Straight From DeHart - January 13, 2016

Hardcore Archery, owned and operated by Ken and Krista Garwasiuk has expanded and opened their new centre at 1771 Cooper Road, next to Logo n’ Stitches with the entrance on Enterprise Way. The new center is right next to their archery store. Ken is an archery teacher who formerly taught at Parkinson Rec Center and also at the Vernon Army base. Along with writing a column on archery for the B.C. Wildlife Federation Magazine, Ken is the National trainer for the National Archery in the Schools Program (NASP) for the entire province. All the teachers in our area that were in the NASP program are now teaching archery in their schools, which are KSS, RSS, Doctor Knox and Cst. Neil Bruce. Also at Hardcore is Olympic archery coach, Chuck Land. Chuck was the head coach for archery at the Canada games in Prince George. He has also been the coach for many movie stars and has the highest credentials in the U.S. Hardcore Archery and also offers classes and leagues in the evenings. Ken and Krista have also owned and operated Logos’ n Stitches for many years. Call 250-861-5297 www.hardcorearchery.ca.

Alan Ryder, formerly of Dilworth Homes for the past five years has begun a new career in the car industry. He is now a sales associate at Okanagan Chrysler Jeep Dodge, 2690 Highway 97 North. Call 778-478-8187 or aryder@okanagandodge.com.

Originally from Saskatchewan and former manager of media and public relations for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympics Torch Relays; Chris Shauf is the new director of marketing and communications for Tourism Kelowna. He will lead the team with a strategic approach to advertising, social media marketing and travel article and content generation. Call 250-861-1515 (203) or chris.shauf@tourismkelowna.com.

BDO at 400 – 1631 Dickson Avenue congratulates Ross Rufiange, Michelle Underwood, Vanessa Roberts and Lacey Manz who passed the 2015 Common Final Evaluation (CFE). This is the final step towards becoming a Chartered Professional Accountant in Canada.

Patricia Sample, CPA, CGA has integrated her practice with another locally respected accounting firm, Reid Hurst Nagy Inc. (RHN) Chartered Professional Accountants. RHN is an established practice now located at 330 – 1620 Dickson Avenue in Landmark 5. They also have offices in Osoyoos, Richmond and Vancouver, which are able to offer additional services when needed. Patricia is now manager, client services. Along with the integration of the firms, Lynn Galloway, Shareholder, CAFM, CPA, CGA will be working closely with Patricia to ensure the needs of their clients are considered with the only difference being the office location. Call 250-860-1177 www.rhncpa.com.

The New Year welcomes the launch of a new ultra-low-cost airline in Canada, NewLeaf on February 12. The company announced non-stop routes, an online booking system and fares starting at $89 (inclusive of taxes and fees) to seven Canadian destinations including Halifax, Hamilton, Winnipeg, Regina, Saskatoon, Kelowna and Abbotsford. Most of the main routes featured are non-stop and are not currently offered by other airlines. Flights will be operated by Flair Airlines Ltd., a Kelowna based airline with experienced crews and pilots that fly Boeing 737-400 passenger jets. Flair has an impeccable record of safety and service. Check out www.flynewleaf.ca. Jim Young is the president and CEO of NewLeaf and Jim Rogers is the president of Flair Airlines Ltd.

Long-time friends from Calgary have now made their home in the valley. Frank Stewart, former general manager of the Ramada Hotel in Calgary for 23 years and his wife Marla have left the stampede city and relocated to Peachland. Sooner or later, everyone sees the light!

Two well-known local companies, Csek Creative and Pulse Group have entered into an agreement that will see the two agencies combine, creating the largest full-service marketing agency in the B.C. Interior. Both Csek Creative and Pulse Group have offices in Kelowna and Kamloops. The companies have collaborated on several large campaigns and initiatives over the past year. The merger will allow them to offer a greater range of services to their existing clients and better service the needs of businesses across the region. The merger will bring together a skilled workforce of 30 employees, giving clients access to a wide range of services including, but not limited to brand and website design development, custom web application development, strategic marketing, content marketing, media purchasing and planning, print design, commercial videography and photography, event-based marketing and search engine optimization. Over the coming months, Csek and Pulse will begin amalgamating essential services and plan to announce the final brand later this year. Call Nikki Csek at 250-862-8010 or Nikki@csekcreative.com.

Congratulations to FH&P Lawyers who were the winners of the Kelowna Chamber of Commerce early-bird membership renewal draw for a $500 donation to the charity of their choice. FH&P have chosen to make the donation to the KGH Foundation’s new perinatal unit set to open this spring.

New company, H2O World Solutions with president and CEO Brian Hunter is based in West Kelowna. Their mission is to provide support to clean water initiatives worldwide. H2O’s goal is to improve water management through technology and safe practices to allow water to be used more than once. Their technology will be launched to the oil and gas sector in 2016 for the remediation of production and flow backwater within oil and gas production. Future plans for the technology will include municipal needs, emergency clean up and disaster spills into water systems. Contact Jamie Albrecht, vice-president corporate development at 250-763-2441 or info@h2oworldsolutions.com; www.H2Oworldsolutions.com.

