Community Updates (9) – October 25, 2013

1) Social Planning Council Meeting - this Monday Oct 28 - 11:30 am

The Fraser Basin Council's Project Comeback which is looking at why people come back to Williams Lake to live and work after leaving the community for awhile will be presenting information at the start of the next Social Planning Council meeting on Monday, Oct 8 starting at 11:30 am at the City of Williams Lake. Join us for lunch and learn more about this initiative and it's findings. Please find attached to this email the agenda, and last month's meeting minutes for your review.

2) The Call for Applications - 2013 United Way Community Fund: Williams Lake

Is your organization... lifting people from poverty, strengthening our community, or helping kids be all they can be? Apply for the 2013 Community Fund grant opportunity. Visit unitedwaytnc.ca/community-fun-wl or call 250-392-8145. Grant applications are due Oct 31 so apply today.

3) CTC’s Positive Action Word of the Week

The Positive Action Word for next week, Oct. 28 is: Success - To feel good about who you are, what you are doing and how you treat others.

Positive Action lessons will show students that  they are valuable and can be good friends to themselves. For more information contact Carla Bullinger - Cell: (250) 267-8249 or email: comthatcares@sd27.bc.ca

4) Everyone Encouraged To Attend Project Development Forum - Oct 28/13

All residents of Williams Lake are invited and encouraged to attend a Project Development Forum on Monday, October 28th to review two options for local connections from Highway 97 as part of a Ministry of Transportation plan to improve Highway 97 near Toop Road and Carson Drive.

City and Ministry staff will be presenting information on the design options, followed by a Question & Answer opportunity. The meeting will be held from 7 to 8:30 p.m. in the Gibraltar Room at the Cariboo Memorial Recreation Complex on Monday, Oct. 28.

Two configurations of the local street connections are currently proposed on the west side of the new signalized intersection to be located at 11th Avenue. Option 1 consists of two connections from the new intersection. Drivers heading west will have the choice of turning onto McKinnon Road or 11th Avenue. Option 2 has connections to McKinnon Road and 11th Avenue, plus another connection to Johnson Street.

“The City encourages all residents to come take part in this forum, as we will be discussing important road connections in our network,” says Mayor Kerry Cook. “Access to residences, businesses, and the hospital affects us all.”

Residents are encouraged to come view storyboards and maps of the project in the City Hall lobby. Maps are also available at www.williamslake.ca by clicking on the “Highway 97 & Johnson Street Improvements Map” button at the bottom of the page, or by visiting http://www.williamslake.ca/index.asp?p=3397.

For those not able to attend, written comments can be delivered to City Hall. For more information, please contact Jeff Bernardy at 250-392-1767.

http://www.williamslake.ca/index.asp?p=3397

5) Chiwid transition house

Supports ending violence against women - if you need help call 250-398-5658

6) Winter Warm up Festival - Free family event - Nov 14

Thursday Nov 14 at Elizabeth Grouse Gym (Sugar Cane Reserve) from 11am - 2 pm.

Puppet making, story telling, door prizes, service provider booths, and many more activities. Lunch is provided. Contact Carol Archie at 250-296-3507 ext 101 or Lynn Dunford at 250-398-9814 for more info.

7) Scary Spiders at Scout Island Nature Centre - Oct 26th from 1-3 pm

You might associate Spiders with dark basements or haunted houses, but the last Saturday in October you will learn to identify those big spiders on your porch from that brown spider in your bathtub.  Do we have poisonous spiders? What about Black Widows, Brown Recluses and Hobo Spiders?  Hear all the amazing facts and meet some local spiders (you can even bring a spider in a jar from home to be identified!) in a fun afternoon for Families and their kids ages 5-14.

Hosted by the Young Naturalists Club and Scout Island Nature Centre. Call Scout Island Nature House if you have any questions about this free special event

250.398.8532 or email yncwilliamslake@gmail.com - no preregistration is required.

8) Museum of the Cariboo Chilcotin's Annual Cowboy Christmas - Nov 16th

Museum of the Cariboo Chilcotin 9^th Annual Cowboy Christmas, November 16^th in the Gibraltar Room of the Cariboo Memorial Complex.

Trade/Craft Fair and Silent Auction – 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., Open Mic  12:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. free admission

Cowboy Concert, 7:00 p.m. in the Gibraltar Room – entertainers, Ed Peekeekoot, Frank Gleeson, Ed Wahl – tickets $15.00 ea. Can be purchased at the museum, during the Trade/Craft Fair or at the door.

9) Reminders - Halloween Events - see four events below

Haunted House at the Boys & Girls Club - Oct 26 & 27th

The 7th Annual Haunted House at the Boys and Girls Club is being held Oct. 26 & 27 from 6:30 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.  Bring a donation for the Food Bank. Reminder - these events are intended to scare so leave very young ones at home. This year's theme is Zombies. The events are being held at 17 - 4th Ave South (across from Safeway).

Pumpkin Patch at the Yellow Umbrella - Oct 26 & 27, 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. 

Visit the Pumpkin Patch at the Yellow Umbrella (Thyme for Tea).  All proceeds go to support the work of Cariboo Chilcotin Partners for Literacy including: Bright Red Bookshelf, Books for Babies, Computer Literacy Workshops, Financial Literacy and Partner Assisted Learning.

Fright Night Carnival - Oct 30/13

Punky Lake Wilderness Camp Society's Fright Night CArnival is being held Wednesday Oct 30th from 5:30 - 8:30 pm at the Gibralter Room in Williams Lake. At 6 pm there is a costume contest and stay for a fun filled evening of carnival booths and a concession stand. Carnival Booth Vendor are all free, and admission is by donation. If you would like to bring a carnival booth to fright night, please contact Sharmon Alphonse at 250-392-3918.

1st Annual Williams Lake Zombie Walk - Oct 31/13

Meet at the Potato House this Halloween at 4pm to participate in the 1st annual WILIAMS LAKE ZOMBIE WALK to city hall!

Zombie Walks are a popular community pedestrian event founded in Vancouver and are now found around the country.  While the Zombie theme appeals to mass culture and is quite eye catching as they stumble by, the true benefits of an event like this is the engagement of people pass the trick or treating age to have an activity with other community members on an evening traditionally pedestrian and increasingly becoming vehicle bound.  Outdoor activity and members of our community walking the streets is a win-win situation of community health, physical health and pedestrian safety by increased visibility through sheer numbers. 

The Zombie Walk is a family event and invites people of all ages to participate or even stand around and watch.  Not everyone will be dressed as Zombies, many will view this as an opportunity to show off their costumes of all types.  The zombies will collect at the Potato House at 4pm and the parade will leave at 4:30.  This is a very slow moving parade and I predict we will arrive at city hall around 5pm.  Street barricades will be removed as the last of the zombies drag themselves past. 

Sincerely,

Mary Forbes

Potato House President and Zombie Bits Picker-Upper.

mmmforbes@yahoo.ca

250.855.8443