Business Continuity Planning
Community Futures Sun Country, with support from the Wildfire Business Transition Program, is offering a Business Continuity Planning workshop. It is free for small businesses and not-for-profits affected by the 2017 wildfires and which want to learn how to be proactive, and avoid or mitigate the risks associated with the disruption of your operations due to an emergency, disaster, or other event.
Described as “the most important five hours you will ever spend on your business or non-profit”, the workshop will show you the steps to be taken before, during, and after an event to maintain the operational and financial viability of your organization. You will learn how to: ensure that important business operations continue; allow for remote operation; protect important assets, such as customer and accounting data; reduce your downtime; and prevent you from going out of business.
In addition to being free, participants will receive lunch, and may be eligible for travel costs. The workshop is on Saturday, May 11 from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the Ashcroft Community Hall, 409 Bancroft Street. To register, go to www.cfwildfire.ca/workshops/ or call (250) 453-9165.
Aerial seeding Elephant Hill wildfire area
Aerial seeding of up to 1,000 hectares on private land within the Elephant Hill wildfire area will be taking place between now and May 18. The seeding—part of the Thompson-Nicola Regional District’s Wildfire Invasive Plant Program—will involve a helicopter flying at low elevation over the treetops to spread seed over heavily burned areas in order to provide competition for invasive plant species.
The program is supported by the Canadian Red Cross and will assist with the ongoing efforts to help control the spread of unwelcome plants in the area. Learn more about the program by visiting www.tnipmc.com; for more information, contact Mike Dedels, the TNRD’s Invasive Plant Management Coordinator, at (250) 377-6297, or by email at mdedels@tnrd.ca.
Cache Creek Market
The Cache Creek Market is now open every Saturday until October 5, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the parking lot beside Chum’s Restaurant. The market will also be open on select Sundays during the summer (May 19; June 9; June 30; August 4; and September 1).
There’s always a wide range of vendors, offering local food, plants, produce, artwork, crafts, and more, so drop by and see what’s on offer.
Community Futures presentations
Would you like to learn more about what services are offered by Community Futures, and what projects the team there has been working on? Debra Arnott, general manager of Community Futures Sun Country, will be providing an update to local councils, and members of the public are welcome to attend.
She will be at the meetings of Ashcroft and Cache Creek council on Monday, May 13 (4:30 p.m. in Ashcroft and 7 p.m. in Cache Creek).
Equality Project AGM
The Equality Project’s Annual General Meeting will be held on Tuesday, June 4 at 2 p.m. at the clubhouse (1260 Stage Road, Cache Creek). All members in good standing are invited to attend and vote on a special resolution: to accept or decline the revised Bylaws of the Society. Copies of the revised Bylaws are available at the clubhouse.
Equality Project summer hours
The Equality Project finds itself short of kitchen volunteers due to illness, injury, and summer vacations. They will do their best to remain open Monday–Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. each day, but may have to close with short, or no, notice. At the present time Mondays are a “maybe”, Tuesdays look good, and Wednesdays are “probably not”.
If you have some free time and would like to volunteer with The Equality Project, contact them at (250) 457-6485, or email info@theequalityproject.ca.
Free training opportunity
Charity Village—a site for non-profit professionals—is offering free training opportunities which participants can complete in their own time and their own space, in as little as two hours or as long as three months.
It’s easy to take advantage of this free opportunity. Go to the Charity Village website (https://charityvillage.com), click on “Active Learning”, and click on “More Courses” for the full course list. Then choose your first course: anything from Event Planning and Grant Seeking to Strategic Planning and Proposal Writing.
When you have selected your first course, contact Robyn Ojala at the Charity Village help desk (1-800-610-8134), where you will get an access code so you can get started. Tell Robyn that the course was purchased by Community Futures Cariboo-Chilcotin (Williams Lake). When you have completed your first course, forward the Certificate of Completion to kathie@cfdccariboo.com and choose your next course. There is no limit to the number of courses an individual/organization can take.
Gold Trail Trustees elected
The Board of Education of School District No. 74 (Gold Trail) has seen two of its trustees elected to positions with the B.C. School Trustees Association (BCSTA) during its recent AGM in Vancouver.
SD74 Co-chair Nancy Rempel (Clinton) was elected president of the BCSTA Thompson-Okanagan branch, while Co-chair Valerie Adrian (Lillooet) was re-elected to the BCSTA’s Board of Directors.
Be on the lookout for white-nose syndrome
The Province of B.C., in collaboration with the BC Community Bat Program, is asking British Columbians to help preserve the diversity of bat species and be on the lookout for white-nose syndrome (WNS), a disease that could be catastrophic to bat populations.
WNS is a deadly fungus that grows on the noses, wings, and bodies of bats, causing them to repeatedly rouse from hibernation and often starve to death by spring. The disease has killed millions of bats in both the eastern United States and Canada, but has yet to be detected here. In 2016, the disease was found in Washington state, prompting officials in B.C. to be prepared.
British Columbia has the most bat species in Canada (16 of the 18 Canadian species). About half of the bat species in B.C. are of conservation concern. Bats consume millions of insects every night and help keep pests in check that are problematic for agriculture and forestry.
WNS has a near 100 per cent mortality for some species,. To help prevent WNS from taking hold in B.C., the Province is making investments in bat conservation projects, funded through proceeds from the BC Parks Licence Plate Program.
Never touch a bat with bare hands. If you find a dead bat, you’re asked to report it as soon as possible to the Community Bat Program at 1-855-922-2287 or info@bcbats.ca. For more information about the BC Community Bat Program, visit https://www.bcbats.ca/.
editorial@accjournal.ca
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