Straight From DeHart – Feb. 5, 2020

At the home of the famous Kelonut (half donut and half croissant with crème filling), Specialty Bakery owned and operated by Brent Browne at 101 – 833 Finns Road has a new head baker. Well-known baker, Bob Gibson, formerly with Safeway in Dilworth for 25 years has joined Specialty and will continue baking the products that Specialty Bakery is synonymous for in the bakery industry, known for their extensive variety of European breads and bakery products for both wholesale and retail consumption. Bob, along with eight additional bakers bake over 40 different varieties of bread from scratch, which includes their popular gluten free artisan bread, along with numerous other bakery products. If you like sourdough bread, you must try their sourdough with cranberries and if you are a rye bread lover, their European ryes are the best. Specialty also has a second retail bread outlet at 16 – 150 Hollywood Road at the corner of Hollywood and Hwy. 33.  If you have never visited their bistro at the Finns Road location you are missing out. They serve breakfast and lunch Tuesday to Saturday from 6:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. with a great breakfast buffet on Saturdays until 1:15 p.m. The food is delicious, reasonable and there is plenty of parking. Call 250-765-5822 www.specialtybakery.ca        

The Uptown Rutland Business Association (URBA) has appointed a new executive director as former executive director Laurel D’Andrea makes her way to Kitimat. Karen Beaubier is presently with the Westside Board of Trade and will assume her new role at URBA on February 18th. URBA’s business improvement area has just over 250 property owners, tenants, and businesses with their strategic priorities to include community development, investment attraction, events, promotions and beautification. www.ourrutland.ca

There have been a couple of appointments at innov8 Digital Solutions at 809 Finns Road.  Andre De Jongh has become a shareholder in the company and Shabir Haji has been appointed as their VP of service and operations.  www.innov8digitalsolutions.com

Allison Mclauchlan is the new executive director of the Kelowna Women’s Shelter. Allison comes from the YWCA Calgary, where she led the shelter and outreach programs for five years. Allison has over 15 years in the domestic abuse sector with a master’s degree in leadership and a BA in Psychology.

UBC recently established the role of senior advisor on Indigenous Affairs for its Okanagan Campus, with Ian Cull, a founding member of the campus leadership team being named as the first person to hold the position. Cull is a member of the Dokis First Nation in Ontario. He has served as Associate Vice-President, Students since UBC Okanagan opened in 2005. www.news.ok.ubc.ca

Kelowna Mercedes-Benz at 2580 Enterprise Way has won the 2020 Star Dealer Award for the second year in a row. This honour is awarded to the top eleven of 60 Mercedes–Benz dealers in Canada who embody what it means to be a Star Dealer, from outstanding sales achievement and notable growth and unwavering commitment to exceptional customer service. Sentes Automotive is proud of their team at Kelowna Mercedes-Benz to provide the best experience possible for their clients. Mercedes-Benz is the number one luxury manufacturer in Canada for the fifth consecutive year. www.sentes.com

On February 3, Kelowna’s popular morning radio duo, Andy & TJ marked their 17th anniversary on 101.5 EZ Rock from 5:30 to 10:00 a.m. weekday mornings. Married with Mics has been waking up Kelowna since 2003, got married in 2009 and recently celebrated TJ’s return to the airwaves after a public battle with breast cancer. The pair has been entrenched in the community since launching their show and has also branched out into a successful voice over business.

Several volunteers are celebrating anniversaries with the Kelowna Hostess organization. Kudos to Shirley HallMarnie Parton and Brenda Scruton who have volunteered for five years. If you would like to join this exceptional organization and give some time to community service with a fun group of people, contact membership contact Roberta Withers, membership co-chair at [email protected]

