Tag Archives: Nzuri Basket Company

Community

Seeking input to identify Cortes Island’s Vital Signs

It has been two days since Isabella McKnight sent the word out. The Cortes Island Community Foundation was only a third of the way to collecting the 300 signatures needed for the  Vital Signs community survey! 

“Vital Signs is a program supported by the Community Foundations of Canada. It’s  more than just a survey. It’s a powerful tool designed to illuminate the areas where our community thrives and also identify the aspects that need our collective attention and effort. So by participating, you’re contributing to a richer understanding of Cortes, explained  McKnight, Executive Administrator of the Cortes Island Community Foundation.

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Family

Community-led support for families with newborns launches locally

CKTZ News, through an LJI grant from Canada-info.ca

First Years Caring Collective (FYCC) is launching on Cortes Island to offer volunteer help for families who are expecting or have recently had a baby.

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Business

The Nzuri Basket Company is a good thing

The first shipment of baskets, for what was to become the Nzuri Basket company, arrived on Cortes Island in August, 2020. 

Jenny Hartwick didn’t set out to found a company. The baskets she initially brought home, from a trip to Kenya, were gifts for friends and family. 

“It wasn’t until we were back in Canada and I’d given away all of my baskets. Everybody was saying to me, ‘Wow, these are amazing can you get more of them?’ I thought, ‘Gee,  maybe I can look into that’ and so that’s kind of, that was the start of where it came from,” explained Hartwick. 

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Health, Tourism

Coming Home From Africa

“The Kingdom of Uganda is a fairy tale. The scenery is different, the climate is different and most of all, the people are different from anything elsewhere to be seen in the whole range of Africa … what message I bring back … concentrate on Uganda.” – Winston Churchill, My Africa Journey, 

A group of 23 Cortes residents just returned from Uganda and neighbouring Kenya. They decided to travel this year because the tour company owned by Chris Hartwick’s parents, is going out of business. Nobody anticipated there would be any complications coming home from Africa.

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