is Montreal as I'm going there for the Montreal Open in a few weeks. I already contacted the tournament organizer about helping us to get in touch with the local libraries there. I have confidence in myself and my team that we can take this big step - expand the program outside of Toronto! :)
That's all for the BIG NEWS....
Once our 11th location officially starts running (end of October), we have absolutely no chess sets left in our storage. We really need to purchase more chess sets very soon and the money that we have from previous donations is not enough. Also, due to the fact that the kids at each branch have improved their skills significantly over the past year (they borrow chess books to read in the library!), we've received many requests of placing a few chess clocks at each branch. Although we did receive some from donations, it doesn't seem to be enough for all of our 11 locations at the moment. Finally, we're hoping to purchase an annual trophy for the library team that wins the Open section of our annual festival (there will be an article on the festival this year in the August issue of the CFC e-Newsletter!) each year. It would be placed in that library for a year and then transfered to the next winning library afterwards. I've done some research on this and the cheapest one costs around $100 including tax (http://www.dgtrophies.ca/AOD/pages/A...nction-62.html). If you know any other good deals, let me know!
When I first founded Chess in the Library last June, financial problems was a big barrier to getting our second location started. It was because of all of donors and sponsors who generously funded our program in some way or other that we were able to expand the program furthermore. From the very beginning, I set ourselves the goal of expanding Chess in the Library nation wide. The goal has not changed today and it never will. My team and I will put in 110% into this project so that simply more kids in Canada can enjoy playing chess. However, financial things we cannot control. We really hope that it's not money that stops us from moving forward. After all, the money goes towards the chess equipment, the kids, and the dream, not us.
If you care about the chess community in Canada and hope to promote chess along with us, please support Chess in the Library's new expansion project. It doesn't really matter how much you donate or what you donate, it's the thought that counts! Even a small donation such as $5 will make a big difference! My team and I will really appreciate anything that you are willing to contribute. :)
Thank you for taking the time to read this~
my contact info is yuanling_1@yahoo.com
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