We love Youbou Volunteers!
What better way to celebrate the month of hearts and chocolate than to give a sugary shout-out to our neighbours who contribute time and talent to make life just that much sweeter in our little community! Even though 2020 was a more passive year, many were still quietly working behind the scenes, with our appreciation. In fact, just this initial list highlights over 60 people who are volunteering in the community—amazing for a town of our size! We hope that 2021 will see us return to some of our more normal community activities. Thanks to:
Youbou welcome sign: Sally Frankowski and Lesley Joy give our friendly elk a seasonal twist.
Mile 77 sign messages: Rob Somers keeps us up to date on what’s happening (or not, lately).
Mile 77 sign decorations: The Youbou Community Association adds bling to the message sign to celebrate the big holidays.
Elk whisperer: Wendy Stokes watches out for our antler-bearing residents.
Volunteer firefighters: When not responding to emergencies, the department also helps with such community events as the regatta breakfast and parade, Halloween fireworks, and Santa drive-through, and, last year, other drive-throughs for Canada Day and Halloween. Thanks to: Chief Orest Smycniuk, Deputy Chief Cam Hamilton, Jill Bradley, Bill Cheal, Grant Daly, Jarret Hambley, Faron Harvey, Lori Lafave, Richard Madill, Stuart McKee, Stan Nelson, Kim Smycniuk, Dave Sutfin, Ed Vanherwaarden, Emily Vaughan, Justin Vaughan, Madison Vaughan, and Todd Vaughan.
Youbou Community Church Society: Our little church is a secular building that is maintained by a dedicated society for use by the community. See the separate article in this issue to appreciate who keeps this building running.
Area I Parks Commission:Advising the CVRD on park equipment and upkeep are: Marcia Stewart, chair; Rob Somers, secretary (and sign); Lori Lafave, Don MacDonald, and Randall Wilson.
Area I Advisory Planning Commission:Weighing in on planning issues are: Terry Akiyama, Shawn Carlow, Monroe Grobe, Larry Leischner, and Judy Reynolds.
Area I Reps on the Cowichan Lake Recreation Commission: Offering input on hall usage and recreation around the lake are Spencer Day and Eva Fearon.
Area I Director and Alternate Director: Klaus Kuhn and Joe Tatham
Speed Watch: This initiative reminds us to drive safely through town and was instrumental in earning our electronic speed sign.
Right of Way/Lake Access (RowLac) Committee: Dedicated to restoring existing access points to the lake are: John Ivison, chair; Pam Halonen, and Tom Nannery. Tom also focuses on keeping the Youbou road dust/mud to a minimum.
Youbou Emergency Shelter Committee: Working toward developing Youbou Hall into a Level 1 Emergency Response Centre are: Joelle Belanger, Spencer Day, Eva and Garry Fearon, Julia Martinusen, and Max Russell.
Youbou Innovation and Development Society: Focusing on exploring potential uses for the Yount School building are: Joelle Belanger, John Ivison, Annette Martell-Girardin, Tom Girardin, and Karen Dunnigan.
Save Our Holmes Society: Passion for the environment steers this group as they advocate for smart stewardship of our natural assets.
Haunted house: Connie Vaughan leads the haunted house decorating team with many talented helpers, such as Bee Greenway, Debbie Smith, Susanne Thom, and YCA board members.
Youbou Connector newsletter: Teresa Gustafson designs the monthly newsletter after Julia Martinusen writes it.
YoubouYCA.com web site: Julia Martinusen updates the web site each month.
Youbou Connection facebook page: Greg Allen hosts this private community page of over 1,500 members. Many elk photos are posted here.
Youbou Community Association facebook page: Lori LaFave and Cheryl Morgan moderate the 700-member YCA facebook page. Look here to find out what’s happening around town.
Youbou Dis-connect facebook page: Julie L. Martin is behind this recently created Youbou humour page that supports 200 members, because we can all use a good laugh right now.
Youbou Community Association: This society is dedicated to promoting goodwill and serving as a forum for issues in the community. Julia Martinusen, chair; Lori LaFave, co-chair; Randall Wilson, secretary; Spencer Day, treasurer; Cheryl Morgan, membership; Eva and Garry Fearon, social; Jillian Bradley, Allan Gott, and Debbie Smith.
Note: While a great effort was made to include all our volunteers, it’s quite possible we missed someone you know. Please advise us of any omissions and we’ll run round 2 in March. Thanks!
