Straight From DeHart – Dec. 5, 2018

Stephane Facon and Beatrice Laforge, owners of Bouchons Restaurant on Sunset Drive have started a new venture along with the restaurant called Bouchons Bistro Catering (and pastry shop) which is located in a sep commercial facility at 1046 Richter Street. If you are rushed during the holiday season, this is the place to purchase an array of wonderful food items for your party, casual get-together or Christmas menu. The take-out facility offers French pastry, catering and meals to-go. Agoub Klemt is their young pastry chef offering Macaroons, Rosalie, Magnum, 3 Chocolates, Intense Chocolate, Buche de Noel and many other pastries. Every day meals to-go includes quiche, soup, house-made croissants and some bread including French. While I was in the shop, customers asked for lobster quiche, which Stephane was going to make this coming week and the duck and chanterelle mushroom quiche was in the oven. Their catering menu is extensive and at this time they have a catering to-go Christmas menu with a good selection of hors d ‘Oeuvres, main courses, cheese tasters and desserts, made-to-order. They also specialize in making a fabulous Christmas log. Open Tuesday to Saturday 10:00 a.m.to 5:00 p.m. Call 250-763-6595 www.bouchonsbistro.com

<who>Photo Credit: Contributed</who>Bouchons Bistro Catering (L to R) Pastry Chef Agoub Klemt, Stephane Facon and Beatrice Laforge

After nearly 25 years of successful fundraising in the Interior of B.C., well known fundraising gal Cynthia Waldek-Peters has shut of the lights and closed the door of her office at the B.C.Cancer center where she worked for the past 13 plus years. Twelve years prior to that, Cynthia was at the United Way. Cynthia was instrumental in starting the popular yearly Discover Luncheon and the brain-child behind getting the citizens of Kelowna to understand who the people are and what they do in cancer research that is taking place right here in our city. Cynthia now begins a new chapter in her life called retirement. [email protected]

A proud Canadian company, Browns Socialhouse at #100-1544 Harvey Avenue has experienced a couple of changes. Industry leader, Derek Archer is now the sole owner of the popular restaurant and well-known local, Tyson Ralph, formerly with The Keg Restaurant and Bar for 15 years has joined the team at Brown’s as general manager along with Jamie Macintosh as a second general manager. Chris Casado, formerly with Cactus Club for six years is the Regional Kitchen Manager. Tia Sadler is the service manager. If you have not been to Browns you are missing out. I sampled the Ahi Tuna Crunch salad with sustainable fish and it was fabulous. Browns offers shareables, soups, salads, hand-stretched pizzas, hand-pressed burgers with fresh hand-cut fries, bowls, handhelds and many mains, including certified angus beef. One of their most popular dishes is the #28 Dragon Bowl. They offer brunch on the weekends and holidays from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. with free run eggs and their own house-made hollandaise sauce. Gluten free friendly. Happy hour is 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. to close with specials. Regular hours of operation are 11:00 a.m. until late, seven days a week with a full menu of beer, wine and cocktails.

David Yerema and Marvin Geekie of Salloum Watts at 200 – 1455 Ellis Street have launched a new area of practice in their legal firm. They ae now a full-service immigration law firm meeting the needs of the community and internationally. The firm now provides entrepreneur business immigration, labour market impact assessment applications for Canadian employers, permanent residency applications, family sponsorship applications, study permit and work permit applications and inadmissibility claims and judicial review matters. Call 250-861-5678 www.salloumwatts.com/canadianimmigration

<who>Photo Credit: Contributed</who>Top solicitors David Yerema and Marvin Geekie

BDO has announced several new manager promotions and management hires for the Kelowna office. Senior managers are Brennen Giroux, CPA, CA (relocated from Fort St.); Jason Granger, CPA, CA; Jennifer Jackson, CPA, CA; Vickie Naumann, CPA, Ca and Mike Smith, CPA, CA. New managers are Karter Basran, CPA (from BDO London England); Sandra GagnonBourgoin, CPA, CA (Relocated from Calgary); Kristin JeckelKhristian Koulev, CPA; Ashley SlobodianJeffrey Smith, CPA, CA and Shantay WoytasScott Simpson is the marketing manager.

Congratulations to Jessica Lenz who was one of 14 B.C. students who made the National Honour Roll for their outstanding results on the multi-day National Common Final Examination (CFE) administered by the CPA Western School of Business. Twenty-six other CPA students from Kelowna also passed the exam.

