Sisters Brooklyn Haddon-Klein and Brittany Haddon started a vegan food service called Sorella Vegan Eats.
The sisters – Sorella means sister – share a passion for vegan food and ecological sustainability. Brittany is an elementary school teacher and Brooklyn is finishing her business degree from Okanagan College. Sorella is committed to raising and spreading awareness of the plant-based lifestyle and providing the community with convenient plant-based meals at affordable prices. The sisters have veganized their favorite foods – like lasagna, butternut squash soup, mac cheese sauce, banana bread, and lemon bread. They offer a power bowl with fresh Okanagan ingredients as well as one of their bestsellers for Cookie Dough Bliss Balls as an energizing treat. Everything is 100% vegan with the option of gluten-free and nut-free. Sorella take-away foods are sold in reusable containers. For more information on home delivery, please visit www.sorellaveganeats.ca. Sorella will be at East Kelowna Market on April 11th.
Once again created a fabulous Easter exhibition with the Easter Bunny and Chick at Save-On-Foods in Orchard Plaza. The display was assembled with PepsiCo Bubly sparkling water. The Easter bunny was constructed with the new bubly peach flavor and the chick with the new bubly pineapple flavor. The building was built with around 1,000 cans of sparkling water and will be on display until after Easter.
Popular Global Okanagan news anchor after 17 years Doris Maria Bregolisse has decided to leave the broadcasting industry. In addition to reading the news, Doris produced all of the shows she’d been on – weekend news; the noon news; the news broadcasts at 5:30 p.m. and 11:30 p.m.; and the show on BC1 at 9.25pm. She has been a reporter throughout her television career and said editing video was one of her favorite aspects of the job. Doris would like to do something else now. It’s time to stop staring at four computer screens for seven hours and then read to yourself in a green room for another hour. As Shrek said, “Change is good, donkey.” Doris says she will miss her great staff. She decided to originally become a journalist because she thought this was a way to help people find justice and closure. Her classmate Simon Partington was murdered by Clifford Olson in 1981. Good luck, Doris.
Well-known Red Seal Chef Jim Armstrong has been making premium spice mixes and handcrafted spice mixes for several years, but is now ready to offer them to the public. Its new condiment line, Smokin ‘Flames, includes Cajun, Pork, Bratwurst, Beef, Sweet Italian, Poultry, Spicy Italian, Chorizo, Jimmy’s Caesar Rim and Fish Seasoning Mixture Flavors. Find them at Peter’s Your Independent Grocer, Codfather’s, Lakeview Market, Chef’s Edge, Johnny’s Meats, Urban Liquor, and Metro Liquor. You can also find some great recipes on his website that you can combine with his spices at www.smokinflames.ca.
The candidates for the Miss Kelowna Lady of the Lake have been announced for 2021: Arianna Steinson (Miss Claremar Delivery Services), Cheyenne MacNaughton (Miss Uptown Rutland Business Association), Avery Chalmers (Miss Downtown Rotary), Cameron Simon (Miss Kelowna Gyro Club), Cassie Marshall (Miss Kiwanis), Susan Jaramillo (Miss Sunrise Rotary) and Lily Johannesson-Arndt (Miss Aubin and co-workers). Due to COVID, festivals are held virtually. May 4th is presentation and public speech; June 7th is speech and talent; and the festival finale is July 16. Charlene Wehrmann is the President of Miss Kelowna Lady of the Lake.
Congratulations to Mark Tompkins of Buzz Marketing, who won a national contest celebrating Hometown Heroes and supported colleagues during COVID. Mark and his company were named Kelowna’s Targetable Local Business Person of the Year in 2021. Alignable.com, one of the largest online small business referral networks, had a month-long North American search for local business leaders who went out of their way to help their peers during the COVID crisis. Alignable garnered a staggering 86,000 votes in 35,000 communities recommending hometown business heroes. This is the third year Alignable is hosting this competition and inviting its 6 million+ members to vote for their favorite colleagues. The participation rates for the 2021 competition exceeded the 2020s by a monumental 800%. www.alignable.com
StruXure Okanagan opened in December and offers luxurious, automatically adjustable pergolas with louvers to keep out rain, snow and sun. president Dan Effa According to StruXure, StruXure offers an adjustable roof over an outdoor area, a waterproof cover that tilts up to 170 degrees with an app on your smartphone to block out the sun and automatically closes to keep rain and snow out of your outdoor area. With a 15-year guarantee, the product blends in well with the architecture of your home, restaurant or winery thanks to the design options available. StruXure was recognized as the best outdoor product at the International Builders Show in Las Vegas and in December as the best outdoor product in the Architectural Record category.
