File photo (Image credit: CFJC Today).

By Aaron Schulze

Snow Angels

With police record check wait times and more seniors, Kamloops Snow Angels make early plea for volunteers

Nov 13, 2024 | 6:08 AM

KAMLOOPS — Snow hasn’t settled in Kamloops yet, but the call for residents to become snow angels for seniors and people with disabilities this winter has begun.

Volunteers with the Kamloops Snow Angels assist local seniors and Kamloops residents with mobility issues dig out of their driveways and clear their sidewalks when snow falls.

A key reason the Kamloops Snow Angels fired the signal flare in the middle of autumn is obtaining police record checks early.

Melisa Dyck, Link Coordinator and Snow Angel Volunteer Coordinator at Volunteer Kamloops, says it takes at least one week for the B.C. Criminal Records Review Program to go through new record checks. It’s an added obstacle for a group already in desperate need of volunteers ahead of the first significant snowfall.

“Getting it done early and knowing who you are paired up with not only helps us so we can get the proper paperwork done with the criminal record review online, but it also takes a lot of stress and anxiety off the seniors we do have who are waiting for someone to be a snow angel,” Dyck told CFJC Today.

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Once Kamloops experiences a snowfall, Dyck says snow angels are matched with a senior or someone with a long-term disability in their neighbourhood. The snow angel has 24 hours to arrive, clear their driveway and sidewalks and ensure their neighbour with mobility issues can go about their day with no worries.

Dyck says businesses, leadership groups, sports clubs and teenagers are some of the demographics they hope will answer the plea this winter.

“Our numbers are climbing for seniors,” Dyck says. “They don’t need much. A lot of the seniors have snow shovels they can use. It’s mainly just getting there to be able to do the job.”

Anyone interested in applying to be a snow angel this winter is asked to email Volunteer Kamloops at snowangels@volunteerkamloops.org