Thanks to the program Share the Magic, Skownan First Nation households are chockfull of books.

Career Trek staff delivered 50 boxes of reading material to the remote community to share with its residents—both kids and adults. For some, it would be the first books to ever come into their home. “That was very touching for me,” says Christine Melnick, a provincial MLA who began Share the Magic in 2007 as Manitoba’s Minister of Family Services and Housing. 

Christine has since distributed more than 45,000 donated books, set up libraries in public housing complexes, orchestrated book giveaways in inner-city Winnipeg and brought her love of reading to first nations in Manitoba.

“It’s a literate world and God help the kid who can’t read,” says Christine, who is currently Minister of Water Stewardship. “And I think one of the best ways to learn how to read is to have lots of subject matter and reading levels, so when the reader is ready, the book is there.”

“To become a reader can change your life because you become literate and you realize doors you didn’t even know were there, are, and they open up for you"

Career Trek founder Darrell Cole says partnering with Share the Magic was a great opportunity for Skownan. 

How did the kids react when the books arrived?

“They were ecstatic,” says Darrell. “It was wonderful.”

Theresa Nepinak, Principal of Skownan School, says the students were thrilled. “The kids were very excited because they know they didn’t have to buy the books and it really inspired them to promote the reading that they need at home.”

A voracious reader, Christine knows the power of a good book. She says program participants have discovered this for themselves, many of them telling her about that one story that made them a reader.

“To become a reader can change your life because you become literate and you realize doors you didn’t even know were there, are, and they open up for you," she says.

Christine remembers visiting the St. Vital library with her firefighter dad when she was a little girl. She became enthralled by a series about Freddie the pig who lived on an ordinary farm but sought greater adventure—he even travelled to the moon.

“I just couldn’t believe that with one little piece of paper, a library card, I could access all of those books. That, to me, was quite magical,” she says.