Fundraising option – Liane Arnstein, Klahanie Drive
Recently, there has been a big controversy over old clothes in our community.
Powell River Health-Care Auxiliary, for countless years, has proved that old clothes do equate to cash in a small community [“Clothing material to fundraising success,” January 7, 2015]. Its resale has benefited the hospital, the individual patients and the community as a whole. Until recent years, the economy shop had “the whole pie,” as it were.
Next came the MCC (Mennonite Church of Canada) and it tries to do the same thing, spin gold out of old clothes. It, at least, handles furniture which the Economy Shop has difficulty with because of space constraints. Now the pie is split in half.
And now comes inclusion Powell River, a worthy organization that we, as a community, support. However, its idea of fundraising is to divide the same pie, into thirds.
Come on, no wonder everyone is up in arms. There may be a need for clothing collection in some small towns, but Powell River already has this adequately covered.
Might I suggest a different avenue, a source of funds that no one has tapped into here on the coast?
Open a “Restore,” similar in nature to Habitat for Humanity’s ReStore in Courtenay. There is a market for used building supplies, left-over paint, appliance and plumbing fixtures, lighting fixtures, used tile, used cupboards taken out of a renovation, carpeting, certain furniture items, et cetera, here in Powell River.
None of these products need go to the landfill, but there is nowhere else to drop them off here. Surely there are enough empty buildings, I immediately think of the old Liquidation World building,
where one could receive these products and resell them. I would be its first customer.
Not only would this fill a need in this community, all the money earned would stay here and inclusion Powell River members could be employed to help sort, receive, price, et cetera, providing some job training and feelings of inclusiveness.
Admittedly, this is not as easy as putting up a bin and hoping someone puts something in it, other than trash, that is saleable. However, if inclusion Powell River would open a Restore, it would be doing its members a service, the community a service, the landfill a service and be excellent [public relations] for its organization as well as a viable means of earning hard cash.
Count on me as a supporter of such a scheme.
BC Ferries’ triangle route – Bridget Andrews, Gillies Bay, BC
This weekend I travelled to Comox directly from Blubber Bay. It took one hour. A trip to Comox usually takes me three-and-a-half hours due to poor connections. If I plan to travel farther than Courtenay, it’s an overnighter.
I would love to see the triangle route between Westview, Blubber Bay and Little River become a permanent service; even if only a day or two per week[“Ferry repair results in change of vessels and schedules,” January 14, 2015]. Having that service will not stop me from going to Powell River. I spend a great deal of time there and I love the community. Powell River is more to me than just errands and shopping.
For me, keeping the triangle route would mean that I could spend more time visiting family in Campbell River and Victoria. As an entrepreneur, I could extend my services to include the Comox Valley. For our Gillies Bay Improvement District, eliminating one ferry would mean an expense reduction on many things like fire-fighting apparatus, chlorine and business travel expenses that increase the cost of fire protection services and potable water delivery on Texada Island. In short, it would add to my quality of life on beautiful Texada.
In 2016, the Westview-Little River route is getting a new ferry. I encourage residents of Texada to write their own letters of support to BC Ferries, and tell it what the triangle route would mean to you.
