The Kaien Anti-Poverty Society will be hosting the 2nd annual Spring Gala at the Crest Hotel later this month to help support the society’s many assisting programs that are offered to members of the community who are in need.
“[Last years] Gala was very successful and everyone had a great time.” Said Colleen Hermanson from KAPS, mentioning that last year’s event raised around $8,000 for programs run by the organization.
This year the Spring Gala will once again be taking place in the Banquet Room at the Crest Hotel, with cocktails starting at 6 pm and dinner, a buffet provided by the Crest Hotel, starting at 7 pm. There will be entertainment and live auctions that will include the auctioning off of a trip for two to Vancouver donated kindly by Hawkair, as well as items from Cooks Jewelers and Manson’s Jewelers. Later in the evening a DJ will be performing and the dance floor will be opened.
Tickets for the Spring Gala are $45 and can be purchased by contacting any of the board members, or Colleen at 250 627 5277. The extra funds that are raised through ticket sales and auctioned items will go towards the many helping programs KAPS provides to people in the community.
The KAPS organization has been official since 2003 and has helped countless individuals and families in the area who are in need with programs such as the after school program, which has an estimated 100 children registered in it, and the Family Support Program, which will be the focus of the collected funds from the Spring Gala. KAPS also provides pro bono service through Access Justice, a society from Vancouver, so people can receive free legal advice, and a free store where clothes and other household goods are collected and redistributed to people in need. An estimated 35 people utilize the free store each day.
Additionally, the society created a community garden last year for people to make use of, which is located on an abandoned field on Kootney Avenue and McKay Street. Currently the group is working with the City to get more land for another community garden, this one on the east side of town, as well as hoping to revitalize the Kootney/McKay field so that children living in BC Housing, as well as any children in the community, can enjoy playing baseball, basketball and other sports together. KAPS have been meeting with other groups from the community in order to plan a campaign to raise some money to fix up the field.