From left Gaye Horn, Brenda Dorosz and Jen Shiels asked for town council’s support Monday for their idea of The Giving Cupboard. People will be able to leave non-food items for those who are less fortunate. (Keith Lacey photo)
Three Osoyoos women who want to make a difference in their community are excited about Town of Osoyoos council’s tentative support to set up a donation box in town to help the less fortunate.
The original name for the donation box was The Blessing Box, but that has been changed to The Giving Cupboard, said Brenda Dorosz, who was joined by Gaye Horn and Jen Shiels during a presentation to town council on Monday.
The idea behind The Giving Cupboard is to set up a small wooden box in town where local residents could drop off items that could be used by the less fortunate, said Dorosz, who is best known in town as the leader of the Save Our Schools committee formed this spring to save Osoyoos Secondary School from closure.
Several American communities have set up similar programs with great success and a few Canadian towns have jumped on board and she, Shiels and Horn believe it would become a big success immediately in Osoyoos, said Dorosz.
While some communities allow residents to drop off food items into the donation box, that’s not the idea behind The Giving Cupboard in Osoyoos, she said.
“We don’t want anything to do with food donations whatsoever,” she said.
The ladies have come up with a central location they believe would be ideal, but they respectfully wanted to wait for a staff report back to council before committing to any location.
The wooden box would be roughly two feet high and two feet wide and 18 inches deep and be attached to a concrete or cement post and residents could simply bring items and place them inside, allowing those who need assistance to take items they might need without any problems, she said.
“All three of us really thought this would be a good idea,” said Dorosz.
Some of the items they believe would be very helpful include small clothing items like scarves and mitts and school items like pens, pencils, stickers and envelopes, she said.
Mayor Sue McKortoff thanked the ladies for trying to make a difference and she believes The Giving Cupboard would be well used in this community.
McKortoff said she’s glad donating food items is being discouraged because that would involve having to get agencies like Interior Health involved.
Coun. Mike Campol congratulated the women for spearheading this initiative and he’s confident the program will be a great success once a final location is selected and set up.
Horn said she, Dorosz and Shiels are committed to helping set up the program and establishing a long list of items they would like to see donated by members of the public once a final set for the donation box is chosen.
Several people in town have committed to helping build the box once a permanent site is selected and approved by council, said Dorosz.
Horn is also confident The Giving Cupboard is needed and would help a lot of people in town.
“A lot of people in our town just don’t have the money to pick up a lot of the little things they need,” she said.
Coun. C.J. Rhodes also thanked the three women for supporting this idea and initiating a program that will help many people.
“This is a great idea … and good for you guys for starting this up,” he said.
Once council approves a permanent site and the donation box is set up, Dorosz said she, Horn and Shiels will make another public appeal asking local residents to start making donations.
KEITH LACEY
Osoyoos Times
