The Community Foundation has awarded the Oliver and District Heritage Society with a contribution of $4700 to renovate part of their collections storage area. The funds received are going to be used to replace the existing fixed wood shelving with a system of mobile shelving, which will allow for safer and more efficient storage of the artifacts. The Community Foundation will distribute over $367,000 amongst 26 nonprofit programs and charities in the South Okanagan Similkameen region over the next month.

Executive Director of the Oliver and District Heritage Society, Manda Maggs, recognizes the generosity of the CFSO. “It’s organizations like the Community Foundation that allow us to take on projects like this much-needed shelving renovation that are beyond the means of our current budget – it allows us to take better care of the artifacts that have been entrusted to us, and helps our staff and volunteers by providing a more efficient work space. On behalf of our Board, staff, and volunteers, I’d like to extend a big thank you to the South Okanagan-Similkameen committee for choosing this as one of the projects they will be supporting.”

Since 2013, the Community Foundation South Okanagan Similkameen has directly granted nearly $18,000 to local charities in Oliver. Past recipients include Okanagan Similkameen Stewardship Society, Highway to Healing Support Society, Oliver /Osoyoos Search and Rescue, and the Okanagan Gleaners.
The CFSO received 77 applications for funding this year for a total of more than $600,000 in requests. The Community Foundation of the South Okanagan Similkameen has served our region since 1991, working with donors to create legacies in the form of permanent endowment funds. Grants are distributed from income earned, preserving thecapital to ensure a perpetual stream of funding.

Picture: Ernie Dumais, Kim English, Manda Maggs, Carolyn Bowering, Linda Gergely, Janet Montgomery, Shirley Murray, and Sandra Oldfield.