2006 Fraser Valley Cultural Diversity Award - Board MeetingCouncillor Grant Ward, Township of Langley, congratulated Aldergrove Library and Sarwan Singh Randhawa on winning the 2006 Fraser Valley Cultural Diversity Award for Marketing and Outreach. He highlighted FVRL’s Diversity Value: We value and celebrate diversity as integral to an inclusive, vibrant community. Then he highlighted how Aldergrove Library has worked to achieve that, particularly through the efforts of Sarwan Singh Randhawa, Public Services Librarian. Programs in Panjabi and Hindi, the Diwali Festival, Chinese New Year, and Let’s Speak English all have served to draw various ethnic groups to the resources FVRL has to offer.
Sarwan Singh Randhawa expressed his thanks to the Board for the support, encouragement, and motivation he has received, particularly from Councillor Ward and Library Manager Grace Makarewicz. FVRL is a wonderful library system, he stated, and he is proud to be part of it.
Mayor Fassbender congratulated Sarwan on his hard work and thanked him for it, adding that Sarwan is representative of the kind of people who are part of FVRL.
Aldergrove Library wins Cultural Diversity Award - News
Aldergrove Library was awarded the 2006 Fraser Valley Cultural Diversity Award for Outreach Programs and Marketing at the 4th Annual Awards Ceremony held February 24. Fraser Valley Cultural Diversity Awards recognizes the best practices among Fraser Valley service providers and businesses in responding to the diversity of the valley. Aldergrove Library is one of six libraries in the Langley Township area, and one of 24 libraries belonging to the Fraser Valley Regional Library (FVRL). FVRL manager Grace Makarewicz says, "We respect and value cultural diversity as integral to an inclusive and vibrant community - it's all part of our mission to connect people to the world of information and ideas".
Accepting the award on behalf of Aldergrove Library, Public Services Librarian Sarwan Singh Randhawa noted, "One of the goals of our library is to reach out to all members of the community. I would like to thank all of the Langley community service agencies, media, businesses and individual members of the community who work with us and so enthusiastically support our efforts". He said that media played a major role for making Aldergrove Library an Award winning library.
Aside from offering books and materials in many languages, the Aldergrove Library has computer and Internet training classes in Punjabi and Hindi, children's story times in Punjabi and English, a popular annual Diwali "Festival of Lights" celebration which draws hundreds of people, and, this year, it co-sponsored a Chinese New Year celebration.
In spring of 2006, the Aldergrove Library is launching a new outreach program called Let's Speak English aimed at people who are learning English as a second language. For more information on this and other programs, contact the Aldergrove Library or visit Fraser Valley Regional Library's website at http://www.fvrl.bc.ca/.
