|
Caravan Farm Theatre is located at the top of the Okanagan Valley about 8 Km. northwest of the city of Armstrong and produces live theatre performances on its 80 acre farm. There are no buildings, just the great outdoors. For the past three years, productions of Shakespeare, Brecht and original works like “Horseplay” and “Cowboy King” have attracted between 13,000 and 16,000 theatregoers each year. The Community Foundation partnered with Caravan to build a rain venue on the farm, a covered area capable of seating up to 200 people so the show can go on when inclement weather would otherwise force a cancellation.
Marketing Director, Sean Newton, places stakes to begin
marking off the new rain venue building at Caravan Farm Theatre.
A donation from the Community Foundation assisted Vernon’s Good Food Box, a volunteer non-profit produce buying cooperative which purchases fruit and vegetables in bulk according to season and distributes them through central locations. Boxes are ordered and paid for in advance and the Good Food Box buys direct from farmers when possible. It works in cooperation, not competition, with local food producers and retailers and, by using volunteers to sort and pack boxes, is able to deliver a large box for $12 per week. Typical boxes include potatoes, onions and carrots as well as six to eight seasonal items such as lettuce, peppers, yams, tomatoes apples and oranges. The Community Foundation donation allowed the Good Food Box to expand distribution from 350 to 500 boxes per month as well as adding 150 families to their newsletter which provides food and nutritional information.
Volunteers Chiyo Yamabe and Joan Sawyer
sort apples at the Good Food Box facility.
Drop-in Programs for youth 14 to 18 years old, one-on-one tutoring
for children and youth, volunteer tutoring programs in partnership
with School District #22, and Senior’s Connections Projects in Vernon
and Lumby are some of the many literacy support programs offered
by the The Junction Literacy and Youth Centre. The Community
Foundation provided funding towards The Life Skills Program which
was developed for youth who struggle with issues such as: positive
self-esteem, self-worth, decision making/making positive choices,
peer pressure, negative influences, and unhealthy relationships. The
goals are to empower youth by developing strategies to cope with a
variety of difficult situations and to engage youth to work towards a
positive and healthy lifestyle.
Brian Davies, a tutor with Junction Literacy Centre, works with one of the
participants.
The Canadian Red Cross Medical Equipment Loans Program provided over 4500 pieces of medical equipment in the past year. This allowed individuals in the North Okanagan who were injured or ill to remain at home during convalescence. Over 3300 residents participated. The Community Foundation was pleased to support this equipment loan program which also provides volunteers with two days of training on standards of cleaning and disinfection as well as topics like disease transmission, customer service and pandemic planning.
Vernon volunteers, Irene Walker, and Phyllis Hanson
examine a wheelchair before it’s loaned out.
John Shephard was a quiet, shy man
who lived a simple existence, by himself,
with no living family other than a
distant cousin.
A long-time employee of the Vernon
Museum, Shephard became the Curator
in 1967, shortly after the museum was
built.
Although he retired in 1984, Shephard
still volunteered at the museum every
day archiving property assessment records
and happenings in the Vernon
Daily News until he suffered a stroke
in 2003.
Friends of Shephard knew that he was
passionate about botany, reading and
classical music, but they didn't know
that he had another keen hobby – wisely
investing his money.
Shephard passed away on Christmas
Eve 2003, and left his life savings to
the museum - of which nearly $300,000
was forwarded to the Community Foundation
of the North Okanagan. Some
of the remaining funds were used to
purchase moveable aisle shelving,
which now holds many of the documents
Shephard worked so tirelessly to
archive.
The Foundation also accumulates a
pool of monies from its own endowment,
that many community-based
charitable organizations apply for on an
annual basis.
To make their endowment funds go
further, agencies like the Vernon Jubilee
Hospital Foundation, the Performing
Arts Centre Society, as well as the
Vernon Museum, hold them with the
Foundation, taking advantage of the
Foundation's larger investment pools
and better returns.
By giving the money to the Foundation
it meant that the Vernon Museum would
receive an annual cheque for operating
expenses while saving their capital.
“It will free up time to put effort into
education programs and displays,” says
Museum Curator, Ron Candy, “those
are the things we should be doing.”
When it was time to replace playground
equipment, JW Inglis Elementary School's
PAC took on a big job - fundraising for the
$68,000 necessary to build it.
Paula Harned, whose children don't yet attend
school, took on the role of Fundraising
Director for the PAC, and set out on the task
of raising almost $60,000 over what they
already had in the coffers. “We had several groups like the Lions, the
Legion, and of course many businesses and
members of the community support us by
buying cookie dough, wrapping paper and
everything else we kept throwing at them,” says
Paula, “We also received generous donations
of items from Agro Road Maintenance,
Rouck Brothers Sawmill, Paragon
Forest Products, Sheardown's Foodliner
and Green Ridge Building Supplies for our
silent auction.” Paula says that although they had
a lot of support from businesses and organizations
in the community, they applied to the Community
Foundation for the $6,700 to complete
the project, which they were granted.
“We looked to the Community Foundation
because it seemed to be a natural fit,” says
Paula, “Our school is near the center of the
community for everyone and because it will
be available for use by everyone.” The structure
is divided into three sections
– one for primary children, one for intermediate
aged children, and the Participark
portion of the structure which is designed
for ages up to adults providing strength, endurance
and fl exibility stations.
Paula says that in the many times she has
driven by the playground, it
is almost always occupied by people of all ages.
“This has truly become a place where the
community comes together. “
Kids' programs at the
Okanagan Science Centre
are serious fun, but it
takes serious fundraising
to make them viable.
From a grant given by the
Foundation last year, the
Science Centre was able
to create the Saturday Serious
Fun program, that
in turn led to an entry in
the NSERC Promo Science
Awards. This entry
has provided the Science
Centre with an additional
three years of funds for the
program – a serious boost
to the Centre!
This year the Science
Centre applied for and
received a grant from the
Foundation that will help
it launch a preschooler
program in the fall.
Sandi Dixon, Centre Manager, says that through the
Silly Series of Science Program, young children
will be given the opportunity to explore phenomena and materials
that draw
upon their natural curiosity, captivate, motivate and prepare
them for ideas
important to later learning.
The month-long sessions run from September to June and are open
for kids 3– 5 years and their parent(s) or caregivers.
It promises to be a fun diversion
for those young and old.
The Kingfisher Community
Hall on Mabel Lake Road
in Enderby was granted
$5,500 by the CFNO to turn
these cramped quarters into
usable outdoor patio space
and make the area wheelchair
accessible. |
304
- 3402 - 27th Avenue 
