$65k raised for school

The Okanagan Indian Band Cultural Immersion School is one step closer to its funding goal thanks to a recent golf tournament.

The OKIB and OKIB Group of Companies raised $65,936 for the construction of the school at the third annual Charity Golf Tournament.

“Our targeted fundraising goals for the Cultural Immersion School exceed $20-million dollars, and with the three annual tournaments, we’ve been able to surpass our goals with over $274,378 raised to date," said Tetku Marchand with the OKIB Group of Companies.

“The annual tournament has become so popular that we had 73 people on this year’s wait list ready to play, and we’ve already been asked by sponsors to hold the title and other various sponsorship spots for them for next year.”

The 2024 tournament saw 152 golfers gather to support the school. Proceeds from the tournament go to the OKIB to assist with building the n?maplqs i? sn?a?áya?tn i? ?l sqilx?t?t (Head of the lake Where our Children Go to Learn our Indigenous Ways) new Cultural Immersion School.

“We cannot thank this year’s sponsors, players, donators, and volunteers enough for their unwavering support to the Cultural Immersion School which is so needed in our community,” said golf committee members Marchand, Laurell Cornell and Sandie Derrickson.

“Our children are currently in old, overcrowded buildings, and modulars and your generosity has helped us get the construction started that much sooner.”

OKIB says despite meeting all school design and construction requirements of Indigenous Services Canada, no new capital funding is available for First Nations schools.

The OKIB says it currently ranks 6th or 7th place in the province for current school capital funding – depending on funding, the estimated construction date that OKIB is working towards is now 2026.