It’s time for Stewart Mortgage Corp.’s update on what’s going on at the BC Wildlife Park. We are so fortunate to have this wonderful park in Kamloops.

You may be surprised to know the park has been open since January 1st thru February 28th on weekends only.

Now that we are hopefully into good weather, and with Spring just around the corner, as of March 1st thru April 30th they are open daily from 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. with a later closing  from May 1st thru September 30th at 5:00 p.m.

Despite robust building statistics, the city’s population didn’t grow last year.

The latest numbers from B.C. Stats peg the city’s population at about 87,000 people, virtually unchanged from 2009.

Randy Lambright, community development supervisor at the City of Kamloops, questioned the numbers from B.C. Stats, which, unlike the federal census every five years, are not based on head counts. “I think it’s a bit misleading based on our building stats. We’ve had 500 to 600 units.”

We at Stewart Mortgage hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday.

We were fortunate enough to be able to take time off between Christmas and New Years. It was awesome being able to stay in town, spend lots of quality time with family, and relax. 

Now that the holidays are over, we are rejuvenated and ready to go. According to  the media, the prediction is good for another strong year in real estate.

I couldn’t believe my eyes when I read the Life section of The Globe and Mail recently.
 
The heading “Teen Plastic” stopped me right in my tracks.

Not quite debit cards and not quite credit cards, prepaid credit cards were originally designed for consumers who couldn’t qualify for credit cards or didn’t have bank accounts. You upload money to the card and then use it for purchases like you would with a credit card - except there’s no line of credit attached to it.

Stewart Mortgage Corp. is a proud sponsor of the The BC. Wildlife Park.

If you haven’t attended the Wildlights Celebration at The BC Wildlife Park before, the  13th annual Wildlights Celebration is happening nightly from December 10, 2010 to January 2, 2011 with the exception of Christmas Day. Operating hours are from 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

In my previous blog I told you about two new groups we invested $25.00 each in.

Both groups are a long way from Kamloops, they are in Africa.

The first involved 17 people, mainly women, that live in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. The original loan amount was $3,425.00 with a total of 104 lenders involved. This group has paid back 43% of their loan to date. Their intention is to have the loan paid back within 6 mos.

You already know from my previous blogs that Stewart Mortgage was a proud sponsor of the 7th Annual Gur Singh Brain Injury Invitational Golf Tournament held in Kamloops at The Dunes on September 10th.

We are happy to report by way of Gur Singh’s announcement at the meeting of the Rotary Club of Kamloops this week, an astonishing sum of $120,000.00 was raised.  Gur also advised Rotary he was honoured by MP Cathy McLeod’s statement in Parliament about the funds raised in support of the Kamloops Brain Injury Association.

Good job everyone!

Did you know BC Wildlife Park was hosting “Boo at the Zoo” to celebrate Halloween?

Boo at the Zoo runs nightly from 5:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. from October 29-31, 2010.

There will be the following events: Kids Haunted House; Spook Train; Kid’s Magic Show; Pre-carved Pumpkin Contest; Prizes for best costume; Halloween Maze; Pyrotechnic and Fireworks Display; and lots of Trick or Treating.

If you want to do something different in Kamloops for Halloween this year this is it!
 

After all that hockey in August, the Kamloops 60 plus team was ready to attend The BC Senior Games September 15th thru September 18, 2010.

The games were hosted by the communities of Comox Valley and Campbell River with support of two regional districts - Comox Valley & Strathcona and the four municipalities  of the City of Courtenay, the Town of Comox, the Village of  Cumberland and the City of Campbell River.

Stewart Mortgage was a proud sponsor of the 7th Annual Gur Singh Brain Injury  Invitational Golf Tournament which was held at The Dunes on September 10th.

The weather even co-operated this year. Jamie & John are both fair weather golfers and I am told there is nothing nicer than golf on a beautiful day.

A good time was had by all the golfers and we were pleased to meet some of the volunteers who are dealing with a brain injury themselves.