Charities being supported this year: Y Women’s Emergency Shelter, Kamloops Brain Injury Association, Chris Rose Therapy Centre for Autism and Kamloops Therapeutic Riding Association. To donate, go online to bcicf.ca/kamloops-this-week-christmas-cheer-fund. Donations are accepted online thanks to a partnership with the BC Interior Community Foundation. Donations can also be dropped off at the KTW office, at 1365B Dalhousie Dr. Office hours are 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. weekdays. Cheques should be made out to the BC Interior Community Foundation.
This year has been taxing, with the ongoing opioid overdose crisis, the pandemic, the heat dome, wildfires and atmospheric rivers creating widespead devastation.
“It’s starting to slow down now,” Nolan Pastoor said. “It’s been a pretty crazy year.”
Pastoor said he views the KTW Christmas Cheer Fund — and its previous incarnation at the Kamloops Daily News — as an opportunity to give back to the community.
Pastoor and wife Lindsay have donated $1,500 on behalf of Nolan Pastoor Personal Real Estate. Seeking new ways to show appreciation for his clients during the Christmas season, the couple re-evaluated gifting chocolates to clients. Instead, they put that money, in addition to some of their own, into a donation to the KTW Christmas Cheer Fund.
“It’s important to thank people that support my business, but I looked at the money I spent and thought, ‘Can we be doing something more worthwhile with this?’” Pastoor said.
“We’ve been blessed,” Pastoor said. “There are a lot of people that have faced job losses or hours cut back ... a lot of people are struggling.”
Pastoor noted he and Lindsay are fortunate.
“For my wife and I, our business has still continued to go along and it’s been another good year. We’re thankful that we have this, that we can give,” he said.
Pastoor said it all comes back to their faith.
“We’re Bible-believing Christians and we believe the word of God,” Pastoor said. “He makes it clear in scripture, in the early chapters of Acts, that the church is supposed to live in community.”
Pastoor said loving one’s neighbours and seeking to follow God’s command to put others before himself is what he strives to do in his home and business life.
“People were selling their possessions to look after the widows and the orphans and that’s what we just seek to follow,” he said. “If we have more than what we need to live, we need to make sure that we share with others who have need. That’s where it comes from for us — loving our neighbours.”
THANK YOU, DONORS!
VW Turtle Race: $11,000
Tim Shoults: $50
Greg Harris: $25
Nel Sarrasin: $50
Ron & Susan Durant: $100
Dianne Jackson: $50
Anna Evenrude: $50
Willa Dale: $50
Anonymous: 100
John & Val Kemp: $100
Cal & Pat Moulton: $100
Darren, Sharlene & Kyle McIlwain: $158
Anonymous: 50
Darla Flett, in memory of Cheroo Beanut: $50
Anonymous: $100
Kathy Kendall: $200
Gerald & Wendy Patrick, in memory of Kelly Patrick: $100
Jo-Mary & Bob Hunter: $200
Susan Peachey: $50
Gwen Mackinder, in memory of friend Sophia: $50
Sharon Langland, in memory of Sharon & David Frampton: $100
Kamloops Old Time Fiddlers: $100
Bryan White: $100
Vic & Sally Mowbray: $100
Anonymous: $200
Rachel Andrews: 50
Ken & Marylyne House: $100
Simone Werstiuk, in memory of Carmen Werstiuk: $100
Lynne Totten: $100
Don & Debby Erickson: $100
Gary Miller: $100
Brian & Kathy Andriashyk, in memory of Verna Wasylnka: $100
M&W Bronken: $100
Johanna Walters: $25
Rick Bennett: $25
Anna Barton: $50
Lois McAlary, in memory of Sarah McAlary: $150
Sandie & Louise, in memory of Mom, Ross & Carole: $100
Lovely Ladies of the Lake: $200
Wayne & Twink Murphy: $50
Bea Smith: $50
Terry & Doreen Monson: $100
Linda Jackson, in memory of George Wilmot: $100
Norm & Susan McGowan, in memory of Jack Buckham: $100
In memory of Dave & Sandy: $100
Harriett Chave: 100
Sharon Moore, in memory of Tom Moore: $75
Marie & Norio Sakaki: $100
Mavis Paravantes, in memory of Rita Mikuse: $100
M. Colleen Stainton: $200
Anonymous: $300
Anonymous: $100
Anonymous: $25
Anonymous: $100
Anonymous: $500
Abstract Registry: $500
Anonymous: $100
Barbara Sterritt: $100
Phil & Cathy Holman: $100
Spencer & Janet Bryson: $200
Sandra Blakely, in memory of Douglas Blakely: $100
Pat $ Dave McDonald: $100
Eric & Maggie Shishido & Knox, in memory of Mom, Dad, Terry & Dad: $100
Nolan Pastoor Personal Real Estate Corporation: $1,500
James Doan: $1,000
Catherine Masters: $100
Muriel Botham: $100
Sharon Cooley, in memory of Ruth Cooley: $50
John D. & Gail Cameron: $300
The Hausers, in memory of Sam & Dad: $100
Shirley Fish: $50
Carol Armstrong: $100
Naomi & son James Geczi, in memory of David Geczi, son: $25
Naomi Geczi, in memory of Mary Bullard: $25
Anonymous: $75
Darko & Allison Filipic: $100
Sally & Bill Jennejohn: $100
A&G Morrissette: $100
Evan & Wendy Lichlyter: $200
Anonymous: $500
Jaime Hunter: $50
Sandra Dever, in memory of Pat Swaine & Chris Swaine: $50
Brian & Donna McMillan: $100
Dean & Debbie Nicholson: $250
Anne Laroche: $100
Ed & Dianne Barker: $200
Anita Shields: $25
Terry & Richard Taylor: $100
Tanya Giles: $25
Marilyn Giesbrecht: $200
Taya Berkhout: $500
Debra McNichol: $50
Teri Young: $250
Jacques Lam: $50
Jerry Neigel: $200
David Whitson: $100
Bev & Cary Laing: $200
In memory of Peter Howard & Harold Bedard: $200
Melrose & Bill Scott: $100
Hank & Eileen Hackett: $50
Elaine & David Sedgman: $100
Abacus Gardening & Landscaping, in memory of loved ones: $500
Anonymous: $100
Nadia Olafson: $50
Greg Marshall & Aileen Murphy: $100
Anonymous: $25
Anonymous: $75
Evelyn Meyer: $80
Anonymous: $50
Margaret Sandulak: $100
Margaret Stewart: $100
Jean Tash, in memory of Stan & Jack Tash: $50
Patricia Hansen: $100
Rina Wells: $50
Hanes family, in memory of Brett & Bob: $200
Kathleen & Donald Gienow: $50
Leah Wilk: $50
Colman & Teresa Byrne, in memory of Agnes Byrne Ireland: $200
Ken & Sylvia Grafton: $50
Marg & Terry Bangen: $200
Judy Wiebe: $100
Amanda Fenrich: $100
Preceptor Delta Beta Sigma Phi: $100
C. Carroll, in memory of Susan Brewer: $50
In memory of our parents, Tom & Gloria Stout and Muriel & Norman Cooper: $100
Anonymous: $25
Amy Regan: $100
The Posse: $100
Jody Dobroshinsky: $100
bea Prehara: $50