Have you ever taken a stroll through the Siskin Lane forest? Meandered the Whaletown Commons, or the trail down to Hank’s Beach?
It’s easy to take these places for granted. They are, after all, one of reasons so many of us choose to call this island home. But, have you ever wondered how these lands came to be made available to community access, for all of us to walk and enjoy? These beautiful spaces aren’t preserved by accident: it takes money, person power, and many hours to secure a piece of land for public use, to protect and maintain it.
If you’ve never walked on the Rainbow Ridge lands designated for affordable housing, please take yourself out and see what a jewel it is. Securing this land took the whole community—each of us, contributing towards purchasing the property and readying it for future housing. Now, it will again take each of us to help create a new public trail that we’ll all be able to enjoy in perpetuity.
The CISS-Housing Committee is about so much more than housing. We’re here to secure a more vibrant, livable, walkable future for Cortes. And, to do that, we need you! Every dollar you give now goes towards building trails that will be used by so many over so long. If you love and use the trails on Cortes to commute, ride your horse, bike, exercise, walk your dog or meditate on this beautiful ecosystem, we need you to help us make these trails a reality.
Building new trails in an ecologically sustainable way that makes sense for the community is expensive work. We have collected $14,500 over the summer, but it will take much more to get it done.
All donations will receive a 2021 Canadian charitable receipt from the CISS–Housing Committee. You can donate online now by clicking here:
https://www.canadahelps.org/en/charities/cortes-island-seniors-society/
OR send a cheque to: Cortes Island Seniors Society–Housing Committee
PO BOX 27, Mansons Landing, BC, V0P 1K0
American donors can get a US tax deductible receipt via TIDES-US Foundation by designating your donation to the Cortes Community Housing Fund–2250 via this link: https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/tidesfoundation
This trail is for the community. It will be ours, our children’s and their children’s too. Whether you have a seemingly small amount or a more substantial gift to give to this Trail Initiative, you are needed. Together, we can make this happen—one dollar at a time, and one step at a time.
In gratitude,
Sandra Wood, Executive Director on behalf of
The Cortes Island Seniors Society (CISS) and
Cortes Community Housing Society (CHS)