The Chilliwack
Progress
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Road Warrior
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iRobot
Michelle Price preaches commitment and discipline.
Angry teachers have a parting message.
Robotics takes hold at Chilliwack middle.
Y O U R C O M M U N I T Y N E W S PA P E R • F O U N D E D I N 1 8 9 1 • W W W. T H E P R O G R E S S . C O M • T U E S D AY, J U N E 2 6 , 2 0 1 2
Flood waters steady as Chilliwack waits for the next pulse
■ L OVE C HILLIWACK
Jennifer Feinberg The Progress Three homes outside Chilliwack’s protective dikes are still under an evacuation order — although at least one family has chosen to remain and fight the flood waters. Residents of 39 other homes near the Carey Point area have been on evacuation alert since before the resident-built berm was breached Friday evening. BC River Forecast Centre officials are now predicting levels to rise to six to 6.6 metres at Mission by the weekend. As of Monday morning, the river had fallen to 6.2 meters and was levelling off after peaking at just under 6.4 metres Saturday. The upper limit predicted for the weekend would approach water levels that were reached in 1972. The Gills, a Chilliwack family of blueberry farmers, are already exhausted from trying to protect their home with sandbags and water pumps. For weeks they’ve watched as the rising river has eaten away their blueberry orchard bit by bit. “It’s been horrible,” Amarjit Gill told The Progress. “So far, inside the house is OK but if it comes up any higher, we will have to leave.” She said her husband, Buhd, is “so tired” from constant sandbagging that he’s almost depressed. “But we have been so busy watching everything day and night, we just keep going.”
Thousands of people filled Prospera Centre for the citywide church service on Sunday morning. The day marked the end of the weekend’s Love Chilliwack event where people from many churches performed acts of kindness, such as car washes, and handing out bottled water and barbecued food, all free to the public. For more photos go online to www.theprogress.com. JENNA HAUCK/ PROGRESS
Contact centre ready to move forward Jennifer Feinberg The Progress It’s been quiet at the site of the proposed Chilliwack Health Contact Centre site on Hocking Avenue. But that’s about to change. Site preparation for the building renovations is set to start next month. Partners and stakeholders came together at city hall Monday morning for an update on the latest plan details. Securing the necessary opera-
tional funding to fully realize the vision for a “one-stop” health and social services facility was one of the last obstacles to moving forward, said contact centre manager Lee Anne Hanson of Pacific Community Resources Society. “That obstacle has now been removed,” Hanson told The Progress, explaining that major project partners like BC Housing and Fraser Health, along with PCRS and City of Chilliwack have recently hammered out a revised plan. “We’re ready to move ahead this summer.”
Groundbreaking on the project is slated for September, along with the signing of a partnership agreement. The Chilliwack Health contact centre plan has evolved over several years, but the core vision from the start has been to offer integrated health, mental health, addiction and social services to the area’s marginalized and at-risk populations. In other words, house and support the homeless for up to a year, while they rebuild their lives and acquire key life skills.
From last spring when the special rezoning for the project went through, up until this point, it’s been an ongoing struggle to make the capital funding and service components work together, Hanson explained. “It’s been an amazing process just to witness it all coming together,” she said. “There’s been solid community interest from Chilliwack from the beginning because this community cares. This collaborative project clearly demonstrates that.”
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