Cleaning Up & Giving Back
Author: Nicole Gerber
February 18, 2021
Most of us don’t often think about innovative ways to give back to the community while we’re also enjoying our summer vacations. But that’s exactly what Raymond Imbeau and Barbara Kitz did and have continued doing for three summers since the idea sparked.
Every summer Raymond and Barbara drive their ATVs through British Columbia’s beautiful backroads around the Okanagan and beyond.
While exploring, they pick up bottles and cans cleaning up the environment around them. But they don’t stop there, they turn in the cans and donate all the proceeds to Central Okanagan Search and Rescue (COSAR).
“We hope we never have to call on COSAR,” says Raymond explaining their desire to support an organization that functions primarily as a community resource in assisting in a variety of Search and Rescue functions. Knowing COSAR operates primarily on community funding, Barbara added, “we thought we could help them.”
This past summer, Barbara and Raymond collected enough cans to fill 111 garbage bags, amounting to a total of $3,200 in donated funds to COSAR.
We at the Stober Foundation were so inspired by Barbara and Raymond’s giving – not only first in their desire to clean up the environment, but then to give again by donating the funds to a community organization – that we have matched their donation to COSAR in their honour.
This is the start of an exciting project we’re launching that seeks to empower and elevate the generosity of those quietly giving back by matching acts of service, time, and giving with donations. We will be sharing more on the Gratitude Project in the coming weeks.
When we asked them what their reaction was to their donation being matched through the Gratitude Project, Raymond and Barbara responded, “we were so surprised to be recognized for what we do! We hope this is an inspiration to others to take pride in our environment.”
Thank you to Barbara and Raymond for being bright lights in this community and giving back twice over. We are certainly inspired.
To learn more about Central Okanagan Search and Rescue (COSAR) and donate visit www.cosar.ca