Nanoose Community Services
P.O. Box 47 V9P 9J9 Nanoose Bay, BC, Canada

Client Services Director, Marion Clark, Reports on Unique Donations Due to Covid-19, NCS Client Services had to make many changes in our procedures to ensure the health and safety of both clients and volunteers. Encounters with clients that were originally face- to- face are now done remotely, by telephone or email. Over the last several months we completely revamped our old paper files system and now have access to all information digitally, meaning that a good portion of ou...r work with clients can done by our volunteers safely from their homes. Marion Clark LAPTOP DONATION What we were missing, however, was a computer to enter data and update files on the day we distributed food cards to our clients. Peter Kawerau of Mid-Island Computer Enterprises (MICE) quickly came to the rescue with a workable refurbished laptop. On behalf of all the volunteers and clients who are now benefiting from this generous donation, Thank You, Peter! FIREWOOD DONATION Cody Nielsen of RiteTime Excavation and Trucking has been a 10-year member and captain of the Nanoose Bay Volunteer Fire Department. In early December, Cody donated and delivered two cords of firewood to two NCS clients who heat their homes with wood during the winter months. A huge Thank You, Cody! for helping to make winter much easier for two very appreciative clients. INCOME TAX HELP Two new volunteers, Judy Miller and Randy Borger, have joined the NCS Client Services Team to assist with the filing of income tax returns. Both have extensive experience in dealing with tax issues. And, both have trained and certified with the CRA through the Community Volunteer Income Tax Program (CVITP) to provide free income tax services to our clients. They have already met with clients for a preliminary discussion of their tax issues and will continue to meet remotely during the coming tax season. Thank you! Judy and Randy, for this wonderful contribution to our Community.

NCS Chair Pam Bjornson Recognizes Generosity of Nanoose Bay Community During Christmas 2020 I hope you all enjoyed your Christmas, as different as it was this year, knowing that you made it sparkle with warmth for many of your neighbours. As you will see in our newsletter and website reports, individuals from all over our community made sure that our neighbours in need (51 households in all) could enjoy Christmas. This took several forms: sponsors who assisted an individual... or family; those who contributed gifts using tags from Christmas trees located in local businesses; and the many financial and other donations, large and small, from local people and businesses. And some simply helped people stay warmer, with contributions of wood and beautiful quilts, for example. The responses we received from those who benefited certainly made me feel that the spirit of Christmas was alive and well here in Nanoose. A huge Thank You! to Nanoose Bay residents for their generosity and compassion this holiday season!

2019 was a busy and relatively normal year. With the advent of Covid-19, however, 2020 has found us all in a totally different world with lockdowns, quarantines, bubbles, and many other terms added to our collective vocabulary. Nanoose Community Services’ major initiative in 2020 is still the Food Program. In addition, NCS provides financial aid to support low income children to participate fully in school and, on rare occasions, provides funding for essential services in em...ergency situations. An integral part of our work is connecting our ‘clients’ to other resources such as housing or mental health support and more. The Elf Program will continue to distribute gifts to families and individuals at Christmas, In 2019 our fifteen Client Service volunteers met each month with clients to monitor the phone lines, among many other duties. Sixty plus other volunteers and supporters helped raise funds by working at the Parksville Sand Sculpting Competition, Art in the Garden and other events. A highlight in 2019 was the successful Gala and Auction organized by Patrick Murray and team members Joanie Miller, Crystal Ironside, and Marion Clark. A special shout-out goes to 2019’s The Elf Program team. Led by Chief Elf, Geraldine Taron, and assisted by Maureen Moore and Karen Murphy, this dedicated team was busy from October through December. Geraldine reported that in 2019 the Elf Program assisted fifty-four households, comprising over one hundred individuals. Thirty-two sponsors assisted with helping specific families at Christmas last year. The 2020 Christmas Elf program is soon to be up and running! Watch for trees around the community adorned with gift ‘wish’ tags. (See article below) Treasurer Liz Holme presented the 2019 financial statements which showed a surplus for the first time in several years. This was mainly due to some very generous donations from individuals, plus the Gala and Auction. The Board members remained the same for 2020 and are listed on our website. However, there will be several vacancies on the Board in the spring of 2021, and I urge anyone who may be interested to contact me at [email protected].

The Nanoose Bay community is in sorrow today following the death of one of its most ardent supporters. Fiercely proud of his farming and island heritage, Colin Springford has supported NCS since it’s early days as a traditional food bank. Whether providing eggs and beef to NCS clients (before the introduction of the food cards), donating a portion of the sale of selected items produced on the farm, sponsoring a family each year, or providing a high traffic location for an NC...S elf tree, it is clear that Colin cared deeply for our community. He has said that there is no better place to raise a family than on a farm and an integral part of that has been to encourage his children and grandchildren to give back to the community in which they live. He will be greatly missed but his huge heart will live on for generations of Springfords to come.

Thanks to our community for donating time and money and even Quality Foods Points! Did you know you can donate QF Points? Barb Murray just made this inspirational post as an example of what can be done, and the difference it will make in our community especially at this time of year will be tremendous. Thank you so much for doing this Barb Murray! "Today I donated all our QF points (approx 900,000) to Nanoose Community Services for the QF food card program for those neighbours in need! All you have to do is ask at the QF cashier desk and either they will quickly fill out the form or a manager will ( I believe you can fill out a form in any QF store!) Takes 5mins and you are done! Merry Christmas and Stay Well & Safe Everyone ‘TIL Vaccine time"

