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Summerland charity donates $630K to support youth

Funding will be used within community of Summerland
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Robin Robertson, left, chair of the Community Foundation of the South Okanagan Similkameen receives a donation from Summerland Charity Shop Society directors Bruce Hallquist, Orv Robson and Scott Boswell. At right is Aaron McRann, chief executive officer of the Community Foundation of the South Okanagan Similkameen. (Contributed)

The Summerland Charity Shop Society has donated $630,000 to the Community Foundation of the South Okanagan Similkameen.

Of this donation, $100,000 is committed to Summerland Secondary School to support youth and $30,000 will go to the weekend food backpack program through the Summerland Food Bank and Resource Centre.

“We are thrilled to be able to add to our Community Legacy Fund and high school bursaries to support youth for decades to come,” said Orv Robson, a director of Penny Lane. “The donation to the foundation will increase the Legacy Fund to over $1 million and the donation to the high school will provide bursaries for Grade 12 students going on university, college and technical certification.”

From 2001 to 2013, the society operated its Penny Lane stores in Summerland.

The operations started as a second-hand store at the youth centre. Directors Bruce Hallquist, Robson, Al Fabbi, Scott Boswell, Rick Thorpe, along with Art Sewell and Ellen Lloyd worked to expand the store to two locations in downtown Summerland.

“It’s been a great ride from when we first opened a storefront in 2001,” Hallquist said. “We reached our five-year financial objectives in 18 months. Our initial goal was to support at-risk youth and our motto was if we can save one child it will all be worth it — as it turns out we were able to support many youth in our community”.

Boswell said the stores also created jobs and business opportunities for at-risk youths. Profits were used to build and operate a youth centre that supported youth asset development programs for 15 years and high school drug and alcohol counsels, he said.

"Penny Lane has provided $3 million to support 60 community organizations,” Fabbi said. 

Some of the recipients include school breakfast programs, nursing and medical scholarships, a contribution to the Summerland Skateboard Park, the Penticton Youth Centre and numerous high school bursaries.

Since the stores closed in 2013, Penny Lane sold its building and established the Penny Lane Community Legacy Fund in 2014 with the Community Foundation. 

The society, now after 23 years, is transitioning its assets to the foundation and looks forward to seeing its legacy support the local high school and various youth programs now and for generations to come.

“The Summerland Charity Shop Society have been steadfast supporters of our foundation and even longer of our community,” McRann said. “Their leadership and dedication to youth programs and initiatives have made a lasting impact.”



John Arendt

About the Author: John Arendt

I have worked as a newspaper journalist since 1989 and have been at the Summerland Review since 1994.
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