Our Island Savings a division of First West Credit Union Member Contact Centre took a swing out of hunger by hosting their first annual golf tournament. The small but mighty team raised $2392, the equivalent of 7,176 meals to help stop hunger in the Cowichan Valley. Participants enjoyed a fun round of golf, dinner and a silent auction with many looking forward to next year. We can't wait to see the tournament grow!

We’re celebrating local grassroots initiatives that make our community stronger and more connected. We’re doing this by giving away $60K in neighbourhood grants with help from our community partner Do Some Good. From now through December, applicants who have events, projects and programs that make our community great could receive funding. We call it SimpleGenerosity.

Tell us how you would use up to $500 towards your community event or initiative! Do you need tables and chairs for a neighbourhood cook-off? Projector equipment for an outdoor movie night? Costumes for a community theatre performance?

For more info visit: islandsavings.ca/simplegenerosit...

Our team was proud to present a donation to the Mustard Seed Food bank in Victoria for funds raised through Island Savings a division of First West Credit Union Full Cupboard initiative - raising food, funds and awareness for the issue of hunger in the communities we serve. The funds were raised through jeans days, used book sales and Highlander Games and will help provide 9,679 meals to those in need in our community! Join us in reducing hunger through The Full Cupboard - donations can be made at any Island Savings location.

The Island Savings a division of First West Credit Union Community Crew enjoyed celebrating 100 years of acceptance at the Paldi Sikh Temple this weekend with over 4000 attendees from across the globe. The temple is now the only remaining structure in this ghost town, symbolizing what the inclusive community stood for. Paldi was founded by Mayo Singh during his search for timber on Vancouver Island and was named after a village in India. What started as a sawmill grew into a multicultural community, in a time where diversity and inclusiveness were a source of tension in many parts of the world. The temple may be the only structure standing but the inclusive community is still very much alive!

We had so much fun painting faces, making buttons, eating delicious food and learning about this incredible community!

🌎❤️

The Amazing Race Cowichan sped through the Valley recently with teams completing a number of fun challenges at various local businesses. Island Savings a division of First West Credit Union was proud to help sponsor this year's inaugural event put on by the Duncan Cowichan Chamber of Commerce. We came up with a fun challenge of our own to continue to raise awareness for our signature cause The Full Cupboard which supports our islands food banks so that no island child goes hungry. Set up outside of our Cowichan Commons branch we had teams use our miniature shopping carts to wheel the cans across the parking lot to a table where one blindfolded team mate had to assemble all of the cans in the correct order, following verbal instructions from the rest of the team. It was quite a sight to watch and all teams appeared to be having a great time as they scrambled through it. Thank you to our mighty team of volunteers that helped to welcome all of the participants and keep them on course. Shout out to Samantha Olaussen, Michealla Beck, andrea sidoroff, Harj Sangha, and Cathy King for all of their assistance in making our challenge run smoothly.

Thank you to our small but mighty team that came out to support the Annual Youth Initiative Island Savings a division of First West Credit Union sponsors through its ongoing partnership with the Port Theatre in Nanaimo. This year our support was directed to provide "Headliners" a local youth theatre company access to the Port Theatre’s professional team of theatre experts and state of the art stage to mount their production of Hairspray Jr. the Musical. Owner and Artistic Director Mandy Chelmak was thrilled to be able to provide this opportunity to the more than 40+ members of her young cast and crew. It was a near full house at the evening performance of Hairspray Jr. and our Community Crew had a great time in the lobby both prior to the curtain going up and during intermission. Thank you to Jenna Sutherland, Rina Lawson and Kate Case, who helped to welcome everyone and invited them to make their own Hairspray button or pose with our colourful hair props for a photo.

Island Savings a division of First West Credit Union had a whole lot of fun at the recent lacrosse game at the Q Centre featuring the Victoria Shamrocks vs. the Coquitlam Adanacs. As part of our game night sponsorship we used the opportunity to raise food, funds and awareness for our signature cause "The Full Cupboard" and brought in over 120 pounds of non-perishable food items and $335 in donations. All proceeds will benefit our community partners at the Goldstream Food Bank and help to generate more than 1005 meals for those in need. Shout out to our Westshore branch team that helped to collect all of the food items and took donations for a chance to win a signed Shamrocks jersey and a huge thank you to everyone who dropped off a donation and stopped by to say Hi!

Island Savings a division of First West Credit Union showed its community spirit as we walked through downtown Chemainus recently for the Annual Summer Fest. Our Community Crew and staff helped to spread some cheer and handed out some sweet treats to the thousands of people that lined the streets. A big thank you to Kirsten Waller and Shelley Battye who came out for the event and brought their young daughters to join in. Everyone enjoyed dressing up in the "Old McDonald Had a Farm" theme. This year's event proved to be busier than usual and when we set up our community tent following the parade we had a line up until the end. Aside from the perfect weather this was also due to the talents of our newest Community Crew members who provided some much sought after face painting designs. Was great to connect with all of the families that came out to celebrate. Thank you to the Rotary Club of Chemainus for all of their work in organizing and to all of the many volunteers and local businesses that contributed to make the day a success!

Recently we received a lovely note from Junior Achievement British Columbia, praising our very own Devon McFadden for her leadership and facilitation of the "Dollars with Sense" program. Here is what we received:

"Huge gratitude for Devon McFadden in Mill Bay for stepping in to finish the last two classes of the Dollars with Sense program at Discovery Elementary in April. After a plea for volunteers was sent, immediately I received a response from Devon that this was her children’s school and she would MOST definitely step into help. The grade 6 students and teacher- Nick Millar were thrilled to have SUPER HEROINE Ms. McFadden fill in and complete the program.

But, what happened next was equally great- “Hey mom, how about coming to MY class to also present the same program?”. And so Devon returned to Discovery Elementary late May to deliver Dollars with Sense to her son's grade 7 class. Thank you Devon for stepping up not just once, but twice in the school year!".

This is just one example of the many great things Devon is doing within her community, we are so lucky to have employees like her with such passion and commitment in making a difference!