In the Spirit of Giving The Revelstoke Current is pleased to present photos of the people and organizations that are tangibly helping to make this a truly happy Christmas for those who are less fortunate or in need of assistance. We honour their efforts to make our community one that really cares for everyone. Merry Christmas!
Thank you Revelstoke from the
Community Connections Food Bank
Once again, Revelstoke, you have shown your overwhelming care and support for those in need in our community!
We would like to extend our sincere appreciation for the generous donations of toys, food, gifts and financial aid.
Your generosity allowed us to provide approximately 200 hampers to individuals and families in need!
On behalf of Community Connections – Clients, Staff, Board Members and Volunteers we wish to express our real appreciation for this vital contribution to our work. Without your generous support, we would be unable to continue to provide the services we do for those in need.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Patti Larson
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Every year Carol Sakamoto (left) and local ladies who enjoy knitting put their needles to work and produce dozens of mitts and socks for local kids whose families have a tough time finding the cash to make Christmas special for their kids. This year the knitters also produced 60 pairs of slippers, Carol said. All of this financed by public donations. Carol said the piggy banks she placed at the Modern Bakery & Cafe and the Big Eddy Store collected the most money second-most amounts of money from generous patrons. “Thanks everyone for your kind donations,” Carol said. Photo courtesy of Carol Sakamoto
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Who says the best toys have to be new? Certainly not Miranda Murphy (right) who posted the winning bid on this classic nearly-mint condition 1976 Monashee Nomad 10-speed in an auction organized by Brendan Ginter (left) as a fundraiser for the Community Connections Food Bank and Christmas Hamper Depot, represented by none other than Patti Larson. Miranda’s bid was $270. “This has been a fantastic little fundraiser,” Patti said. “All together it raised $470.” A nice little bonus to this is that one of person who had big $20 for the bike decided to give the money to the Food Bank even though he didn’t win. Now, that’s generosity! Brendan was pleased, too, and says he’ll try to reprise this fundraiser next Christmas. The only work, aside from new tires, this bike needed was a tune-up at Flowt Bicycles. David F. Rooney photo
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The Community Connections Christmas Hamper Program made out like a bandit when Roberta Ciolli, Shirley Hansen, Dave Hoffman and Corylie Dias of Revelstoke Crime Stoppers dropped by to hand Patti Larson a cheque for $350 the group earned from its No Host Bazaar a few weeks ago. Revelstoke Crime Stoppers has many businesses and people to thank for the success of the No Host Bazaar this year! Thank you to the following businesses for your generous donations: Southside, Buns and Beyond, the Red Apple store, Work ‘n’ Play; 2nd Chance/Escape Within; Hub Barton Insurance; Revelstoke Resort Shuttle; Pharmasave; Revelstoke Florist; Ellen Hatlevik with Mary Kay in Golden; Community Futures Revelstoke; and Your Link/Revelstoke Cable. Thank you to all the vendors who participated, the community for coming down and supporting the bazaar, and a special thanks to Staff Sgt. Jacquie Olsen, Andrea Rollheiser, Margaret Pacaud, Tom Hansen, Orlando Dias and Jim Ritchie for coming down and volunteering for the day. Your help was very much appreciated! A big thanks to Nelson Mendonca at Isabellas for donating, cooking, and slicing all the beef for our “beef on a bun” and also for delivering it ready to serve. The beef was a hit! And last, but not least, a special nod to MacDonalds for sending the Hamburglar down to spend the day with us at the bazaar. Photo courtesy of Revelstoke Crime Stoppers
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The Revelstoke Credit Union and its staff put together scads of Christmas gift bags every year. As you can clearly see they truly enjoy helping people in our community. David F. Rooney photo
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RSS students Joe Echlin and James VanDyck (left) helped teacher Tess Davis transport 20 Christmas hampers high school classes put together for individual families this year. David F. Rooney photo
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These four burly guys — (left to right) J’onn Giese of Kamloops, Rick McIsaac of Revelstoke, Adam Saunders of Diuncan and Jim Wymer of Kamloops — drove down from Mica with 100 gift cards worth $25 each to give Patti Larson for the Christmas Hamper program. J’onn said they like to do this every year. David F. Rooney photo
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Community Connections Food Bank Manager Patti Larson was literally dwarfed by this year’s cheque from the Holiday Train program — a whopping $4,000. David F. Rooney photo
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What began as a friendly in-house competition resulted in the donation of 61 turkeys and plenty of groceries to food banks within the Columbia Shuswap Regional District (CSRD). “This is the third year we’ve done this,” CSRD Senior Planner Scott Beeching said in a statement issued on Thursday. “The donations came from staff and directors with the goal to provide food for two families in each Electoral Area, and once again we exceeded that goal.” While everyone contributed to the general groceries, the actual turkey donation took the form of an inter-departmental competition. “We get pretty competitive amongst the departments and this year, I’m happy to say that Development Services ranked first, even though we’re not the biggest department.” Development Services donated a total of 23 turkeys while Environment & Engineering came in second with 18. The remaining total was donated by Administration staff and the directors. Cash and boxes of groceries were donated to food banks in Golden, Revelstoke, Sicamous, Scotch Creek, Sorrento and Salmon Arm. “The boxes had more than enough food to provide at least two families in each Electoral Area with healthy meals for three or four days,” says Beeching. CSRD staff wishes everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Photo courtesy of the CSRD
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Joan Thatcher and Laurette Lavine (left) were two of the volunteers who helped Patti Larson kick off opening day of the Christmas Hamper Depot operated by the Community Connections Food Bank on Monday. On its first day the depot had, by 2:15 pm, already received 130 requests for Christmas Hampers. Hampers only go to people who need them and who are registered with the Food Bank.They are not handed out, willy-nilly, to anyone who wants one or two transients and visitors. They only go to local residents who are registered with the Food Bank and who apply for them. David F. Rooney photo
