This letter is in reference to a letter to the editor (Penticton Western News, Oct. 14, Evolution of a vital community project) from the Okanagan Upcycle Resource Society (OURS) board of directors.
OURS, which was located at 180 Industrial Ave. W needs help from the community to re-open their successful environmental and social enterprise.
With plans for expansion of usage of the property on Industrial Avenue by the current owners, the Upcycle group had to vacate that location and has now been closed since June and the board and members have been busy trying to find a new location.
I became a new resident of Penticton as of November 2015 and discovered this group via a visit to the February Seedy Saturday.
I decided to become a member, believing in what they stood for and the work that the group was doing to keep usable materials out of the local landfill and make such materials available to DIY homeowners who needed usable materials at affordable rates.
The Repair Café they host is also a viable service to the community allowing folks to have small and medium appliances and other items repaired instead of sending those appliances on a one-way trip to the landfill and adding extra costs to one’s budget having to replace them with a newer product which would probably not last as long.
The group has come up with new and innovative uses for materials as well, such as using old windows to build cold frames to start vegetable plants earlier, and scrap lumber, wire and small tires to build a chicken tractor which is a small housing unit complete with roosts and nesting boxes for a small flock of chickens, which can be wheeled to different locations in one’s yard to allow the chickens to forage and scratch as happy chickens will, yet keeping them safe.
Many residents of the Penticton area have found and put to good use items and building materials salvaged by OURS from the landfill at Campbell Mountain, local building contractors, retail suppliers and local citizens and at a very substantial savings in cost to those residents.
I am asking the people of Penticton to help OURS now by letting them know of any properties that may be available to accommodate the storage and retail sales of used building materials.
This is a great thing for the South Okanagan community and we need to make sure that the OURS group continues to provide for us by helping them find a new accessible location.
Diane Pleasance
Penticton