Trees Up for 2020 Christmas Elf Campaign This year’s list of tree locations has been announced by the Nanoose Community Services (NCS) Christmas ‘Elf’ program. We are very happy that most of our traditional partners have stepped up again this year to ‘host’ a tree, said Elf Campaign coordinator Geraldine Taron. She is assisted by two other volunteers, Karen Murphy and former coordinator Maureen Moore.... The Christmas ‘Elf’ program enables generous residents of our community to brighten the season for less fortunate families and seniors, with options to donate, sponsor and/or purchase gifts of clothing, toys, gift cards, food vouchers and household items this Christmas. The procedure for gift giving has not changed: choose a tag from the tree, buy a gift and return it to any of the tree locations by Dec. 10th. For those who want to sponsor a family or individual, simply contact Chief Elf Geraldine Taron at: (250) 714-6735 or email at: [email protected]. You can find a tree at the following locations: Fairwinds Wellness Club, Fairwinds Golf Club, Nanoose Place Community Centre, Nanoose Bay Canada Post, Springford Farm on Northwest Bay road, Cascadia Liquor Store, plus baskets at Craig Bay and Nanoose Bay Elementary School.

Chistmas 'Elf' Program Back in 2020 Well it should come as no surprise to anyone that when the elves got together in August, as they do, to discuss the upcoming Christmas ‘Elf’ Program we found ourselves as excited as ever to kick off the program despite the logistics of a global pandemic. Hey, you can’t keep a good elf down! So, some things may need to change. And, we can change. Some things may not look the same. But, by following the provincial guidelines regarding the vir...us, we should be able to continue the program that enables the generous people of Nanoose to provide gifts and fulfill the Christmas wishes of those in need in their own neighbourhood. Out of an abundance of caution, we did not meet face to face with our clients this September. But, through the wonderful people who run the Food Program we were able to get information into their hands. We may now communicate by phone to create their wish lists and get those tags on the trees by November 15th. Nanoose Place has stepped up for us once again to ensure that we may continue to have a dedicated space for our workshop, even if there were to be a general shut down. As luck has it, last year we implemented a system of scheduled times for our clients to come and pick up their gifts. It was very successful and so large gatherings are a thing of the past. For those who would rather not come in, we can do contactless drop-off at the curb, like any delivery. So, on & after Nov. 15th look for our elf hat tagged trees to appear in various locations around the community. You can pick a tag, buy a gift and return it, unwrapped, to that location before December 10th. We’ll make sure it gets to our clients. Some people and groups prefer to sponsor an individual or whole family and this option will continue as before. And if you don’t want to shop you can go on to the NCS website and donate there by selecting the ‘Elf program’ from the drop-down box. Or, mail a cheque directly to NCS Elf Program, PO Box 47, Nanoose Bay BC, V9P 9J9.

NCS INVITES YOU TO ZOOM IN! All residents of Nanoose Bay are invited to participate in the 2020 Annual General Meeting of the Nanoose Community Services (NCS), our local food program serving those people in our community who are unable to provide for themselves. The meeting will be held remotely, via Zoom, on Sept. 29th at 7 p.m. People who wish to join in can do so by contacting NCS through our website and they will be provided with instructions on how to join the meeting.... A well-established charity, NCS has helped hundreds of low-income residents over more than two decades through the generosity and caring of their neighbours which include local businesses and organizations. Not only through the well known ‘Elf’ program at Christmas time, but also through the ongoing food program that provides Quality Foods gift cards monthly to singles residents and families in need. Everyone is welcome to join the NCS Board on the 29th and participate in the nomination and election of officers.

Message from NCS Chair Pam Bjornson Word to Volunteers The NCS Client Services Committee has been busy throughout the spring and summer, in some ways busier than usual. Their creativity in finding ways to keep clients and themselves safe is much appreciated by clients and the board!... For our other volunteers, it has been quite different as all of the usual spring and summer fundraising activities have been cancelled this year due to COVID-19, including Art in the Garden, the Parksville Beach Festival / Sandcastle competition, and Cascadia BBQs. However, NCS Vice President Cheryl Deckert notes that the NCS t-shirts are all neatly washed and ironed and ready to go for next year, if all goes well. (Well, maybe not ironed?). The Board had hoped to host a volunteer appreciation event this summer or early fall, but will have to save it for a future time. Fundraising News On the fundraising front, many thanks to individual donors throughout Nanoose Bay who have supported NCS especially generously this year. I would also like to reiterate our thanks to some talented local people who raised funds through various initiatives including: Dave Kasprick (Red Cod Forge and Becel Foundation), Denis Holme (deliveries from Earthman), Todd Seiresen (glass hearts), Frances Sollors (face masks) and Nanoose Quilters. In addition, due to the efforts of NCS Funding Director Keith Thompson, Nanoose Community Services received a $14,000 grant from the Good Food Access Fund, including $4,000 that was allocated from that fund to NCS by the Parksville Qualicum Community Foundation. In July we were thrilled to receive an additional $20,000 grant from the Good Food Access Fund, this time through Community Food Centres Canada. This grant will directly support the purchase of grocery store gift cards for distribution to our clients. This will cover almost 2 months worth of food card distribution! Despite the additional challenge of COVID-19, our community has stepped up to ensure that NCS clients receive the help they most desperately need. Please stay safe, have fun this summer and fall, and our heartfelt thanks for your continued support to Nanoose Community Services.

Canadian company supports NCS Becel Canada recently donated $1,000 to our local food assistance program, Nanoose Community Services. Through the pandemic, Becel Canada has each day donated to grassroots organizations in communities across the country. The donation was made to NCS at the request of local artist, David Kasprick, who they wanted to support for his good work in the community. With his generosity, we hope you’ll be able to help many within the community, said ...Becel spokesperson Julia Solomon . We want to support grassroots organizations and kind-hearted Canadians who are helping others during the pandemic. The NCS Board is grateful to all those individuals, businesses and organizations that have stepped up to support the food program during this time when fund raising events are not possible.

Thank you Springford Farm for your continued support! Note: Now sold out!