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From Karen Milner, on behalf of the Home Share Team at Community Connections:

We would like to say a huge thank you and sad farewell to the Central Okanagan Professional Caregivers Society (COPCS). It must have been a difficult decision to dissolve the society in July 2020 but understandable given the size of the organization and the scope of the work on a handful of dedicated volunteers.

Since 2008 this group has worked tirelessly to support caregivers in positive, practical and meaningful ways.

Some of their many accomplishments have been:

• Securing discounts at local retailers for their membership.
• Developing a benefit package.
• Representing home share providers on a provincial working group that was mandated by Minister for Social Development and Poverty Reduction to address common issues for caregivers province wide.
• Developing a home share provider appreciation award dinner.
• Instrumental in the Parliamentary decision for provincial increases for home share providers.
• Organizing countless well attended seminars and workshops with local and international presenters.
• Informing home share providers of any current news pertaining to caregiving and upcoming courses and workshops.
• Acting as a resource for the myriad of questions and concerns faced by caregivers.
• Creating celebrations every year for their membership…BBQ’s and holiday gatherings, fundraisers and prizes!
• Keeping home share providers informed during this difficult pandemic year of Covid 19.

Good luck and thank you to Margaret Milsom and Jack Sawatzky who were instrumental in organizing COPCS, breathing life into it and volunteering hundreds of hours! Thanks also to the incredible volunteer boards over the years and to Colleen Anderson, the COPCS representative in the south Okanagan.

Your efforts, ethics, spirit and work will be sorely missed!