After hearing a number of concerns about the effects that COVID related isolation is having on youth, Desta Beattie contacted between 80% and 90% of the Cortes Island families with teenagers to see how they are coping. Her quiet, unassuming manner is almost the opposite of Maunda Aufochs Gillespie, whose bubbling enthusiasm is displayed in constant movement and ever changing facial expressions. Gillespie has also reached out into the community, giving it platform to express itself and planting seed money where it is most needed. Their ministries, Cortes Island Family Support & Folk U, were the focus of the eighth Cortes Virtual Community Conference on May 19, 2020.
Continue reading May 19 Virtual Community Meeting: Family Support & Folk UTag Archives: Christine Robinson
Cortes Island’s First Virtual Town Hall Meeting
More people participated. At its peak, seventy listeners connected to the conference by computer or phone and an unknown number listened to the radio broadcast. Yet Cortes Island’s first virtual town hall meeting was essentially a continuation of the recent online conferences Regional Director Noba Anderson has been having with local businesses and organizations.
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Organizing A Collective Response To COVID-19
At the first virtual Community Conference, Cortes Island organizations and businesses described their preparations for the impending COVID 19 pandemic. The process of reporting continued into the second conference, where callers also discussed off-island travel. At the third, on March 27, 2020, callers were divided into ten break out groups as Cortes organises a collective response to COVID -19.
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Spring Migration of Whaletown Post Office
Whaletown Post Office — much photographed by tourists — has a long and interesting story (you can find out more at the Cortes Museum). It has served the community for over 70 years.
When its tenure on private property near Whaletown Wharf could no longer be maintained, Whaletown residents banded together to “Save the Post Office” and find it a new home. After several weeks of discussion and some generous donations to “buy more time,” a solution was found: Whaletown Community Club agreed to host the Post Office in the Community Hall parking lot.
Once the destination was chosen, the ad hoc Post Office Committee (“Friends of V0P1Z0”) worked tirelessly to plan and execute the relocation. On the weekend of March 6th-8th — as the clocks changed — their plans were realised: the Whaletown Post Office moved to a new and sunnier location next to the Whaletown Community Hall.
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Hall Tax Consultation Refreshing
Originally Published on Cortes Radio.ca
By Roy L Hales
On June 6, 2019, Chair Michele Babchuk and three members of the Strathcona Regional District staff caught a water taxi from Campbell River to Cortes Island. Around 80 local inhabitants were waiting for them in Mansons Hall. I doubt anyone could have guessed what was to follow. The resulting Cortes Island Hall Tax consultation was refreshing.
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