In times of challenge, we often see examples of people coming together to take care of each other. This was recently the case in the Columbia Valley.
Our Invermere campus manager, Michelle Taylor, was contacted by a member of the Golden community. This individual, who wishes to remain anonymous, received a very large donation of food from the Indian community in Surrey where she has family. The donation was so significant, in fact, that after distributing items to the Food Bank and local shelter in Golden, there was still more remaining. That is when Michelle Taylor was called in.
“This individual knows I work at the College and thought I would be the right person to deliver goods to students in need, as well as to the Food Bank and other organizations in Invermere,” she said.
Michelle drove to Golden where she loaded up over 350 pounds of rice, pasta, flour, lentils, sugar, spices and more. Upon her return, she offered some of the donated food to students in the Invermere campus’ Hospitality Management diploma program.
“The students refused to take any of it,” she said. “They thought there were people that may need it more than them and wanted to see it go to the Food Bank.”
Michelle did as they wished and distributed the food items to the Invermere Food Bank as well as the local meals program. She also delivered 40 homemade masks, which were included in the donation, to the Invermere Fire Department.
In a time when we need to be physically distanced, it is refreshing to be reminded that we are all still connected. Thank you to the Surrey and Golden Indian communities, as well as to our own Michelle Taylor, for showing us that kindness has not been cancelled.