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South Okanagan Photos

Spirit of Oliver – awards given out at Friday Breakfast

Oliver Lions/Lioness Club Joanne Bray and Linda Schaffrick with Mayor Martin Johansen
Group Award – Long service to the community

The Oliver Lions Club run the concession at the Oliver arena from September to March, every weekend as well as some weekdays during tournaments. The funds they raise help support public skating, the Cancer car project, the Oliver Food Bank, Cops for Kids, Christmas hampers and support for Highway to Healing. Funds raised also assist families with children needing medical assistance that can only be found in Kelowna or Vancouver.
Lions also benefit:
• Okanagan Gleaners
• Eye glass collection,
• Hearing aids for children and
• The Dog Walk raises money for Guide Dogs. This event is held at Lions Park the last Sunday in May.
Every year the Oliver Lions Club clean up Camp Winfield which is a camp for children with disabilities. This Camp inspires the children who go home with courage, confidence and skills that enable them to improve their quality of life. Kindness Matters – ‘Kindness defines who we are as Lions. And why we serve. An act of kindness may be small and personal, or large and profound. When 1.4 million men and women come together to serve, it represents a dynamic force for good.’

Below award for Community Building

Fiona Wood

What hasn’t Fiona done… Fiona is not known or recognized for one significant achievement in the community. In the past 26 years Fiona Wood has always shown concern for the betterment of people’s lives in Oliver and surrounding area. She has demonstrated this by donating countless hours of her time to a number of organizations in both leadership and supportive roles.
Fiona is a member of Desert Valley Hospice Society for 10 plus years. She is currently the Secretary for the Executive Committee and the DVHS Board. She has participated in the annual fundraisers: Hike for Hospice, Celebration of Caring Hands and Hootenanny for Hospice. Fiona became a trained DVHS hospice volunteer in the fall of 2017 and has remained active in many of the Society’s programs, such as Acute Care Visiting at SOGH, Vigils, Respite, Facility Visits, Palliative Massage 1.5 years (Certified Palliative Massage) and assisted with the palliative massage training for other DVHS volunteers.
She volunteers for the Red Cross Medical Loans. 2 years, currently, and in the 90’s, she helps with lending and ordering of medical equipment to clients referred to the service.
An active member of the Kiwanis Club of Oliver for approximately 8 years. Fiona currently sits on the Kiwanis Board and Kiwanis Housing Board. She helps at the Kiwanis Market 2-3 mornings per week and participates with fellow members at the bi-weekly singing with residents at Sunnybank.
Delivering Meals on Wheels to clients 3 days/month through the Kiwanis program.
Congregational member of Valley Congregational Church. Past Board Member/Secretary. Fiona is responsible for and maintains the church’s library. For the past 6-7 years, Fiona has helped with the annual Mayor’s Breakfast.
Fiona has been a member for 8-9 years of the Royal Canadian Legion Oliver Br. 97. She helps with the special functions at the Legion.
Emergency Support Services for the past year. Fiona has taken Justice Institute courses to be able to help in various areas in the event of an emergency.
She was an Oliver Royal Purple member and a past member of the Oliver Lions Club and started a weekly support group for Stroke Recovery.
Festival of the Grape: Volunteered for 2 years as one of the “Wine Police.”

and Individual or Couple Award – Jan and Larry Shannon

Larry joined and became a director of the Oliver & District Heritage Society. He has served as a director and treasurer of the Oliver Fire Protection District, which co-manages fire protection services with the Town of Oliver, for nearly 23 years, and served on the advisory committee for former RDOS director Gordon Hahn.

Larry and Jan are long-time members of the Oliver & District Heritage Society and the Okanagan Historical Society.

Larry served as OHS Oliver-Osoyoos Branch President for 10 years and is currently Vice-President and interim President of the entire Okanagan Historical Society. Jan too volunteered with the OHS in various ways. Both have endeavored to provide leadership in recognizing and promoting local history.
Larry has completed a great deal of local history research on the town of Fairview and the Fairview Cemetery, and continues to research this subject, generously sharing his research, and acting as an information resource for other researchers.
Jan has volunteered with the Oliver & District Heritage Society since at least 2012, working on collecting news and obituary clippings for the Archives, expanding the subject files, and writing articles that have appeared in the Oliver Chronicle newspaper. She has also volunteered with the Heritage Society in other capacities.

Jan is also an active member and director of the SOSS Enrichment Fund Society, with which she’s been involved for 8 years. Her roles with this group include handling publicity.