Local company, Core Health, Technologies, a corporate wellness technology company has received the 2019 Canadian Business Excellence Award and Ranks on the 2018 Growth 500 of Canada’s Fastest-growing companies. It was recognized for its continued revenue growth and commitment to employee satisfaction, ongoing innovation and providing exemplary service to global customers. This is the second consecutive year Core Health has received this award by Canadian Business Excellence. Anne Marie Kirby is the CEO and Founder of Core Health and Cindy Danielson is the marketing maverick. www.corehealth.global

Can you help? Navy League Cadets, Kelowna Branch at 720 Lawrence Avenue is a program for youth ages 9-12. NCLL #3 Admiral Stirling is dedicated to introducing cadets to sailing, seamanship, fun activities and exciting opportunities in an environment that emphasizes teamwork. They are now launching a new program for their senior cadets called SeaPerch, which is a really cool underwater robotics program that provides kids the tools to build an underwater remotely operated vehicle (ROV). The goal is to make learning fun while exposing them to hand’s on STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) in an exciting and engaging way. They are looking for sponsors for the program being completely reliant on fundraising and donations to stay afloat, so to speak. The cost for one Sea Perch Kit and Toolbox is $700.00, but they offer several levels of sponsorship with a charitable donation number for your tax-deductible donation. For more information visit www.seaperch.org or call Sub Lieutenant (NL) James Calder, Commanding Officer, NCLL Admiral Stirling at 250-470-8846 or [email protected]

<who>Photo Credit: Contributed</who>Navy League Cadets in the pool

Huge thank you to Denise Mintenko of Canadian Tire for her excellent customer service helping me in the Christmas decoration department.

Paddy Hall of Hallmark Advantages Group Real Estate Services is hosting a gift drive in support of seniors at the Annual Christmas Magic Breakfast. Drop into the Kelowna Golf & Country Club for a free buffet breakfast on Thursday, December 13th between 7:00 to 9:00 a.m. and bring a new unwrapped gift for a senior or a cash donation. Kelowna Firefighters and Crowe MacKay Accountants will receive your gifts, Hallmark will create the hampers and Kelowna Outreach volunteers will do the delivery. For more information call Paddy at 250-763-7686 or [email protected]

Myles Mattila, founder of MindRight.info has partnered with the Kelowna Chiefs to recognize incredible people who or have made a positive impact on Mental Health in the community. Each season the Chiefs host four mental health awareness games and one recipient will be honoured at each game. At the December 1st game, Candace Giesbrecht was honoured as the first recipient of the MindRight.info Community Star. Candace spent six years with the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) as Director of Community Engagement and Fundraising and is currently co-owner of Moto Vida Cycle and Director of Talent at Refresh Financial. Grant Sheridan is the general manager of the Kelowna Chiefs.

A B.C. based hotel chain with a good presence in Kelowna has won the Business of the 2018 Year Award by the Tourism Industry Association of Canada (TIAC). Under the leadership of President and CEO Mandy Farmer, Accent Inns Inc. has been yielding great results over the past few years in terms of business, innovation and employee satisfaction. Accent Inns have been owned and operated by the Farmer family since 1986 and have two properties in Kelowna, The Accent Inn on Harvey Avenue and the Hotel Zed on Abbott Street. www.accentinns.com

The Regional District of Central Okanagan celebrated 20 employees with Years of Service Awards for 2018. Congratulations to the following: Eve Wegscheidler, Parks (30 years); Sandy Mah, Parks (20 years); Kevin Trottier, Engineering (15 years); Carolyn Farago, Community Services, Andrea Henderson, Corporate Services, Donna Sauter, Financial, Brent Stringer, Engineering, Carol Teschner, Financial and Mike Van Exan, Parks (10 years); Leslie Finley, Parks, Susan Fraser, Community Services, Chad Garrecht, Corporate Services, Karen Kahtava, Information Services, Clarke Kruiswyk, Engineering, Bryan Mazda, Engineering Services, Deneen McArthur, Corporate Services, Peter Meersma, Engineering, Kelly Penner, Parks, Brian Reardon, Corporate Services, Glen Ross, Parks (5 years).

The popular Ukrainian Christmas 2018 Food Sale at the Ukrainian Catholic Church at 1091 Coronation Avenue is Saturday, December 8th from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. As usual there will perogies, borscht, sausage, pies, cabbage rolls and home-made baking.

Birthdays of the week – Dave McLean (Dec. 5); Scott Welsh (Dec. 5); Anne Schneider (Dec. 6); Dallas Gray (Dec. 6); Chef Mathew Morazain (Dec. 6); Sonja Withers, (Dec. 6); Sherri Paiement (Dec. 6); Monica Harrison (Dec.6); Lynne Gilbert (Dec. 7); Will Hoogewoonink (Dec. 8); Gary Winchesters (Dec. 8); Patti Stott (Dec. 9); Patti Stott (Dec. 9); Barry Lapointe (Dec. 10); Gabriel Giammartino (Dec. 10); Mel Cooper, Victoria (Dec. 10); Mary Jo Schnepf (Dec.); Anne Gilbert (Dec. 11); Anne Marie Kirby (Dec. 11); Gerry Fraser (Dec. 11); Bob Levin (Dec. 11).

Maxine DeHart is a Kelowna City Councillor and local hotelier. Phone her at 250-979-4546 or 250-862-7662; fax 250-860-3173, E-mail [email protected].