The cold weather and snow are here for our Tree Lot this year. Set up on Saturday and opening next week.

Last week I had the privilege of attending the Portraits of Honour Gala. Made me proud to be a Kinsmen involved in our community and supporting our troops and their families.

Friday evening many of our club attended Lily's Steaknight at Natasha's. Dwayne Tomkewich's granddaughter will be getting surgery in Alberta this week and the steak night raised over $2000 to assist in the costs.

Well, it's getting to that time again, where the POW City Kinsmen opens our tree lot ... wait ... there's a couple of to do's first.

Specifically, we need to get the lot together and stock it with trees. Even though our work hasn't begun, for you in the public, the tree lot is ready to go with pre-order forms. Please find the pre-order form attached to this article. Print it out and submit it to the email address on the form or fax it to Attn: Dyllon at 934-3689.

In June of 2011 the POW City Kinsmen approved a donation of $6000 to Westmount Community School. This donation allowed the Westmount Community School to undertake an ambitious project to replace their old playground facilities. The donation from the POW City Kinsmen, when added to donations from other organizations and companies, as well as the school's own fundraising program reached the goal required in order to move forward. The POW City Kinsmen are also planning to donate time and efforts in the replacement of the old equipment.

In 2010 the POW City Kinsmen presented an opportunity to partner an event with our Top of the Hops festival to Farm in the Dell. A special dinner event was planned and raised around $7000 for Farm in the Dell. With a successful Top of the Hops event, the POW City Kinsmen were in a position to add to that event and raised the donation level to over $17,000.

A smaller dinner was held in 2011 and raised funds for Farm in the Dell once again. An announcement will be made shortly indicating our donation to Farm in the Dell for 2011.