The Merritt and District Chamber of Commerce is accepting nominations for its business excellence awards.
Awards are handed out in 10 categories to local businesses as nominated by community members.
Nomination forms are available at several local businesses and completed forms are due back to the chamber office by Aug. 31. The awards will be handed out at a gala in the fall.
Ice cream works miracles
The local Dairy Queen restaurant raised $7,300 for BC Children’s Hospital in Vancouver through its Miracle Treat Day campaign.
The campaign saw at least one dollar of every Blizzard sold on Aug. 14 donated to the cause.
The total is just under last year’s record $7,500 donation made by the local store.
In their 30 years of running the campaign, Dairy Queen restaurants across North America have raised over $100 million for Children’s Miracle Network’s 170 hospitals in the U.S. and Canada.
Boston Pizza commits to mentors
Boston Pizza has made a $55,000 commitment over three years to the local Big Brothers Big Sisters in-school mentoring program.
The program sees children referred from Merritt Central Elementary paired with screened and trained mentors from Merritt Secondary. Together, the children and their mentors do activities with a focus on positive relationships, staying active, social development and success in school.
The program is administered through Big Brothers Big Sisters Kamloops. This coming school year will be the program’s fifth in Merritt. It has involved 124 students to date.
The extra funds will be used to expand the program to include local employers and adult volunteers from the community.
The funds come from Boston Pizza Future Prospects, the branch that distributes money collected through various fundraising activities throughout the year, such as the sale of heart-shaped pizzas on Valentine’s Day.
Those interested in the becoming a mentor with the program can contact Big Brothers Big Sisters.