Okanagan Office Systems at 523 Lawrence Avenue has been operating in the valley since 1993 and is the local authorized Ricoh dealer and service provider. They partner with Ricoh to provide the products, expertise, facilities and knowledge to deliver customer satisfaction, providing copying, printing, scanning, faxing and document management. Their post-sales support is significant and offers several layers of account, technical and functional support. The company provides one point of contact and manages all internal communications and action items on behalf of the customer. Their solutions integrate state-of-the-art hardware, software, consulting and support services to significantly improve document workflow and operational efficiencies. Rick Ewen is the general manager and Dale Wills the account manager of Okanagan Office Systems. Call 250-762-7722.

If you want to kick your smoking habit in the butt this year, you might want to try the stop smoking seminar being held at the Ramada Hotel and Conference Centre, 2170 Harvey Avenue on Saturday, January 23^rd at 1:00 p.m. The event is hosted by Ruth Hart, certified clinical hypnotherapist and a member of the Medical Dental Hypnotherapy Association. For information and to register call 250-707-0770. www.ruthhartclinicalhypnosis.com.

Charitable societies who need extra revenue should contact The Hudson’s Bay for an easy way to generate revenue for their organizations. The Bay’s Spring Giving Day is March 24. Giving Day is a one-day shopping event designed to help charitable and non-profit organizations in Hudson’s Bay communities raise awareness and funds through the sale of the Giving Day tickets to their networks. Organizations can order tickets free of charge and sell them to their partners, donors and friends for $5 and keep 100% of each ticket sold - the full $5. As an added incentive, the organization that sells the most tickets for their participating Hudson’s Bay store will receive a portion of the proceeds from the store’s in-store ticket sales on March 24. It’s a win-win for any organization with little effort. Contact Karin Stickland (karin.stickland@hbc.com) or Shirley Nagy (shirley.nagy@hbc.com) or call 250-860-2483 (224). Through the fall 2015, Giving Day, more than $45,500 was raised for local charities in Hudson’s Bay communities across Canada.

Garbage volunteers needed. The Regional District of Central Okanagan (CORD) is updating its Solid Waste Management Plan to lay the groundwork for managing and reducing garbage over the next 10 years. As part of the process they are looking for interested, enthusiastic individuals to represent various business, community and neighborhood organizations to sit on the public/technical advisory committee (PTAC) which will oversee development of the plan. Working with the consulting firm Morrison Hershfield Ltd. the PTAC will meet regularly to provide input, feedback and recommendations to CORD on proposed programs and policies that will shape the future of how we manage our waste. If interested, complete an application profile form by January 25 available online at www.regionaldistrict.com/garbagefuture. For more information call 250-469-6250.

At the beginning of each year, Heather Zais, Psychic Astrologer gives us a view of the coming year, which this year is The Year of the Monkey and is a Leap Year. Do not plan too much; hang loose in Monkey years as anything goes and things are up in the air. Prepare for the unexpected. Swing from limb to limb but don’t go out too far on one. A period of recovery, removable, rebuilds, retake, reclaims, recapture on earth or in space. Opportunities allow for calculated risks to be taken and then landing on your feet. Play the hand you have to advantage as betting is dicey. Be careful, as backlash will be strong and make sure targets are clear before throwing the coconuts. Rein in egos. Optimism is in the air and there will be a positive turnaround. Great efforts to be made to avoid recession with resourceful solutions being found. As competitions intensify, try to avoid acting too superior creating your own downfalls by stepping on the banana peel. Take care of each other as #9 rules universal brotherhood. Bonds will be strengthened, hug more. Follow words of wisdom that have stood the test of time. Renewed interest in large hairy beings like Big Foot or Planet of the Apes. Grooming highlighted with big hair coming back in style (if you are lucky enough to have lots of hair).

Birthdays of the week –Happy 55^th Jean Lanoue, Salon, Hudson’s Bay (Jan.17); Happy 50th Paul Sievwright (Jan. 9); Larry Tuovila, Ramada Hotel (Jan. 9); Mary Anne Livingston (Jan.13); Ron Pidskalny (Jan. 14); Andre Blanleil (Jan. 15); Gerry Ellchuck (Jan. 16); Ross Gilley (Jan. 17); Jim Belshaw (Jan. 17); Dina Kotler (Jan. 17); Joyce Prowse (Jan.17); Fred MacKinnon (Jan. 18); Tracy Nyboe, my sister RE/MAX Kelowna (Jan. 19); Martin Bell, Urban Systems (Jan. 19); Melonie Dodaro (Jan. 19); In memory of Mary DeHart, my mother-in-law (Jan. 9).

Maxine DeHart is a Kelowna City Councillor and local hotelier. Phone her at 250-979-4546 or 250-862-7662, fax 250-860-3173, E-mail maxdehart@telus.netand web-site www.KelownaNow.com (click on Columns and Maxine DeHart).