Oak Bay fundraisers plan to carry a new 50/50 tradition into 2023.
On the first Saturday of each month, the Rotary Club of Oak Bay and Oak Bay High School Alumni host monthly bottle drives to fund charities across the community.
For the first eight months of 2022, the cash went fully to support revitalization of the Jack Wallace Memorial Track.
The track is Commonwealth Games legacy infrastructure – last resurfaced for 1994 – and while well-maintained, it’s in need of a revamp. The alumni group started a campaign in 2018 to raise $240,000 for a facelift. As with most things, the upgrade estimate jumped – to $376,000 – in the intervening years.
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In the fall, the groups started splitting the proceeds, giving half to the track campaign and half to a Rotary-supported project, currently the Threshold Housing Society that hosts a home in Oak Bay.
The monthly bottle collections at Oak Bay High raised $8,642.31 last year, with $7,499.85 to the track and the balance of $1,232.46 has been donated to Threshold Housing.
Bottle drives run the first Saturday of each month 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., at Oak Bay High’s Cranmore Road entrance. January is the exception, when they’ll collect bottles at the school Jan. 14 instead.
Donations to either projects can also be made online at canadahelps.org/en/charities/oak-bay-rotary-foundation.
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christine.vanreeuwyk@blackpress.ca
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