The Nk’Mip Canyon Black & White Ladies Scramble golf tournament had their inaugural year in 2008 and thanks to the hard work and dedication of the organizing team Debbie Brunelle (tournament chair), Anne Dalziel, Penny Rivera, Lynn Hoffman and Irene Lussier, the event grew to be the amazing “last ever” event with a full field of 132 women in July of 2013. Proceeds from this successful tournament have been going directly back into the community and providing free recreation programs for local children and youth at the Oliver Community Centre since 2010. The donations from the tournament organizers ($5120.81 in 2013 bringing the grand total over the years to $11920.81) has allowed Oliver Parks & Recreation to offer opportunities for children to be physically active, make new friends and try new things without having to worry about whether or not they can afford to participate by removing barriers such as registration fees, equipment costs and transportation costs.
From Sept-April over 60 kids aged 6-12 years come running to the centre on Mondays and Wednesdays after school to grab a hockey stick and a pinnie and play floor hockey with their friends in a safe, supervised environment. Not only are they developing skills of the game and getting active, they are learning how to be a part of a team. This program has also provided a paid leadership opportunity to high school students to gain employment skills and experience working with children. In the fall of 2011 a new program for girls aged 11-14 was created called “Girls Activity Scramble”. This program was designed to encourage young women to be more physically active by providing a no-cost opportunity to try a variety of indoor and outdoor recreation activities and build self-esteem in a relaxed and fun atmosphere led by local female program instructors. Both of these exciting programs will be offered in the upcoming fall and winter program sessions sponsored proudly by the Nk’Mip Canyon Black & White Ladies Scramble.
Just in the planning stages for this fall is a new partnership program between Oliver Parks & Recreation and SD #53 to offer students a safe and fun recreational option of what to do between 12noon-2:30pm on the scheduled Early Dismissal Days for Inquiry Time. Students who sign up to stay and participate will choose from a variety of indoor and outdoor activities that will change each month. We proudly will call this program the “Student Activity Scramble” to reflect the support from the golf tournament that will assist with keeping the program free to families in the 2013/14 school year.
The tournament committee wishes to express their sincere gratitude for the wonderful support of the Oliver and surrounding business communities and their major sponsor the Elks Lodge #267. The Oliver Parks & Recreation Society offers our sincere thanks and congratulations to Debbie Brunelle and her organizing team for running 5 very successful tournaments and for their dedication to the children and youth of Oliver and Area “C”.
For more information about the programs mentioned above please visit www.oliverrecreation.ca or phone the recreation office at 250-498-4985.