The decades-long association with Okanagan College and the desire to give something back to the community inspired the Friesen family to donate USD 150,000 to the Okanagan College Foundation to support the Our Students, Your Health campaign to complete and equip the new center for Support health sciences. Diane Friesen worked at Okanagan College in the mid-1970s. In 1984 her husband Rod Voyager started RV in Lake Country. Her son Jason now runs the business and is grateful to have recruited graduates from the college’s RV technician program. Voyager RV also donated $ 30,000 to the college’s Bold Horizon campaign for a new Trades Training Complex.
The Okanagan Historical Society has received a Heritage BC grant of $ 78,178 for the rehabilitation of the site at the Father Pandosy Historical Mission site. Domenic Ramponi is a member of Father Pandosy’s Mission Site Committee, which organized the proposal.
Knocking On Freedom’s Door is a local book that tells the story of the development of Freedom’s Door, an addiction recovery home that houses 64 men on a long-term recovery program. The book was developed and written by Tom Smithwick with contributions from many including Lloyd McClelland and Wanda Agra, two employees at Freedom’s Door. Five Freedom’s Door residents share their personal life stories in addiction and their struggle to distance themselves from active addiction, the healing process and the hope of a new life after addiction. Other chapter contributors are Sharron Simpson, Ellen Hubert and Mary Ann Smithwick, Tom’s wife. The book is available from Mosaic Books, Loaves and Fishes, and Kennedy’s Parable or Freedom’s Door, 1279 Centennial Cres. All proceeds go to the door of freedom.
The Downtown Kelowna Association (DKA) is expanding both the Downtown on Call (DOC) and the Clean Team. They are now hiring both full-time and part-time positions. The DOC team is visually present, travels in teams of two and wears red and black uniforms. They address issues of personal safety and hospitality at the forefront and help create a positive social environment in the inner city. A current BST license is required. The members of the Clean Team are responsible for the cleanliness of sidewalks, sidewalks, alleys and parking lots all year round. A valid BC driver’s license is required. Uniforms and training are offered for both positions, which work outdoors all year round. Mark Burley is the Executive Director of DKA. If you’re interested, email admin@downtownkelowna.com or call 250-862-3515.
For Easter weekend food, head to the QB Gelato and Cafe on Dayton St. 1884. Easter specials include hot rolls, 9-inch tour animals, decorated Easter egg candy cookies, sour cream waffles, and maple smoked dark amber and maple syrup Tartlets with lemon, frangipane and chocolate ganache and salted caramel. You might want to try the Stracciatella Gelato Easter Egg.
Birthdays of the week
Jolene Grigg (March 31); Donna Basran (March 31); Gordie Abougoush (March 31); Karen Hill (April 1); Blaine Ophus (April 1); DR. David Craig (April 1); John Mason (April 1); Karmijit Gill (April 1); Carson Chan (April 1); Cynthia Waldek-Peters (2nd of April); John MacCormack (2nd of April); Amber Firkins (3rd of April); Ken Bessason (3rd of April); Rick Methot (3rd of April); John Mummery (4. April); Diane Essler (4. April); Lyal shoemaker (4. April); Leo Robert (April 5); Dan Cloutier (April 5th).
Maxine DeHart is a Kelowna councilor and local hotelier. Call them at 250-979-4546 or 250-862-7662; Email max@maxinedehart.ca.
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
Would you like to support local journalism? Donate here.
Get local stories you won’t find anywhere else straight to your inbox.
Login here
