You never know what you may be starting. Sometime in the late 1970s -- no one now remembers exactly when -- a tiny but indomitable woman named Phyllis McPherson began supplying food to struggling individuals in Lake Country. The Lake Country Food Assistance Society must have operated informally for some time before it achieved charitable registration October 25, 1988. Her food bank was a temporary effort. The economy was slumping. People needed help. So Phyllis offered it. In the beginning, she and a few friends worked out of her house. Then out of a rented house. Then out of a series of short-term facilities. But the need never ended. Last year, the Lake Country food bank’s 60 volunteers served around 600 clients every month, out of two small rooms in the basement of the former Winfield Elementary School. Supplies were stacked to the ceiling. Second-hand freezers lined a narrow passageway, leaving room for only one person to get by at a time. During the Christmas season, numbers served could soar to 1,000. But there wasn’t room inside those two small rooms for more than one applicant at a time. The rest had to stand outside, in rain or snow, awaiting their turn. Meanwhile, School District 23 had put the school up for sale. The Food Bank – along with the Boys’ and Girls’ Club on the upper floor – could find itself homeless again.
Four years ago, the equally tiny Rotary Club of Lake Country, with only 25 members, realized that the Food Bank needed a more dependable home. Two years of fruitless search for leased space followed. One promising site got dropped when it took over a year to amend a single line in its existing lease from the provincial government. Reluctantly, Rotary concluded that the only solution was a permanent home – a new building, designed for the Food Bank’s needs. “This was never intended to be a Rotary building,” says Bob Rymarchuk, the Rotarian spearhead for his club’s participation. “It was always intended to be a community project. We simply took a lead in helping the Food Bank find a new home that it wouldn’t get pushed out of by outside circumstances.” The District of Lake Country made a lot available. With the installation of municipal sewers, it was no longer required as drainage field for another municipal building’s septic system. While the Food Bank continued to work out of its cramped quarters, Rotary began organizing community support. After a series of semi-successful raffles and other fund-raising efforts, the club tried for Aviva Insurance Company’s annual million-dollar Community Fund. Projects across Canada competed by soliciting online votes. The Lake Country community got behind the project, with enough votes to reach the finals. In January 2015, Aviva announced that the Lake Country Food Bank project had won the grand prize of $100,000. With one condition – construction had to start that year. Another beginning
So in March, Phyllis McPherson joined a collection of dignitaries to turn the first shovel of earth. Okanagan College’s Trades program in Vernon put 10 students to work, gaining hands-on experience. Crane operators and excavators pitched in. In total, over 100 businesses donated materials or services. Over 250 donors made financial contributions. The biggest came from Aviva. Other significant grants came from the Central Okanagan Foundation, the Southern Interior Development Institute, and Farm Credit Canada. MLA Norm Letnick started fund-raising off with a personal donation of $10,000; an anonymous donor gave $50,000. Because so many services and materials were donated, Rotary treasurer Ken Guido can’t set a definitive value for the building, But at conventional rates, a commercial building this size would cost over $750,000. By December, the new building was almost finished. Rotary planned to turn the keys for the new building over to Phyllis McPherson on December 23, as what someone called “the biggest Christmas present in Canada.” But on the night of December 19, Phyllis died in Kelowna General Hospital at the age of 76. Out of respect, Rotary deferred the handover into the New Year. And so, this Wednesday afternoon, January 6, 2016, the project that a tiny but indomitable woman started almost 40 years before will take possession of a brand new, 2600-square-foot facility. Phyllis McPherson never expected her Food Bank would one day have its own building. The Rotary Club of Lake Country never wanted to become a developer. But that’s what can happen, when you commit yourself to something and the community gets behind you. ******************************************************** 

Copyright © 2016 by Jim Taylor. Non-profit use in congregations and study groups encouraged; links from other blogs welcomed; all other rights reserved. To send comments, to subscribe, or to unsubscribe, write jimt@quixotic.ca

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Last week’s column came right after Christmas, when you were all cleaning up the wrapping paper and trying to remember who needed a thank-you note, and who didn’t. And it wasn’t particularly earth-shaking. So there weren’t many letters about it.
Charles Hill dug into history: “In the United States, sometime in the late '50s or early 60's, a man shot and killed a group of nursing students in Chicago. Newspapers (and other media) who carried lurid details found their audience swelling dramatically. They learned a lesson: violence, bloodshed, meanness, people doing very destructive things, is what sells. The general population feasts on the misery or meanness of others. “A few weeks ago, a man and wife worth billions gave away the majority of their wealth to groups and organizations who aid the needy in multiple ways, both in the US and worldwide. The local newspaper reported it in about four sentences. No mention has been made in the national media beyond the initial announcement. “We thrive on negativity.”
John Finlay followed the link I offered to the poem “Home” by Warsan Shire. He wrote, “I am awestruck, at the very least.I read it again and again -- I suspect it will become a daily practice and each time it seems a different nuance comes through to me. “What a profound, powerful piece of literature. I will share it widely and trust that others will do likewise.” If you didn’t follow up through the link and would like to, here it is again: http://seekershub.org/blog/2015/09/home-warsan-shire/
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TECHNICAL STUFF
The ball starts rolling
YOUR TURN
This column comes to you using the electronic facilities of Woodlakebooks.com.        If you want to comment on something, send a message directly to me, at jimt@quixotic.ca.        To subscribe or unsubscribe, send me an e-mail message at the address above. Or you can subscribe electronically by sending a blank e-mail (no message) to sharpedges-subscribe@quixotic.ca. Similarly, you can un-subscribe at sharpedges-unsubscribe@quixotic.ca.        You can access several years of archived columns at http://edges.Canadahomepage.net.        I write a second column each Wednesday, called Soft Edges, which deals somewhat more gently with issues of life and faith. To sign up for Soft Edges, write to me directly, at the address above, or send a note to softedges-subscribe@quixotic.ca
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PROMOTION STUFF…

• Ralph Milton has a new project, called Sing Hallelujah – the world’s first video hymnal. It consists of 100 popular hymns, both new and old, on five DVDs that can be played using a standard DVD player and TV screen, for use in congregations who lack skilled musicians to play piano or organ. More details at www.singhallelujah.com Ralph’s HymnSight webpage is still up,  http://www.hymnsight.ca, with a vast gallery of photos you can use to enhance the appearance of the visual images you project for liturgical use (prayers, responses, hymn verses, etc.)
• Wayne Irwin's “Churchweb Canada,” an inexpensive service for any congregation wanting to develop a web presence, with free consultation. <http://www.churchwebcanada.ca>
• Alan Reynold’s weekly musings, punningly titled “Reynolds Rap” -- reynoldsrap@shaw.ca 
• Isobel Gibson’s thoughtful and well-written blog, www.traditionaliconoclast.com 
• Alva Wood’s satiric stories about incompetent bureaucrats and prejudiced attitudes in a small town – not particularly religious, but fun; alvawood@gmail.com to get onto her mailing list. 
• Tom Watson writes a weekly blog called “The View from Grandpa Tom’s Balcony” – ruminations on various subjects, and feedback from Tom’s readers. Write him at tomwatso@gmail.com or twatson@sentex.net

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