Better products with zero waste. Recycled. Recovered. Renewable. Reusable. Local. Owned and operated by Brady and Angela Rogers, The Rogerie has opened in the Orchard Park Mall where every day, all types of 100% recycled plastic products are designed to be sustainable. Can an old fridge become a new product? Of course. A beautiful snowflake ornament can be manufactured from pieces of a fridge. Imagine using T.V.’s, window frames, car dashboards and food packages to make these reusable items. The company believes that turning the tide on plastic pollution requires more than a brand. It requires a new way of doing business and that is what The Rogerie is doing. It’s not so much about the products they sell; it’s about the way it is manufactured locally. Manufacturing can be done differently. From self-watering planters, wine glasses, soap dishes, bathroom sets, earrings, miniature salt and pepper shakers, to bird feeders, coasters and coffee and tea canisters, they have it all in recyclable materials. The Rogerie even sells a cool tiffin three container lunch kit. They have a live demonstration of their entire recycling and printing process setup in their store window. Go take a look. It’s fascinating. www.therogerie.com
Congratulations to Chef Daryl Hauer who is celebrating 30 years with the Ramada Hotel & Conference Centre at 2170 Harvey Avenue.
It’s been 100 years since the Black Mountain Irrigation District (BMID) was officially formed. To commemorate this milestone, BMID has published a beautiful book titled Black Mountain Gold – A Century of Water, written by Judie Steeves. Although Judie wrote it, she says that the research was largely done by a committee that included BMID administrator Bob Hrasko, Evelyn and John Vielvoye, Al Horning, Lynn Stevens and Elaine Senger. It was a grassroots community effort and a fascinating project, tracing the delivery of water from hand-dug ditches to today’s underground piping. The book was produced entirely in B.C. with Buddy Cole of ColeDesign doing the design and layout and Westkey Graphics doing the printing. The hard-cover book is about 110 pages with lots of photos and is now available at Mosaic Books, the BMID office on Gray Road in Rutland and the Kelowna Museum. It’s a large part of our local history that you will want to read about. The book would make a wonderful gift. Trustees in the initial year 1920 were W. R. Reed, E. Mugford, E. M. Carruthers, S. F. Workman and C. H. Bond. Current trustees are Gerry Zimmermann, Al Horning, Colin Day (Chair), Sukhpaul Bal and Allen Kirschner.
Penguins, penguins and more penguins. Now that drive-by’s are protocol again, take a drive-by at 875 Theodora Road Christmas light display. Lights go on at dusk until 10:00 p.m. until January 6th. Visitors will see a huge theme featuring hundreds of stuffed penguins at various stages of work, play and fun. In other areas there is a full sized one horse open sleigh. There will be a Salvation Army Kettle set up on-site for donations. The display is in a cul-de-sac so it allows people to look from their car or walk with lots of distance.
At a virtual awards event, the Kelowna Hotel Motel Association celebrated the Third Annual Heart of Hospitality Awards. The awards recognize frontline staff that has gone above and beyond to provide exceptional experiences to Kelowna and area visitors. Over 40 nominees were put forward recognizing three categories. They are Heart & Soul, nominated through peer and co-worker stories, Service Superstar, nominated through guest stories and Spirit of Kelowna sponsored by Tourism Kelowna. Congratulations to Georganna Moore, Accent Inns (Heart & Soul); Mickey Cooke, Holiday Inn Express (Service Superstar) and Linda Jones-Evans, Accent Inns (Spirit of Kelowna).
For more than 50 years, the Knights of Columbus in BC have been raising funds by selling charity appeal tickets for cash, cars and trucks. Due to COVID, they are now selling tickets online and all prizes are cash with $100,000., $50,000, $10,000, $2,000, and ten draws for $1,000 each, for a total of $177,000. Tickets are $3.00 each or $30 for a book of ten and are limited to 200,000 tickets. Draw date January 30,2021. Buy at www.KofCDraw.net/C6233
Ken Deines has joined the team of IWG Corporate Services at 505 – 1708 Dolphin Avenue. (Landmark 2). Ken has worked for over 20 years in various fields, including manufacturing, oil and gas and government contracting for a firm in North Carolina. Ken has a business administration diploma and a Bachelor of Commerce with a major in accounting. www.iwgservices.ca
The Kelowna Golf & Country Club has a few new members elected to the 2021 Board of Directors. They are Jim Grant, Jeff Cox and Keith Recsky (Directors at Large) and Lorraine Cameron (Ladies Club Captain).