Quieting Loud Boats
The Youbou Community Association recently expressed its support to the Decibel Coalition. This national initiative is working with Transport Canada to set decibel limits on boat motor noise on Canadian lakes, with effective and easy enforcement procedures. Cowichan Lake is already subject to policies prohibiting unmuffled boats. That, coupled with concerns expressed in our annual survey about a small number of boats being excessively noisy and coming too fast and close to shore, indicated community support for setting some limits set on boat noise on Lake Cowichan. We will keep you updated on progress on this issue.
New Well = Better Water
A new well recently replaced Youbou’s former water source to provide higher quality water to the community. “If we did not have this well and were forced to build a water treatment plant that complied with provincial standards for surface water, it would have cost millions of dollars,” said Klaus Kuhn, Area I Representative. The well project was budgeted for $305,000, but because CVRD staff provided expertise, the job was completed for $260,000, leaving $45,000 for a future water-main upgrade project. Even better news? Gas tax funding and CVRD reserves covered the cost of building the new well, so Youbou taxpayers would not face an incremental charge for the project.
Church Bulletin
The Youbou Community Church Society would like to thank everyone for keeping our local heritage church building going, especially during these challenging times! Projects are ongoing and help is still needed.
Bottle Drive:A round of applause to all who have donated to the ongoing bottle drive. Your generous donation is greatly appreciated! As the society is currently unable hold any of the usual fundraising activities because of Covid protocols, the bottle drive continues to raise funds to pay the building’s electrical and heating bills. If you have some empties from the holiday season, please drop them off at Lil Vermiere’s garage at 10335 Youbou Road. Many thanks to Lil for the use of her garage, and to Deborah and Hank Perestam for sorting all the bottles.
Donations:If you would like to make a monetary donation to support our community-owned historic building, simply send a cheque to:
Youbou Community Church Society
10648 Youbou Road
Youbou, B.C. V0R 3E1
Renovations:With all events cancelled at the church and lower hall, it’s been an opportune time for maintenance and upgrading, with funding from a generous grant from the Duncan Bingo Dabbers. (Thanks to Rich Elliott for the grant information and to Karen Dunnigan for serving as the delegate). The grant enabled our association to pay our insurance, plus acquire flooring, trim, paint, and LED lights for the lower hall. Appreciation goes to the members who were involved with the project: Rick and Lucy Vermiere, Lil Vermiere, and Deborah Perstam for installing the flooring and touching up the painting; Bud Towle for installing the lights; and Don Kitsch, Patrick Miller, Bob Whittingham, and Rick Vermiere for moving the piano.
Time capsule:Lucy placed a Youbou Connector newsletter under the floor in each room, so in the future when the floor is redone, someone will find the newspaper and get a glimpse of life in Youbou as we live it.
Heritage Status:Special thanks also go to Audrey Towle for her work on the application for obtaining Community Heritage Status for the church. Last year, the society discovered the church was never officially registered as a Heritage site, so Audrey compiled the church history and submitted the application. On October 27, 2020, that application was approved and the church has been added to the Register of Heritage.
The lobby and lower hall of our heritage church are really looking fine! The Society hopes to have an Open House in the future, once it is safe to do so.
YCA Annual Survey
The Youbou Community Association is planning to repeat its popular community interest survey this February, for a third year in a row. Watch for notice of the survey on our facebook page.
YCA Annual Meeting
The Youbou Community Association plans to hold its General Annual Meeting on Sunday, March 28 at 2 pm. At this annual meeting, we usually elect new board members, share survey results, and discuss plans for the upcoming year. At this point in time, we don’t know if the meeting can be held in person, but most likely it will on zoom. Watch for more information in the next newsletter or on our YCA facebook page.
Are You a Member?
The Youbou Community Association is involved in helping community activities happen, such as holiday decorating, hall dances and other events throughout the year. Please join us. A family lifetime membership is just $10 and is a key to knowing what’s going on around Youbou. We’ll email you our colourful community newsletter every month. To join, reach out to cherylmtutor@gmail.com
Interest in Joining Our Board
If you’d like to play a more integral role in keeping our community a fun and friendly place to live, consider joining the Youbou Community Association board. Our current board of 10 members meets once a month to plan activities to benefit the community. Please let us know if you’re interested by emailing julia@raedwulf.org. Voting for the new board will occur at our March 28 general annual meeting.
Got News?
If you’d like to contribute news for the newsletter about a public event happening (or not happening) in or around Youbou and Area I, please send particulars about date, time and place to julia@raedwulf.org. You can also check our web site at youbouyca.comand our facebook page for the latest information.
Your YCA Board
Chair: Julia Martinusen
Co-Chair: Lori LaFave
Secretary: Randall Wilson
Treasurer: Spencer Day
Social: Eva Fearon
Garry Fearon
Publicity: Allan Gott
Membership: Cheryl Morgan
At large: Jill Bradley
At large: Debbie Smith