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YOUTH WRITING CONTEST WINNERS
Princeton Writers Club hosted their annual Youth Writing Contest Awards presentation last Wednesday night at the PLP office.
Princeton Light & Power has sponsored the event for the past couple of years.
"PLP was good enough to sponsor the prizes for the Youth Writing Contest because they find it as a good thing to do,² explained Writers Club President Monty Raine.
Sam Costa, representing PLP, added that the company believes it is important to encourage local youth in any way they can.
There were a total of 18 entries in three different age categories with the majority of stories coming from the 11 to 14 age group.
Raine made a number of encouraging statements to the gathering of young writers and parents.
"The younger you start the more apt you are to continue to write when you get older." he said.
"You can keep writing all your life."
The selection of winners was also a difficult task.
"We enjoyed reading the stories. They were highly competitive and there was a good variety."
First Place in the 11-14 age category went to Helen Bibby, who had won the award the past two years. Her prize included having her name engraved on a plaque, a smaller 'keeper' trophy and $45.
Bibby's story, 'A Winner,' was described by Raine as winning for a number of reasons.
"She not only had a plot line but she had a theme, a message in her story."
Second place, worth $30, went to Jessica Dennis and her story 'The Winter Door.'
In the 8 to 10 year age category, First Place went to Magdalene Fritz and her story 'Lightening.' Shelby Wallin's 'Mysterious Murder' was Second with "It Was A Dark And Rainy Halloween" by Emily Allison winning Third.
Three other consolation prizes went to Kirsten Haayer, Alli Meyers and Nathan Garton.
Prize Winners who have not received their winnings can pick them up at the front desk of the Princeton Light & Power office on Bridge Street.
THE WINNING YOUTH WRITING CONTEST STORY
'A Winner'
by Helen Bibby
My hand reached out for yet another rock. I pulled myself up, my muscles urged me to stop but I kept on going. How far up was I? I kicked off a rock from the edge. 1 Mississippi, 2 Mississippi........5 seconds later I heard the definite sound of rocks hitting one another, How far up was I? I kept on climbing.
"I can't believe I'm doing this!" I told myself. I paused for a moment, hearing a noise no mountain climber likes to hear. It started out quiet but the noise grew.
I panicked, blinking back tears. Rock slide. I looked on either side of me, which way was better? I chose left, leaping onto another boulder and closed my eyes, and my mouth.
The rocks beneath me trembled ever so slightly. I wedged my hand into a crevasse. The ground beneath me gave way. My lungs heaved, begging for air. Their demanding became more persistent, I was clinging on for dear life when I heard nothing but the birds. I opened my mouth, gasping for air. I looked at my situation. It wasn't too good. I was more or less on a vertical cliff.
I was thinking things over when a moist figure slithered past my hand. I screamed pulling my hand back from the snake, only realizing that I was bound to fall any second. My hand desperately searched for something to grab onto. Anything would do at this point.
I started to totter. I grabbed onto a branch. The tree was dead, leaning off a cliff. It swayed in the wind and was not even suitable for an eagle to make a nest on it.
I didn't know how old it was, when it died, or how much weight it could hold, but all I knew was that it saved my life.
My left hand grabbed the edge of the cliff. I pulled myself up to an amazing view. The warm wind muffled the pain from my bleeding hands.
I smiled, until I turned around to face yet another obstacle. I hadn't reached the top. In fact I wasn't even close to it. I looked down at the view below.
Wasn't I still a winner? Do you have to reach the top to be a winner?
My instincts told me yes, my body told me no. I went with my instincts. I always wanted to be number one. It never occurred to me that maybe I was. I started climbing again.
Pulling my body up over and over again, until I reached the summit. I looked down at a flag that said, "Sarah Woling has been here first, April 21, 2000." I bit my bottom lip. How could this be? This was a challenge I would never beat. Someone had already 'won' it.
I rested on the cliff, my hand wanted to pull out her flag so I could put mine in. I stopped. I thought to myself, "I am a winner," and started climbing down.
I made a promise to myself as I rested my feet on the ground, I would return to every mountain I had ever climbed, and pull out my flags that rested there, bragging about how good I was.
So every one after me would feel how I did, a winner.
PROGRAM PROMOTES HEALTHY EATING
A total of 67 boxes of fruit and vegetables were distributed last week to kick off the Healthy Harvest Box Program.The program, promoted as an excited new produce box service highlighting local fresh produce, will continue to provide area residents with produce on a monthly basis.
A recent BC Nutrition Survey revealed that the majority of British Columbians are not eating the recommended five servings of vegetables and fruit per day.
The service is designed to make eating more fruits and vegetables easy, fun and affordable for everyone. The service costs $12.00 per box and can be paid at Leftovers Studio, 123 Vermilion Avenue.
Members of Senior Citizens Branch #30 have the option of paying for their monthly Healthy Harvest Box at the Seniors Drop-In Centre.
The $12.00 cost is minimal when you consider each box will contain between $18.00 and $25.00 worth of produce. A savings of up to 50% on in-season items.
An average Summer Box will contain 1.5 lbs. of peaches, 1 lb. of cherries, one melon, 1.5 lbs. of grapes, a cucumber, four cobs of corn, a couple of green peppers, a red pepper, 2.5 lbs. of tomatoes, a head of lettuce, 1.5 lbs. of green beans and four pounds of new potatoes.
An average Winter Box will contain 2.5 lbs. of apples, 2 lbs. of oranges, 2 lbs. of pears, 2 lbs. of bananas, 2.5 lbs. of carrots, 2.5 lbs. of onions, four pounds of potatoes, two pounds of beets, a head of lettuce, two green peppers and a head of broccoli.
The Healthy Harvest Box is a program created by the South Okanagan & Similkameen Food Coalition and Penticton & District Community Resources Society and has received funding from Princeton District Teachers Union, Town of Princeton, the Community Foundation of the South Okanagan, the Vancouver Foundation, Interior Health and Communities For Kids.
The produce in the box changes each month depending on what is in season and available locally.
Each box will also contain a Healthy Harvest Newsletter which contains useful tips, health notes and recipes.
Subscriptions to the Healthy Harvest Box are paid in advance and are due the second Tuesday of each month for that monthıs box.
For example, for the August 17th box, payments are due on August 9th.
The Healthy Harvest Box program also requires volunteers to help on box distribution day (the boxes are distributed from the Princeton Cultural Centre). All volunteers receive a $5.00 coupon towards the purchase of their next Healthy Harvest Box.
For more information on how to get involved contact Jane Johnson at (250) 295-4407 or Beatrice Bibby at (250) 295-4448 or call toll free to 1-877-492-5814 and ask for extension 311. Or you can e-mail healthyharvest@vip.net.
