At our Dec 4 meeting, Gordon Bose, Thompson Okanagan Regional Director of BC Search and Rescue Association and Training Officer of Salmon Arm Search and Rescue, outlined the training and work done by our local Search and Rescue Association.
Local Rotary Clubs matching up to $46,000 in donations to the Shuswap Community Foundation (SCF) Emergency Response Fund to support wildfire recovery efforts.
[Salmon Arm, November 8, 2023] - In an incredible show of support and solidarity, the Chase and three Salmon Arm Rotary Clubs have made a generous donation of $46,000 to the Shuswap Community Foundation (SCF). This substantial contribution is earmarked for matching donations to the Emergency Response Fund, an initiative aimed at facilitating the recovery and rebuilding of the North Shuswap communities ravaged by this year's devastating wildfires.
Monday October 2 speaker was Patrick Shea from Shuswap Makerspace, seen above with with some of the woodworking projects created at this facility. He explained that Makerspace is a collaborative learning space available to anyone from youth to senior. It promotes innovation and creativity by providing knowledge, shared equipment and expertise and by giving access to learning, skills training and tools in four basic areas: industrial, computer, virtual reality, and electronics.
On Monday 11 September, Thomas Briginshaw, Literacy Outreach Coordinator for the Literacy Alliance of the Shuswap Society, spoke to our members about LASS and its mission to promote literacy in the North Okanagan-Shuswap area. A District Literacy Plan has been developed with a focus on literacy awareness, collaboration, and and education in the four pillar areas: Early Learning, K-12 Literacy, Adult Literacy, and Aboriginal Literacy. Babies, pre-school and school-age children, adults and seniors benefit from programs such as Books for Babies, Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, One-on-one Reading, Unplug and Play, Enderby Adult Tablet Training, and Cyber Seniors Computer Tutoring. Seen here with President Kari Wilkinson, Thomas holds some of the many children's books that are distributed monthly to pre-school children in the Shuswap communities.
Thanks to the incredible generosity of people in our community, an amazing total of $57,801 was raised for the Safe Society and the Second Harvest Food Bank during the Rotary Club of Salmon Arm’s recent
“Double Up Your Gift” campaign. The goal was to ask individuals and businesses to donate, and Rotary would match those up to $10,000 for each organization. Community donations made were actually
more than that goal! More and more will be needed from these organizations right now due to major losses incurred by families that were caused by major fires in our area.
Pictured with Rotarians Winston Lee-Hai & Kari Wilkinson are Vahlleri Semeniuk from Second Harvest Food Bank and Jane Shirley from the Safe Society.
This week, new member Morgan Turland gave her Bio to the club. She talked about her childhood growing up in Maple Ridge, her education and how she arrived in Salmon Arm. Business, Architecture and Education Assistant programs are some of her educational successes.She started a business in creating wooden signs and teaching this craft.
She is a mother of two and is currently working at the School District. She also does numerous volunteering for our community, one being as Rotarian for our club.
In 2014 the Rotary Club of Salmon Arm discovered that many students in School District #83 went to school without lunch. The lack of a noon meal meant that they were unable to focus on learning, so their education was compromised. The club decided to do something about the situation, and so a School Lunch Program was born.
For nine years, since September 2014, we have donated $160,000 to support a school lunch program to help hungry students get through the school day. Our partner was Askew's whose gift cards were provided to all 25 of the district schools and Parent Advisory Committees, which include Sicamous, Sorrento, Armstrong, Enderby, Falkland, and all the Salmon Arm schools. Throughout the program, we received positive feedback many times from school principals and teachers about the importance of student lunches in the learning process.
Now our participation in this program has come to an end because the provincial government will be taking over. "Through Budget 2023, the Province is investing $214 million over three years so school districts can create or expand local food programs in schools throughout B.C. The funds will be used for purchasing food and hiring dedicated staff to co-ordinate providing meals and snacks to students. This is the largest investment in school food programs in the Province’s history." (https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases)
We have enjoyed hearing from two interesting speakers on July 17 and 24. Valerie Rogers, an award -winning nature artist and resident of Salmon Arm brought a selection of her paintings and explained how her passion for nature and wildlife helps her to create lifelike paintings. She has been awarded BC Wildlife Federation Artist of the Year twice. Her most recent notable success is winning the 2023-24 prestigious Pacific Salmon Stamp competition. She is shown above with Rotarian Hazel Nevrkla and her painting, Vantage Point.
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