Anyone who has been to a grocery store lately knows food prices are way, way up. The increasing cost of living is just one more big stress being layered onto struggling families in the South Okanagan. 

The need for support is huge and growing in Oliver, Osoyoos and Okanagan Falls. 

At Desert Sun Counselling and Resource Centre, we’re receiving more calls than ever for help of all kinds. Requests for counselling are up four times (400 per cent) compared to before the pandemic. Our Safe Home expanded to a full house this spring, and we’re nearly constantly operating it in overflow mode due to the high number of women and children escaping violence. Calls to our crisis support line are way up, and demand for our other programs and services is at an all time high. 

We desperately need our generous communities’ help. Many of Desert Sun’s critical programs are underfunded and need community support to keep operating. 

On Nov. 1st, we began rolling out our third annual Empty Bowls and Baskets online fundraiser. Our goal is to raise $75,000 through this fundraiser by Dec. 15. Every penny of the raised funds will stay right here in Oliver, Osoyoos and Okanagan Falls to fund programs that, without community support, won’t be able to continue running. 

Empty Bowls and Baskets is all about raising local funds for local programs; dollars that will support vulnerable children in local schools, families who don’t know where else to turn, and seniors who’d otherwise be isolated and alone. 

Among other programs, fundraised dollars will be used to support Desert Sun’s Safe Home program, which supports women escaping abuse. Funds will also support its Early Years program, which provides programming to very young children and their parents. 

We’ll also use some fundraised money to support the Share the Spirit gift hamper program, which provides Christmas gifts to local families in need. 

If you’d like to support this program, we encourage you to either contribute dollars or to sign up as a ‘Christmas Angel’ gift sponsor. Last year, Share the Spirit gift hampers made Christmas brighter for more than 70 local families. For more information about Share the Spirit, contact Benita Baerg at [email protected].  

While Desert Sun runs the Share the Spirit program for Oliver and Okanagan Falls, the Kiwanis Club of Osoyoos runs Share the Spirit in Osoyoos. For more information about how to get involved with Share the Spirit in Osoyoos, contact Donna Kelso at [email protected] or 250-495 -7701. 

To keep up with the Empty Bowls and Baskets progress or learn more about any of Desert Sun’s programs, follow Desert Sun on Facebook or Instagram or call our office at 250-498- 2538.

Please, big hearted Oliver and Osoyoos residents, help us fill our most vulnerable community members’ Empty Bowls and Baskets. Looking after each other is what makes our communities so special.

To donate, please etransfer to [email protected]; mail a cheque to Box 1890, Fairview Road, Oliver, BC, V0H 1T0; drop a donation to a Desert Sun office (762 Fairview Road in Oliver or 8701 Main Street in Osoyoos), or donate through our website at www.desertsuncounselling.ca. 

Thank you for your support.

Marieze Tarr, 

Executive Director,

Desert Sun Counselling 

and Resource Centre