Westview Agenicies

Residents and business owners of the Comox Valley and Powell River are invited to participate in the Shake Zone earthquake simulator and emergency preparedness fair to experience what an 8.0 magnitude earthquake feels like and shake up their personal preparedness planning.

The portable simulator will be set up in Simms Millennium Park on Friday, June 3, 2016 from 1:00 to 7:00 p.m in the Comox Valley and in Crossroads Village Parking Lot on Monday, June 6, 2016 from 1:30 to 7:00 p.m in Powell River.

In addition to the earthquake simulator, emergency responders as well as emergency preparedness and insurance displays will be onsite to help educate on best practices to be prepared and lower your risk.

The Comox Valley and Powell River Emergency Program has partnered with Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC), First Insurance, Westview Agencies and other emergency programs across Vancouver Island to bring the Shake Zone to various stops on Vancouver Island and the Sunshine Coast. The event is free to attend and up to three people at a time will be able to take part in the simulator. Elected officials and school groups will take part between 1:00 and 2:00 p.m in the Comox Valley and at 1:30 p.m in Powell River.

Children must be a minimum of eight years old to participate and children eight to 10 years old must participate with a legal guardian. To view highlights from the 2015 tour, click here. For more information about the Shake Zone, visit www.comoxvalleyrd.ca/quake or http://www.powellriverrd.bc.ca/community-services-2/emergency-preparedness/

Kings Pic — Kings player, Jeff Smith, reading to Westview Elementary students.

Our local Powell River Junior A Kings Hockey Club is a winning team, and I’m not talking about the number of games they’ve won, or their game point average. I’m talking about the work they do in our community – teaching kids to skate, taking them trick-or-treating, volunteering on the ORCA bus, participating in the Christmas parade, building Christmas hampers, serving food at the Assumption Soup Kitchen, manning Salvation Army Christmas Kettles – and my favorite of all – participating in the Westview Agencies READ program.

Every Monday, from October to February, Powell River Kings players put down their sticks and pick up their books to read with children and promote the importance of reading. Over 1,500 students in eight local elementary schools participate in the annual READ program.

Students and teachers alike look forward to these weekly visits; the Kings have hero status with the kids and reading with them is considered a treat. As Mary Payne, a grade 1 teacher recently said “I like the Kings because my kids eyes light up when they get to go and read with the Kings every Monday.”

Nancy Howlin, Branch Manager of Westview Agencies, has been involved with the initiative since it started in 2006. “It’s been such a rewarding experience to be part of this program and to see kids embrace reading with the Kings players,” she explains, “I also love that the program gives the Kings players an opportunity to mentor children.”

Partnerships like these are what makes the work we do at Westview Agencies, First Insurance and First Credit Union so worthwhile. Thank you Kings for being such great partners and ambassadors in our community. You are truly a winning team!