Salvation Army receives Environmental Award

Thank you to Mayor Sharon Shepherd for recognizing The Salvation Army Thrift Stores as an organization dedicated to protecting the environment.  The winners of the City of Kelowna Mayor’s Environmental Achievement Awards, were celebrated just recently with The Salvation Army Thrift Stores receiving one of the most notable honours.    “This year, we celebrated our resident’s environmental stewardship,” said event coordinator Linda Abbott-Simons.

As an organization, the Salvation Army has been recycling for over 100 years and are extremely proud to have served in the community of Kelowna for over 92 years with the thrift store having an active presence for nearly 50 years. 

“It is important to celebrate organizations and individuals taking a leadership role in our community when it comes to sustainability and the environment,” said Carol Suhan, PowerSense service manager.

Through careful sorting of donated goods our dedicated and socially conscious staff take the necessary steps to ensure the reduction of unsalable items from going into the landfill through our recycling initiatives.  

Strengthening and expanding our relationships with recycling partners such as Planet Earth, we are assuring the best possible reuse of that product.  Through our combined efforts we can ensure a lighter ecological footprint in the Okanagan.  To date this year we have diverted over 300,000 lbs. from the landfill into recycling programs.

So whether we are providing that sense of warmth through a blanket, or the thrill of a treasure to be restored back to its intended glory bought at our thrift store, we take our business of giving hope today a step further by preserving the earth for tomorrow.