First aid and safety training will remain on the Coast thanks to a local non-profit centre's initiative.
The Community Resource Centre (CRC) bought the Samaritan Training Agency, a company that offers first aid, CPR, childsafe, work place safety, FoodSafe and other programs.
"This is a little revenue to keep the non-profit services running," said CRC board member Karen Archer.
Archer said having a small business to bring in some dollars will help take the strain off the centre having to ask for government funding and local charitable donations for everything. She said it isn't so easy to fundraise for programs that don't have a lot of street appeal and that owning a small business to supplement funding is the way of the future for them and similar non-profits.
The CRC's mission is to "inform, refer, educate and empower our community, one person at a time." It offers information and referrals to a variety of social and legal services in the community as well as some in-house workshops and support groups.
Archer said their Samaritan clientele includes anyone who needs first aid for employment or volunteering or young people who are going into the job market for the first time and realize having first aid is an asset. With Samaritan here on the Coast, clients are saved from having to go to Vancouver to take training. Archer also said that accessibility to programming is important and the founders of Samaritan Training, the Sullivan family of Davis Bay, were happy to see the business purchased and continuing to run after they relocate off Coast.
CRC manager Janice Rafael said because they did not buy the land that Samaritan had, many of the courses are offered at the centre or at sites that are close for people to get to such as the Pender Harbour firehall and new Gibsons and area community centre.
Rafael said there is some room for subsidy if people need courses and cannot afford them, though they are sticking to the fee schedule that Samaritan had already set for the majority. Courses running this summer include: CPR on July 26, Occupational First Aid level one on July 27, Aug. 10 and 17, FoodSafe on July 29 and What Every Babysitter Should Know on Aug. 23. For more information about CRC programs, call 604-885-4088.
