Survey 2020 Results
Thanks to everyone who expressed your thoughts on Youbou activities and priorities by filling out our Youbou Survey 2020. The response doubled from last year—a total of 114 people responded to give us direction!! Below are the results:
Dances at the hall: The most popular dance events would be: Youbou Regatta dance (59), Oktobeerfest (51), New Year’s Eve (48). Less interest was expressed in Mardi Gras (22) and St. Patrick’s (15), with 20 respondents saying they had no interest in attending dances.
Regarding New Year’s Eve, about 75 percent of the respondents had not attended the recent dance, mainly due to conflicting events. Of those who did attend, most said they liked supporting the community, having access to the free shuttle, and sharing an opportunity to celebrate with friends.
Other social events could be, starting with the most popular: a crab-fest dinner, the haunted house, the Christmas craft sale, a community-wide potluck, and the Youbou regatta. Less interest was expressed in a summer picnic/horseshoe tournament and winter afternoon card games.
Community improvement: You love to roll up your sleeves to make things happen in Area I. Working on emergency preparedness and lake access were the top two interests, followed by junk clean-up, park & playground updates, invasive species removal, road maintenance, speed limit control, and trail maintenance. Slightly less interest was expressed in the community-wide garage sale and overall town beautification.
Giving back: Should we have excess funds to donate to a worthy cause, your top two designations would be to support emergency preparedness and lake access efforts. Significant interest was expressed in contributing to needy families, junk clean-up, and park improvements. Less interest was noted in funding eradication of invasive species harvests and historic building maintenance.
Our response: We appreciate everyone who expressed their thoughts and are thankful for your support and participation in our various projects throughout the year. Your Youbou Community Association has considered your responses in our planning for 2020, as you can see from our events calendar below. And to those of you who have volunteered, we look forward to working with you on top-ranked issues and projects throughout the year and into the future.
2020 Youbou Calendar Announced
Below are our key dates for YCA-related events in Youbou this year. More information will follow as we near each date.
Euchre afternoons: January 26, February 23, March 29
Mile 77 Invasive Species*: February 29
Community Garage Sale: May 23
Spring Clean-Up: May 30
Lake Days Parade (float): June 6
Crab Fest: July 4
Youbou Breakfast, Parade, and Regatta*: August 8
Haunted House/Fireworks*: October 31
Youbou Craft Fair*: November 28
Lake Cowichan Santa Parade (float): November 29
New Year’s Eve Dance: December 31
*Events held in conjunction with the CVRD and/or the Youbou Volunteer Fire Department.
Euchre Sundays
If you like playing Euchre (it’s similar to bridge), or want to learn, join us at the Youbou Community Hall connect with your neighbours. The last game afternoon in the upper hall this season will be March 29, from 1 to 4 pm. See you there!
Youbou Emergency Support Services (YESS): An Update
We just wanted to share the latest on our progress toward Youbou Emergency Support Services (YESS) and creating a Shelter at Youbou Hall for Area I. Members of the task force recently met with stakeholders at CVRD to discuss the history of ESS in Youbou and the next steps toward achieving our goal of a stand-alone emergency shelter (official CVRD terminology is a “reception centre”). We also considered the best way to share the plan with residents.
Our first priority is to create a lease agreement with CVRD to enable us to make capital improvements to the hall, specifically installing a 100kw generator to give the hall full power. Another early priority is raising money. To gain further insight into applying for a BC Gaming grant, several of us recently attended a BC Gaming seminar in Duncan to fine-tune our proposal for a successful application. We’re also creating a list of other fundraising opportunities.
After those two critical pieces are in place, we can proceed with other important initiatives, such as planning for outfitting the shelter and offering educational opportunities regarding ESS. All of this is a giant work in progress for the benefit of Youbou, the greater Area I, and others who might need support. We’ll continue to share updates as we progress.
Church Society Annual Meeting
If you’re a member of the Youbou Community Church Society (YCCS), or want to become one, plan to attend the General Annual Meeting at the Youbou Community Church in the lower hall on Saturday, April 18 at 10 am. The church building is owned by the community and this secular society manages the structure and its maintenance to serve the needs of the town.
Attack on the Invasive Species
The Alien Avenger Award goes to everyone who leaped into action on Leap Day (Saturday, February 29) by viciously attacking the Scottish broom and Himalayan blackberries that threatened to overtake Mile 77 Park. Over 30 volunteers showed up on a crisp, sunny morning from Youbou and Area I, Lake Cowichan, and even Cobble Hill. Some of the groups represented included: Youbou Community Association, Lake Cowichan River and Lake Stewardship Society, Retreads Hiking Club, Scouts of Canada, as well as CVRD volunteer coordination. Quickly, volunteers sorted themselves by the task they liked best: chopping, digging, piling branches, dragging tarps, and even dumpster packing. In 3 hours, the group had filled a shipping container! Thanks go to Elizabeth, Eva and Garry (and Piper), Glen, Julia and Randall, David, Chris and Lisa, Cliff and Willa, Katherine and Linden, Jean, Kathy, Justin, and many others.
Digging Out Ditches
The silver shovel award goes to the work crews who recently spent a rainy day clearing out our roadside ditches with macho machines. This will be helpful in draining water away from our roads and residences during our monsoon rainstorms. Another plus—it also probably killed a few invasive blackberry vines in the process.
Flipping the Flapjacks
The silver spatula award goes to Deb Perestam, Lil Vermiere, and Michelle Wake for producing plateful after plateful of pancakes at the community celebration of Shrove Tuesday (some call it Mardi Gras) at the church hall on February 25. Conversation flowed around how nice the weather had been the week before and what flowers are trying to come up in our gardens (and whether they were elk-proof). Nobody left the table hungry.
What’s Happening
March 29: Euchre, 1 to 4 pm
April 18: Youbou Community Church Society, 10 am
Ongoing
Church: Sunday: 10 am Coffee and social, 11 am service. The last Sunday of every month is a potluck lunch gathering after the 11 am service.
Pickleball at Youbou hall: foul-weather Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday mornings.
Bowling:
Tuesday nights: Men’s League (Jan 7 to Mar 24)
Thursday nights: Women’s league (Jan 16 to Mar 26)
Sunday nights: Mixed League (Jan 5 to Mar 29)
Friday nights: Family bowling; Saturday nights: Adult bowling
Loonie nights: Mar 6, April 3, May 1, June 5
Toonie night: Mar 21, April 18, May 16, June 20
Got News?
If you’d like to contribute news for the newsletter about a public event 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.com and 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, Debbie Smith