Accolades to Pushor Mitchell Lawyers LLP on donating $30,000 to aid Okanagan College students who, in their careers, will support people facing mental health issues, homelessness and community isolation.  The gift is in support of the Okanagan College Foundation’s Our Students, Your Health Campaign which has a $5Million fundraising goal to build a new Health Sciences Centre and support students taking in-demand health and social development programs. The law firm is creating two annual awards valued at $2,000 each for students taking the College’s Human Service Work program. Mental Health affects everyone, including our own families and friends and it is an issue that cannot be ignored says managing partner Andrew Brunton.  I am honoured to be the Okanagan College Foundation Community Ambassador. For more information on how to support and donate to the new centre contact Holly Routley at [email protected]

The Kelowna Chamber of Commerce gave an incentive for their 2020 membership renewals and offered two prizes for those who paid their annual membership fees by December 20th and January 1st. Congratulations to Bruce at Space Centre Storage Plus on winning a trip for two to Victoria and to Robert at Coast Wholesale Appliances on winning two tickets to the Chamber’s annual golf tournament on May 14th at the Harvest Golf Club. I am pleased to be the City of Kelowna appointee on the board of the Kelowna Chamber of Commerce. www.kelownachamber.org

Help us shine a deserving light on the silent heroes in our community. The City of Kelowna Civic & Community Awards nomination period for the 2019 award season is now open and nominations will be accepted until Friday, February 14th. Visit kelowna.ca/civicawards for complete category details and nomination forms.

Proud for Prom is an initiative started last year by daughter/mother team Julie and Brenda LoveridgeMarks to make sure that every student in our area could enjoy their prom. Without help, many students would not have the means to pay for this exceptionally expensive evening and may not choose or be able to attend their own prom. Last year, Proud for Prom helped 32 students. This year, they are going even further and need your help. Proud for Prom is hosting a Drive-Thru Donation Day on February 28th from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Gather your gently used suits, dress shirts, ties, gowns, shoes, jeweler and accessories and drop them off at Rutland Senior Secondary, Kelowna Senior Secondary, George Elliott Secondary or Mount Boucherie Senior Secondary. When speaking with Julie, she mentioned that they are in need of women’s dresses sizes 12+, evening bags/clutches, women’s jewellery and also garment racks for gowns that are height adjustable and preferably on wheels. I cleaned out my clutch collection and will deliver them on the 28 along with a few men’s suits. I’m sure we all have items in our closets that we can donate to help these students out on their special day. If you know of a graduating student who could benefit from this experience, please refer them to https://proudforprom.weebly.com/refer-a-student.html. Julie can be reached at [email protected]

Congratulations to the City of Kelowna on receiving the Award for Excellence in Enterprise Asset Management Practice that was received at the Cityworks Conference last December. The city received the award recognizing the City’s excellence in asset management practice supported by the organization’s senior leadership and Council. The implementation of these asset management practices helps to improve work planning, budgeting and communication across the organization to ensure the City maintains high quality long-lasting infrastructure that supports service delivery. The City was selected from a pool of more than 700 Cityworks clients worldwide.

West Kelowna now has their very own community theatre and Crossing Creek Community Theatre welcomes you to their inaugural production as they present WCKY from February 14th – 16th at various times at the Westbank Lions Community Centre.  Tickets available at Powers Creek Community Church, Whiskey Jacks Pub and the UBS Store and online at Kelownatickets.com. It’s a frolicking night of comedy, crime and romance during 1939 when radio was king. Facebook@crossingcreek

Birthdays of the week –Happy 40th Tara Thompson (Feb. 6); Teena Gowdy (Feb. 6); Don Martin (Feb. 6); Sergio Cunial (Feb. 7); Karen Erickson (Feb. 7); Darren McClelland (Feb. 7); Andre Desrosiers (Feb. 7); Jack Degruchy (Feb. 7); Darlene Jackson (Feb. 8); Karen Gee (Feb. 10); Jim Stuart, appliance guy (Feb. 11); Tim Light (Feb. 11); Kasha Lanyon (Feb. 11); Dave Lange (Feb. 11); Marshall Jones (Feb. 11).

Maxine DeHart is a Kelowna City Councillor and local hotelier. Phone her at 250-979-4546 or 250-862-7662. Email [email protected] and web-site www.maxinedehart.ca