We have a new Thrift Shop Donation Drop-Off schedule to serve you better! We are open Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays from 10 am to 2 pm. Thank you for your support!
Our Personal Growth Group is starting next week! January 18 – March 22, weekly on Thursdays, 6:30 – 8:30 pm at SOS Community Services Centre. Experience shared wisdom, strength and inspiration, and help enhance your quality of life and develop your potential while gaining new skills and confidence.
Available for Ages 19+, cost is $5 per session and SOS subsidizes the remainder of the program cost.
We wanted to provide some updates on our XYZ Generations Adults Group:
We have changed the name of the group: Mixers for the Middles!
We hosted a Foraging Tour led by Vancouver Island Tours. The weather turned out perfectly for this amazing forest walk in Coombs, where we learned what to put in our salads (year-round!) what we can pick to eat or drink, and how to make a natural, bubbly juice!
We aim to hold events for the group quarterly throughout the year.
We plan to run a Ticket to Ride Game in February 2024.
If you’re interested in finding out the details for our next quarterly XYZ Generations event, follow our social media pages or sign up for our E-newsletters on our website homepage. www.sosd69.com.
Thank you Tigh-Na-Mara for hosting the annual Toy Drive and everyone who supported the event this year!
Thanks to your support, we received twice as many gifts as last year (2,527 in total), an incredible amount of gift cards (valued at $6,050), and cash and cheques ($23,266) plus a $1,500 grant from RBC whose members also volunteered their time at the Toy Drive!
Tigh-Na-Mara staff also contributed 33 bikes and helmets thanks to their Bikes for Tykes program!
Such a fantastic way for many people to kick off the holiday season with kindness and warmth.
The Silver Spur Toy Ride was a success! We saw about 40 horses and their riders dressed up in Christmas attire on Sunday, Nov. 26, along with a wagon and support vehicles, travel from Ballenas Secondary School to Arrowsmith Lodge and Stanford Place, before making their way to SOS Thrift Shop to drop off toys, gifts and financial donations for the SOS Caring for Community at Christmas program.
Over 100 gifts, along with $360 in cash and $30 in gift cards were collected during this event. All the toys and gifts are now adorning the shelves of the SOS Toy Shop at the SOS Community Services Centre in Parksville. Volunteers will arrange all the donated gifts into age-appropriate areas and low-income parents and grandparents will come shop for free for their children until Dec. 21.
Thank you to Silver Spur Riding Club!
To learn more about the SOS Christmas program, to register for assistance, or to make a financial donation, visit www.sosd69.com, or call 250-248-2093. Drop in to the SOS Community Services Centre in Parksville with a gift or financial donation during business hours, attend an event that benefits the program, or locate an SOS Angel Tree at a participating business.
Kalvas Restaurant in Parksville is once again hosting Meals for More, benefitting the SOS Caring for Community at Christmas program. Bring in a financial donation or a new, unwrapped gift for the SOS Christmas program during the month of December, and you’ll receive a free dessert from their house-made dessert menu! To make a reservation at Kalvas, call 250-248-6933.
Kick-off this Holiday season with kindness! From November 13-19, buy a Holiday Smile Cookie at Tims to support your local community. 50% of proceeds will go directly to SOS Caring for Community at Christmas Program, while the remaining 50% go to Tim Horton’s Foundation Camps!
The SOS Caring for Community at Christmas Program ensures local children and youth experience the magic of Christmas and that adults and seniors also experience joy and dignity over the holidays. With your help, we can make sure that local children and youth are filled with excitement when they wake up on Christmas morning and see a special gift waiting for them under the tree.
SOS collects new gifts to fill the Toy Shop, where low-income parents, grandparents, and caregivers can shop for free. With your help, families, adults and seniors receive local grocery store gift cards so they can choose food that is meaningful to them over the holidays.
Together we’re ensuring they have a good meal to share. Together, we’re helping create magic. Thank you Tim Hortons for helping us share Christmas magic!