The partners of KPMG LLP in Kelowna at 300 – 3200 Richter Street have announced the promotion of Lee Lesack, CPA, CA to Senior Manager (Senior Tax Manager) and Mercedes Marleau, CPA, CA to Manager, (Audit Manager). The partners are also pleased to introduce their successful Common Final Examination (CFE) writer, Cody Troutman. Cody successfully passed a major milestone to becoming a Chartered Professional Accountant. www.kpmg.ca
Kudos to seven RCMP officers with the Kelowna Traffic Section who have been recognized by Alexa’s Team for their efforts to curb impaired drivers. Alexa’s Team was launched in 2008 in tribute to four-year-old Alexa Middelar who lost her life in an impaired collision. Each year, Alexa’s Team recognizes police officers in B.C. who make an extraordinary contribution to reducing the number of impaired drivers in our communities. Cst. Brad Smith of the Kelowna RCMP Municipal Traffic Section has received recognition for the most impaired driving investigations in the South East portion of the province at 64. Cst. Troy Bevan had 50 investigations, Cst. Beth Paetz with 40; Cst. Dan Carson had 13, Cst. Carlos Rojas with 22, Cpl. Gevan Dale with 15 and Cpt. Matt Hare with 12. Sgt. Mark Booth is the NCO in charge of Traffic Services, Kelowna RCMP.
You really must listen to this great song about Canada titled “Canadians at Arms” written by 83 year-old Ellis Pringle Craig, a retired RCMP Commissioner in Ottawa. It is performed by Alan Sandeman. You will be glad you did in these uncertain times. httP://canadiansatarms.ca/we-are-canadian/
Need to check off a few more gifts off your list? Enactus Okanagan College (OC) has you covered. Fruit Snaps, an Enactus OC project is selling 5L boxes of fresh and local apple juice for $15.00. Proceeds from the sales will go to the Fruit Snaps project and other Enactus OC initiatives. Fruit Snaps collects unwanted fruit from orchards that would be left to rot to help address food security. By dehydrating the leftover fruit, they are able to create Fruit Snaps, a delicious health snack and in turn, these snacks are donated to schools and food banks. To purchase go to Lakeview Market on Pandosy Street or https://fruitsnaps.square.site
Make Spirits Bright is a Vista Academy Raffle Fundraiser from December 14 to 31. It’s about locals supporting locals. As Okanagan’s premier institute for children with autism and special needs, Vista provides families with a one-on-one meaningful education that supports and empowers every student’s unique learning needs. Fueled from support from our local small business community, the first Make Spirits Bright Raffle Fundraiser has over $5,000 in amazing prize packages to be won. Raffle draw is January 4th, 2021 and winners will be announced and contacted. View prizes, support our local sponsors and buy raffle tickets at www.VistaAcademy.org/Donate. Tickets are one for $5, five for $25, 10 for $45, 15 for $65 and 25 for $100.00.
You can still drop off gifts at the Coast Capri Hotel for the Tiny Tim Salvation Army Toy Campaign. So far they have collected 1,415 toys and have $4,750 in cash donations.
Kelowna Chrysler has partnered with Secure Rite Mobile Storage to host an on-location food drive at 2440 Enterprise Way, on both sides of the street by the former Greyhound station. It will run through to December 23 from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Monday to Friday and until 5:00 p.m. on Saturdays. Look for the Secure-Rite shipping container on the corner of their lot. Donations can be dropped off with protocols inside the building or contactless drop off. For more info call Mitch Michel at 250-763-1137.
Birthdays of the week – Sandra Sellick (Dec. 16); Peter Wannop (Dec. 16); Judy Hughes (Dec. 17); Lesley Pierce (Dec. 17); Rene Blanleil (Dec. 17); Katja Oldendorf (December 18); Heather Zais (Dec. 18); Gary Schnackenberg (Dec. 19); Gail Temple (Dec. 19); Rod Charlesworth (Dec. 19); Mary Ringrose (Dec. 19); Karen Stearns (Dec. 20); Janice Bruneau (Dec. 20); Renie Wutke (Dec. 20); Joan McCormack (Dec. 20); Bill Redmond (Dec. 20); Colleen Light Minchau (Dec. 22); Noel Wentworth (Dec. 22).
Maxine DeHart is a Kelowna City Councillor and local hotelier. Phone her at 250-979-4546 or 250-862-7662; Email max@maxinedehart.ca
