Monte Lake, B.C. – May 1-7, 2022

The MDS Monte Lake Project with base camp at 5112 Westwold Hall Okanagan Hwy has begun.  Much of the prep work for a new site, (which includes and not limited to; shower trailer, bunk trailers & RV placement & hookup, community meetings, investigation of possible rebuild projects and corresponding permitting) had begun before we arrived.

We includes Gordon & Maria Martens from Manitoba, Lindsay Hofer from Manitoba, Shannon Lang from BC, and Dave & Anna Wiebe from Manitoba.  We were greeted and welcomed by John & Linda Sawatsky, our coordinators from BC.

This week:

Maria & Anna went to Vernon to do a stock up of basic groceries for this month and ended with 3 carts of groceries.  Wow! Not our usual shopping trip!

Maria made great meals (including homemade buns, verenicki & sausage) and Anna helped with dishes and fetching more utensils as needed from the kitchen trailer. They also vacuumed and mopped the large Hall floor to a shine.

Lindsay & Shannon cleaned the showers in the shower trailer; cleaned, labeled & swapped MDS chairs for Hall chairs; cleaned the two bunk trailers; sorted & refilled First Aid Kits; and finished setting up bunk beds for long termers in the newly created Hall bedrooms.

Gordon says he played “hide & seek” in the tool trailer and he “found” that about 75% of the tools were not marked, which he then proceeded to mark with our MDS stickers/marker.

Some shower trailer rooms have ripped flooring and Gordon has replaced a few with more on the agenda for next week after we buy more flooring.

The shower room at the end of the trailer has obviously been leaking for a while, so good on you Dave for seeking till you found the real problem and helping Gordon correct the issue.

Dave also took his crew of girls (Shannon &Lindsay) to Tammy Eager’s (our client).  There they worked on roof edge flashing, soffit & facia to prevent critters from entering their temporary abode.  They also cut and screwed strips of plywood to the outside to secure the Tyvec/house wrap.  If it doesn’t rain to much next week, they expect to finish this repair.

John was kept quite busy on his phone and computer with getting Wi-Fi connected, client permit applications, and other techi things I don’t understand.  So glad he is taking care of those things.  He also took Dave to Armstrong to meet John at Home Hardware and pick up some needed materials.

Linda has been busy in the office with startup files and frustrations with CIBC online banking.

She also took Anna on a joy ride to find our mail box (found it!) and gave Anna a refresher course in Office Management. Linda is also very good with a wiping cloth!

Somebody went out for ice cream and somebody stopped at Tim’s!

Hey, they worked hard and deserved a treat!

Anna Wiebe reporting.