Hi and hope you are all keeping well. As restrictions on traveling and gathering are being relaxed and people are slowly getting comfortable socializing again I thought it appropriate to send out a note to touch base.
As I write this I realize I have only met a few of you in person since I accepted the chair of branch 1500 three years ago. We have amalgamated Branches Kelowna and Vernon into Branch 1500 in an effort to keep the Branch active. At that time, we had Adrian Vander-Velden as our Membership chair and his wife Heather as our Treasurer both had moved from Prince George to Kelowna. Linda Fieguth from Vernon accepted the position as vice-chair. All three of these people have since resigned from their position due to personal reasons, moving away getting busy with other activities. I wish to thank the three of them for their commitment and efforts to keep Branch 1500 active. Since then your new Executive now looks like this:
Vincent Sherry Chair
Grace Kramer Vice Chair
Roland Oliynyk Treasurer/Membership Chair
Secretary position is vacant.
Roland lives in Kelowna and Grace resides in Vernon. Thank you to both of them for stepping up because I truly believe (know) that I would now have keep the Branch alive on my own. We are always seeking new members on your executive so if you would like to join us and you have ideas for engaging your membership, I encourage you to contact us. When I accepted the position as chair, I mentioned that if there is no interest in keeping the Branch active I will walk away.
Well, we were getting into a routine of having regular meeting and social gatherings and then covid hit and we were forced to isolate ourselves. My wife and I both tested positive for Covid back in March of 2020 and we were asymptomatic and fully recovered with no lasting effects. My wife Joan, and myself moved to the Okanagan in 2018 from Prince George and now reside in Holiday Park. We Happy to have less winter but we miss our family and make frequent trips to Prince George.
To say the past two years has been a challenge is nothing but an understatement not only for us but society as a whole. We had so many plans to hold events that were side-lined by Covid restrictions. Going forward as restriction are relaxed, we are hoping to have regular social gatherings once again.
I was recently made aware that we had a good response to the survey distributed by the Provincial Executive, thank you for making the effort to respond. We do have members who are interested in face-to-face meeting and your executive will work to make that happen again. I will contact the BCGEU office in Kelowna to discus the possibility of having our meetings there again. We would like to have other social gatherings, lunches, BBQs and maybe even wine tours. What are your ideas?
Thanks for your continued support and if you are willing to volunteer some time to assist us to enhance your Branch, please contact us and we will make you feel very welcome.
Vincent Sherry, Chair
