United Way: Of the Central and South Okanagan/ Similkameen

Have you ever wanted to pull a plane down a runway with your bare hands???

Well here’s your chance, join us at Kelowna Flightcraft on May 27th, 2011 where you can compete to pull a plane across the Mackay finish line!

Assemble a team of 12 members, and together raise 750$ (or 62.50$ each) to enter, and then pull like you’ve never pulled before!

All funds raised support children, vulnerable adults and seniors in your community.

You have to chance to wins lots of great prizes for winning, for the best dressed, and for most creative entrance onto the runway.

For more information please contact avril@unitedwaycso.com or call 250-860-2356

On February 8th, 2011, the United Way of the Central and South Okanagan Similkameen and Telus presented successful TELUS LIVE UNITED YOUTH GRANTS applicants cheques for their projects. Congratulations to:

Mount Boucherie Secondary -  Global Village Store

KLO Middle School Eco Club – Fascieux Creek Restoration

SIFE Okanagan – Instill Life

UBC-Okanagan Pride Resource Centre – Generation Pride Training

Centre for Spiritual Living – Community Garden

….and thank you to TELUS for making it all possible! These youth will receive not only the funds to complete their projects, but also mentoring and support!

$1,356,875.00 is the highest United Way CSO campaign to date!

Thank you to everyone for generously  supporting the work of our Community Partners!

Central Okanagan Community Partners Thanking our Campaign Supporters

How do we save the BC business community $1 Billion/year?

How do we grow the BC Economy by 20%?

Join CATCH Coalition to hear Dr. Paul Kershaw, one of Canada’s leading thinkers and researchers, discuss  the direct impact children’s school readiness has on the business community and economy.

March 4th

12 – 1:30 pm

Coast Capri Hotel

Lunch included!

Register by February 26th to:

Carol Ellison, Success By 6 Coordinator

250-718-4044 or carol.ellison@shaw.ca

Cancellations must be received 3 business days before the event.

Did you know that 9,000 children came to the Kelowna food bank last year? This is very true and this number has been increasing since.

SIFE Okanagan is hosting its annual SIFE Charity Gala on the 4th of February to raise funds to support the people in need. The objective of this event is to raise proceeds where half of which are going towards sustaining the Kelowna Food Bank and Kelowna Women’s Resource Center. This is part of our initiative to raise the awareness of hunger throughout the Okanagan. And the other half is going to be reinvested in the operations of SIFE Okanagan, which will allow us to continue creating a positive impact in our community.

Come out for a great evening with your friends and colleagues and help us raise funds to support the charities in need in our local community. Mark Childs, VP of Marketing of Campbell’s Canada will be sharing Campbell Soups efforts to alleviate hunger in Canada.

More information regarding the gala is attached. If you have any question or inquires about the tickets, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with me via email or phone.

Sincerely,

Sattu Dhaliwal

TICKETS:

$75 Each, Group Rate - $400 for 6 people 

TICKETS INCLUDE:

** Live entertainment by Cheeky Monkeys and Jeff Plattelli 
** Glass of Wine or Beer
** Hors d’oeuvres provided by Cabana Bar and Grille
** Dessert provided by CupCasions 
** Live/Silent Auction and Dancing 
** Keynote speech by Mark Childs, VP Marketing Campbells Company of Canada 

PROCEEDS GO TO:
** Kelowna Food Bank
** Kelowna Women’s Resource Center
** SIFE Okanagan

—Food donations will be accepted during the event —

SEXUAL ASSAULT RESPONSE TRAINING

The Canadian Women’s Foundation, the Ending Violence Association BC and the Central

Okanagan Elizabeth Fry Society, present

Shaping Tomorrow: Community Sexual Assault

Response Training & Coordination, February 23-24 in Kelowna.

Understanding gender-based violence and the appropriate approach to the care and support of

sexual assault survivors is vital for anyone working with and on behalf of women and teens.

When: February 23-24, 2011 8:30 to 4:30

Where: Holiday Inn Express Hotel Kelowna, 2429 Hwy 97 North

Who should attend:

Community professionals who provide services to women and youth such as: Youth workers, teachers and school counsellors, drug and alcohol counsellors, victim service workers, shelter workers, employment counsellors, health care and mental health, outreach workers, social workers, community police, 911 operators, paramedics, community counsellors.

Cost: $75.00 + HST. (Includes handbook, materials, and meals for the two days)

About the Presenters:

Morgen Baldwin,

Regional Coordinator

Community Coordination for Women’s Safety Program

Ending Violence Association of BC

With nearly 20 years experience in the field, Morgan Baldwin brings extensive experience working at the local and provincial level to improving local responses to domestic and sexual violence.

Cst. Sarah MCCARTHY

Sex Crimes Unit, Kelowna detachment

CST McCarthy graduated from the RCMP academy in Regina in July of 2000.  Her current role investigating sexual abuse and assault includes liaison with the Sex Assault Response Team at KGH.  Cst. McCarthy’s dedication to investigation of sexual offences, and protecting children works toward decreasing the incidents of child abuse and exploitation that occurs in our community on a far too regular basis.

Cst. Ian Grim

Sex Crime Unit, Kelowna detachment

Cst Grim has been a member of the RCMP for 5 years.  Since 2009, Cst. Grim has been responding to and investigating sex crimes at the Kelowna detachment utilizing the Stepwise technique for interviewing children.  This technique minimizes the trauma to the child while improving the quality of information.

Visit our website at www.empoweringchange.net

Please help us get the word out by circulating this opportunity to those whom you think would benefit from this training.

Aimee Thompson

Agency Coordinator

Central Okanagan Elizabeth Fry Society

104 – 347 Leon Ave Kelowna BC V1Y8C7

Ph: 250 763-4613 Fx: 250 763-4272

YOU ARE POWERFUL!

The Kelowna Family Centre, www.kfscs.com will be hosting a

Fundraising Event Feb. 19^th. We will be having our wonderful Dance night again!

It is a fun night and the tickets go fast (they are only $20. each).

Consider a fun filled night for a good cause (check out our web site – we do wonderful work in this community)!

If you work in a business, could you take a poster to work?

We are also in need of Silent Auction items.

This year we are hoping to find a few Sponsors for our Dance.

If your company would like to be a sponsor:

Gold - $1000.

Silver – $500.

Bronze – $100.

We appreciate your support and will make sure that you have a “publicized” Thank You.

- Kelowna Family Centre (Community Partner Agency)

United Way was hard at work ringing the kettle bells for Salvation Army on Friday!

Way to go Casorso Elementary Moms for sponsoring families for Christmas through Kelowna Community Resources and coming out to wrap gifts! It will be a very Merry Christmas! A big thanks to Immaculata Secondary for their amazing efforts in sponsoring families too!