Students from St. Michael Community School show off their new books that they chose from the new vending machine. (Logan Lehmann/paNOW Staff)

By Logan Lehmann

Book worm

New vending machine for books aimed to teach youth about Indigenous cultures

Feb 1, 2023 | 12:47 PM

A brand new vending machine has start operating in Prince Albert, but it’s not just any ordinary vending machine as this one has books instead of snacks.

A first of its kind in the city, the vending machine is located inside the Bernice Sayese Centre and was brought in to help support literacy and student achievement through the power of storytelling.

The Prince Albert Indian and Métis Friendship Centre partnered with the Bernice Sayese Centre to bring the project into reality. Program director of the Indian Métis Friendship Centre Anna Stene said this machine will be important to the students for many years to come.

“The whole idea of this vending machine is to bring cultural-based literature into the homes of community members,” she said. “When you think about that, we’re down in the west (flat) so we have three different elementary schools that I think would benefit a lot from this program being here.”

Stene said the vending machine features many different books about various Indigenous cultures, including books from the Dene, Inuit, and Métis cultures.

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The machine itself works like a typical vending machine but it doesn’t accept money. Instead it accepts a unique kind of token that can be given to the students by members at the centre. The best part about it all is that there’s no money involved, meaning when a child gets a book from the machine, that book is theirs to keep free of charge.

“This machine is open to the public,” Stene said. “It’s not just for the Westflat, it’s for the whole city. Anybody in the city that is wanting to come and look at it, they’re more than welcome to.”

It’s expected the project will provide more than 2,200 books to students and participants in Prince Albert.

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logan.lehmann@pattisonmedia.com

Twitter: @lloganlehmann