Waddle, waddle

2. Stewarding Land for the Common Good 3. Resilient & Just Food Systems 4. Democratizing Money & Finance

The learning process will continue until April 23rd, when participants will transition to identifying Kamloops’ unique needs and the ways we can take action towards a more resilient community.

From May until the end of 2023, participants will implement one or more unique action projects. “This is really the heart of the program,” says Ruckert. “Projects could be things like producing a guide to locally-grown food, or doing an ecosystem conservation project, or planning ways to support vulnerable populations during extreme weather events. We’ll have to wait and see which ideas get folks excited during the learning process.”

The program is funded by the Synergia Cooperative Institute, the Canadian Community Economic Development Network, and Athabasca University, making it free for all participants.

To learn more about this grassroots community action project and to sign up, visit www.transitionkamloops.net.

In complete silence fourteen mallard ducks waddle single file in a perfectly straight line, moving with purpose, heads up, eyes alert, tail feathers curled. They transition from land to the iced over pond. Their goal is now clear. Slowly they slip one by one into the deep water at the center of the pond.

I stand in the gloomy grayness of the day and feel my spirit lift. This past year was not an easy one. We were only too happy to turn the calendar page to a new year, with hopes and prayers that

2023 will hold fewer challenges. Each time the calendar page turns we are walking –or waddling – to places we have never traveled. We’re experiencing circumstances we have never experienced. We don’t know what joy, sorrow or trauma the next day holds.

The ducks are returning to the water they raced out of when I arrived at the park. Well, racing as only ducks can do: shuffling and wobbling a two step while demanding an entry fee. They aren’t afraid to go after what they want. They move away from me, disappointed in my lack of generosity. But they know something I am learning. The deepest water, that darkest hole in the middle of the snow-covered pond might look foreboding, but it holds a gift that is only revealed when my fourteen feathered teachers reach it and laughter and giggles break the silence as they swim and dive and play.

Richard Wagamese, beloved wise one, speaks of “beyond.” In his book Embers, “I no longer want to be resilient. I don’t want to simply bounce back from things that hurt me or cause me pain. Bouncing back means returning to where I stood before. Instead, I want to go beyond the hurts and the darkness. The first step toward genuine healing from my mental illness was when I came to trust and believe there was a beyond. Now I reach for beyond every day, in every encounter, in every circumstance.”

Richard and the flock of mallards remind me there is a beyond. Beyond the gloom and gray of these winter days there waits a sunny spring morning. Beyond the solitary moments of loneliness there are friends walking with me. Beyond the disappointment, the confusion, the sadness, the fear –beyond whatever name the challenge wears – there is joy to be found when I finally and fully immerse myself in the deepest water. And so I waddle on, trusting that I will be held in what my friend calls

The Big Love just as the ducks are held in the pond’s waters. I waddle on trusting in beyond.

Rev LeAnn Blackert works with Michele Walker, Lesly Comrie and Linda Clark in ministry with Wild Church in Kamloops, Sorrento and the Okanagan. She considers herself a seeker in her faith journey and wanders the wild world looking for the Great Mystery and the “wild Christ.” To find out more, visit wildchurchbc.com and be in touch!

If you’re the Executor or next of kin responsible, the list of things to do following the death seems daunting. It felt that way for me when my father died years ago. So many places to contact, so many decisions to make. And you worry about forgetting to do or sign something. And what if you make a mistake when filling out a form? Alice had that worried look on her face when we sat down to arrange for Murray’s cremation.

It may come as no surprise then that Alice expressed an audible sigh of relief as I brought out the fourth form in our arrangement package. The first three forms (vital statistics/ service arrangements, authorization to transfer, contract) were now in our rearview mirror. It was time to complete the OAS/CPP Notification of Death form. “This is a simple yet important form” I told Alice. “It lets Service Canada know that Murray has died so they can stop sending his monthly pension cheques.” I could almost read Alice’s mind: what if we don’t send the form? “Alice, if we don’t send this form to Service Canada they are going to demand that you pay them back if the cheques keep coming” I proffered.

Still, Alice was a little confused. Murray died on the 2nd of the month. She asked “Will Murray receive his pension at the end of this month? “Yes” I replied, “Because Murray died after the start of the month, his account will receive the full pension cheques at the end of this month, just like usual.” Had Murray died during the last few days of the previous month he would not have received his OAS/ CPP in the following month. Again, to give an example using my father, who died on November 30, 1998 he did not receive the OAS/CPP cheque in December of that year. Had he died on December 1st he would have received these cheques in December.

Alice wished Murray wasn’t gone but she was slightly relieved at his timing.

The form itself is straightforward. We complete it for Alice and we send it away to Service Canada. It lists Murray’s last name, first name and initial of middle name(s), his date of birth, date and place of death, his mother’s maiden name (remember we asked for all this information on the very first form we filled out – the vital statistics form?) and then it asks for Alice’s name, contact information and confirmation of her relationship to Murray (executor and wife). I sign it, date it, and my dedicated staff fax (yes, fax!) it off to Service Canada. Simple, but very important as it takes so much stress off Alice.

Service Canada takes it from there by stopping Murray’s OAS/CPP cheques from coming when they shouldn’t.

Next month we look at the final form in the arrangement process: the cremation authorization form. For many people (including Alice) this form brings the reality of the situation to the forefront –Alice will sign the document that means Murray will, in fact, be cremated.

• Personal Care (bathing, grooming)

• Companion Care (at home & institutions)

• Palliative & Compassionate Care

• Meal Prep, Med Distribution, Wound Management

• Transportation & Shopping

• Continuous Care

• Respite/Overnight Care

• After hospital discharge

• Continuous overnight care

• After surgery

• Security

• Respite