42 members joined us for coffee/tea, goodies and socializing yesterday at the Sunshine Coast Botanical Garden.

Thanks to all who joined us – especially those who drove ALL the way from Gibsons!! Heather Vince (the new Executive Director of the Garden) and our own Joyce Gould lead tours around the garden. It’s truly amazing what they have accomplished in the last couple of years. The veggie garden alone has probably doubled in size!

Anne noted a few things:

1. Silverstone – if you haven’t heard about the recent goings on at Silverstone, The Coast Reporter and Facebook have both had reports on the 3 month hiatus of accepting new residents. Rooms will be empty when someone leaves/passes and respite will occur off-Coast if needed. We are, however, still volunteering there – birthday parties, special events, etc. and will continue to work with the Recreation Department. Please note that we DO NOT replace any work done by the staff. Meetings will be on-going with the recreation staff and the manager, and members of our Executive will attend.

2. We have secured a three year lease for a space at #203 -5688 Cowrie St. across from the Thrift Store.  This space contains an area which can be used for meetings of up to 20 people (will have a folding table and 20 chairs) and will contain such items as brochures, banners, displays, etc. The space also contains a separate small office which will house a computer and printer, and confidential files. A lock box will hopefully be in the office of the Thrift store; this will be the key to get into the building via the Cowrie St. entrance – you will need to sign this key out and return it during Thrift Store hours. Another lock box will be outside the actual space and it will be the key for that door. The small office will have its own coded lock and will only be available to the Executive and the Volunteer Coordinator.

Anyone who needs to use the space will need to use the calendar on our website if they need exclusive use of the space, i.e. meetings, training etc.

3. Long awaited Wayfinding station to begin its trial period beginning in July and August – it will be a table with two chairs for volunteers to provide information on where things are in the hospital – seven days a week from 10 am to 2 pm. We will need committed volunteers to man the station. Maps and other necessary info will be produced by the Foundation.  Table and chairs will be stored in the Foundation office – if office closed ask security to open for you to either pick up or return the tables and chairs. There was a sign-up sheet at the meeting yesterday but Maureen has sent out another email to all members to sign-up. In order to keep this valuable program going, it will be important to have enough volunteers to cover the time each day, especially on the weekends.

4. July 1 Canada Day Parade – thanks to Louise for the excellent poster and all she quietly does for us. Thanks also to Mary Jackson who has offered to coordinate participation in the parade. Our bus will be there (thanks to Anne who drives it!) for those who can’t walk the parade and there will be a couple of wheelchairs available for those who don’t want to be on the bus. Contact Mary Jackson to sign-up.

5. There were also sign up sheets for the FUNdraising Committee.

A special thank you to all those who helped with set-up and take down, notably Julie Hasenberg and Marilyn Jardine. So much appreciated! And to Joyce Gould for organizing it all!