KAMLOOPS — It’s a program many seniors in Kamloops rely on during the winter time when snow fills their driveway
The Snow Angels program, which has been running for five years, has dedicated volunteers shovelling snow off the driveways and walkways of many seniors.
“It’s a huge essential program, as there are a lot of seniors that phyiscally aren’t able to shovel snow,” said Tracey Thacker from Volunteer Kamloops. “Of course, as we know when it snows, there’s a risk of falling, and also some of the seniors just are not capable and they need that snow angel to come.”
That will continue this year and already has with the recent snowfall. But instead of being run by Oncore Senior Services, it is now in the hands of Volunteer Kamloops, who have dealt with the snow angels program in the past.
“It’ll be the same process, where the volunteer and the senior will contact Volunteer Kamloops and we’ll assist them and find out what area they live in and connect them with a volunteer that lives in their area,” noted Thacker.
Since Friday, already 35 new seniors have signed up through Volunteer Kamloops. Thacker says that is in addition to the 177 that were on the Oncore Seniors’ list.
The demand, with the recent blast of winter, is ramping up.
“There’s lots of volunteers who actually have been reaching out to Volunteer Kamloops already,” said Thacker. “Emailing saying ‘hey I want to be a part of this program.’ They’re emailing saying which area they’d like to do some snow shovelling for seniors, so it’s been great.”
Volunteer Kamloops will receive help from the city and the united way to fund the program, hoping to keep helping seniors with chores they simply can’t do.
To volunteer with the Snow Angels program or if you need your driveway shovelled this winter, you can call 250-372-8313.
