Diane Troth
For The Morning Star
The Coldstream Women’s Institute continues to support the community contributing to many local organizations. From September 2016 to August 2017, we donated over $25,000.
This included $1,500 scholarships, one to School District No. 22 and the other to the Okanagan College Foundation.
Regular donations are made to North Okanagan Hospice Society, Salvation Army Food Bank, Canadian Mental Health Association and BC Children’s Hospital, which was initially started by B.C. Women’s Institutes.
The hospital supports children throughout BC and we recently gave an extra $3,000 towards digital thermometers, which are state of the art non-invasive and accurate.
The Salvation Army Food Bank receives regular funds and as well we bought them two freezers.
We support Vernon Jubilee Hospital’s Lite-A-Bulb campaign and the Hospital Auxiliary. Other organizations receiving funds include the Boys & Girls Clubs, Literacy & Youth Initiatives (Teen Junction), Therapeutic Riding Association and Allan Brooks Nature Centre.
Our mandate is mainly focused on the needs of women and children. With that in mind we have made Christmas special for families through Vernon Transition House and North Okanagan Youth and family services Society, a project we enjoy.
For decades, Coldstream Women’s Institute has organized and hosted the Nov. 11 ceremonies at the Coldstream Cenotaph. This year, the Municipality of Coldstream took over the ceremony honouring veterans.
We take part in the activities of our provincial board such as fund raisers, conventions, competitions, contributing to regular new letters and various special projects like presenting resolutions and letter writing campaigns dealing with social justice issues.
We continue to meet each month to deal with business, reports and make and discuss plans. We have hosted various speakers and committed to staying informed, interested and involved.