One more week until Christmas! Serving the Creston Valley since 1948
Volume 66, No. 51
Thursday, December 18, 2014
$1.10 (includes GST)
Recovery program starting Jan. 5 BY LORNE ECKERSLEY Advance Staff
Brian Lawrence
ON KEY — The Grade 6/7 band was part of the festivities during Canyon-Lister Elementary School’s Dec. 11 Christmas concert, which included an array of music and performances. More photos at www.crestonvalleyadvance.ca/ourtown and on page 18.
Gleaners continues to give back BY LORNE ECKERSLEY Advance Staff
More than 30 years after the Creston Valley Food Bank was founded, the need continues to grow. “Food banks were originally intended to be a temporary measure,” said Creston Valley Gleaners Society volunteer and exec-
utive committee member Jean Syroteuk. “Now, 31 years later, the CVFB continues to help support an ever increasing need.” Creston’s food bank was started by a handful of volunteers who went out to “glean” produce from local farmers and orchardists. Today, it costs nearly $100,000 to operate the food bank, in addition to financial and fresh food donations from
Photos from Blossom Valley Singers annual Christmas concert Page 17
the community, Harvest Share contributions and special projects like the Creston Valley Thunder Cats’ Stuff the Bus food collection. And costs continue to rise. “Our food bank clients can receive a food hamper that costs as much as $90$120 per person and they are welcome to come twice a month,” Syroteuk said. See GLEANERS, page 4
CVTA wins CBAL literacy award Page 3
A 14-week program designed to help people who are recovering from a host of difficulties is being offered in the New Year. Celebrating Life in Recovery is a free series based on the life experiences of Cheri Peters who, well, wrote the book on the subject. “As a kid I never saw myself having a life,” Peters told the Advance from her home in Boise, Idaho. “When I stopped using drugs I realized I had all this other stuff that stopped me from enjoying any kind of life.” Born to teenage parents, Peters said her father was caught molesting her when she was only three months old. She was brutally abused by her mother. At 13 she was living on the streets of Los Angeles. Over the next 10 years, “I saw and was involved in some incredibly twisted things,” she said. “But they were less damaging than my home life because, by then, I didn’t expect to be loved or cared for.” Perversely, an introduction to drugs might have saved Peters’ life. “When I was introduced to drugs, I found for the first time in my life that I didn’t feel like killing myself,” she said. See RECOVERY, page 24
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