Serving Their Community -Janice and David Mallory

2006-03 - by Susan McIver - For Janice and David Mallory of Summerland life is all about people, family, friends and community. "I worked with people all my life and enjoy being involved in community activities, getting to know people and having new experiences," said Janice, a retired registered nurse. David is also motivated by a fascination with process. "I enjoy seeing how things work, how groups and individuals change over time," he said. Currently, the couple is involved in a number of community activities. Since 1999, Janice has served as the chair of the Summerland Food Bank. This past year the food bank had approximately 1500 visits from adults and 1100 from children. "Some people come only once or twice and others on a regular basis," Janice said. The number of s seniors helped by the food bank has risen from a few to approximately a dozen. Janice attributes this to the cost of living increasing faster than pensions and to older seniors not being able to find places in assisted living facilities. This shortage in assisted living units has also led to Janice preparing and serving the evening meal for 10 seniors at Parkdale Lodge, an independent living facility. Janice also chairs the Women's Opportunity Service Organization that promotes education, health and welfare of women and children. "Among other endeavours, we provide bursaries to help adults returning to school and high school students furthering their education," Janice said. David serves on the board of the Parkdale Housing Association that operates Angus Place, an assisted living facility, as well as Parkdale Lodge. He is also a member of Summerland's Centennial Committee and volunteers at the Summerland Health Auxiliary Thrift Store. Much of David's time is devoted to the Friends of the Summerland Library Society. After being a board member for several years, he recently became president of FOSLS. For the past six years, David has organized the FOSLS used book sale held in June. Between 3,000 and 4,000 books, mainly paperback fiction, are purchased at the annual sale. In late 2003, he started selling used books online for FOSLS. This was in conjunction with his personal online business that he had previously established. "I've sold books, including many books for FOSLS, to customers all over the world, including Malta, New Zealand, USA, UK and Greece," David said. His first sale remains his most memorable, a man in Belgium ordered a book about subversive uses of invisible inks. David decided to join the Advanced Book Exchange in Victoria rather than establish his own website. ABE is the world's largest online source of used books with a listing of approximately 70 million books. David has over 2000 books, including 500 for FOSLS listed. To check his listings visit the website: www.abebooks.com, go to bookstores and enter Summerland Bookman. David's passion for books didn't start in Summerland. In the early 1990s, he owned a bookstore, Rain Forest Books, in Coquitlam. The Mallory's retired to Summerland in 1995. A native of Montreal, Janice moved to Vancouver upon graduating from nursing school in 1964. She met David in 1966 and married him two years later. Born and raised in Penticton, David attended Simon Fraser University, before starting his career as a purchasing agent and specialty sales manager for a fire protection business based in the Lower Mainland. The couple has two children and two grandchildren.

 

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