If you need a good book to read for cheap and don’t mind raising some money for charity, this new initiative at Gin Mill on Wyndham Street North is for you.
Brandon Rennie, co-owner of Gin Mill, recently purchased a claw machine, retrofitted it and set it up right on the main floor of the building. He named it the Reading Cranebow.
Inside the Reading Cranebow are beach balls, each with a different number that corresponds to a fictional book personally chosen by Robert Dykstra, founder of Sunrise Books.To play, one pays $5 per token and grabs a beach ball and receives the corresponding mystery book (which has a a value between $7 and $15).
That $5 is then split in half, with $2.50 going to the bookstore to restock the restaurant’s supply of books and the remaining $2.50 goes to a local charity.
“I basically brought him a budget and I said ‘Hey, I want you to handpick what you think is a nice diverse selection of fiction that people are going to be stoked to get because we've known each other for so long.’ People are putting five bucks in and not only are they contributing to charity, but they're also getting a book that is oftentimes 15 bucks,” said Rennie.
“They're really getting value for their contribution.”
Rennie said Gin Mill will be focusing on a new charity each month, but for the first month, they will give to The Nightingale Centre, an organization they have supported with creative cocktail initiatives in the past.
“We have wanted to make sure that everybody could get behind what we're doing because that allows us to collect more funds for these organizations.”
Dykstra said he was grateful Rennie asked for his support for a charitable initiative.
He said his selections include genres that would appeal to a wide audience such as adventure, romance and paranormal fiction.
“I'm in my senior years, so to see a young guy like Brandon trying his best. I mean it's the least I could have done,” he said.
In March, Gin Mill began giving out freshly cooked meals to anyone who lined up outside its restaurant every Sunday. Rennie would stand there himself handing out food till the restaurant ran out. The initiative ran for five months and came to an end in July as it just wasn’t feasible for the owners to run post-lockdown.
“We would have lineups down the road. It was great. I think we peaked at about 165 meals a night one of the weeks,” said Rennie.
“Providing a ‘no questions asked’ kind of environment really made people feel comfortable coming back.”
Rennie said while the restaurant is not offering free meals on Sundays anymore, it is looking for ways to contribute.
