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Kelowna couple cleans forests for Central Okanagan Search and Rescue

Raymond Imbeau and Barbara Kitz donated $3,200 to COSAR
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This is the third year Raymond Imbeau and Barbara Kitz have picked up cans in the backcountry and donated the proceeds to COSAR. (Central Okanagan Search and Rescue)

A Kelowna couple continues to clean up around the city and donating the proceeds to the Central Okanagan Search and Rescue (COSAR).

This year, Raymond Imbeau and Barbara Kitz spent their summer travelling along the 201 Forest Service Road near the Idabel Lake turnoff down to Okanagan Falls, picking up beer cans.

In total, they were able to pick up 32,000 cans, which filled 111 garbage bags. The cans amounted to $3,200, all of which the couple donated to COSAR.

The couple were camping in the backcountry and travelling using their Can-Am ATV. Each time they saw a can, Imbeau got out and put it in a bag.

“There were days we would fill the bags on the front and back of the ATV, plus Barb, who was riding behind me, would often have a full bag in each hand,” he said.

Kitz said most of the cans they picked up were Bud Light and Old Milwaukee, but they’ve also seen a change.

“But we’re seeing more craft beer. We even found a can for a garlic and basil beer. I mean, what?” she said.

This is the third year Imbeau and Kitz have collected cans in the Okanagan backcountry, with the proceeds going to COSAR. In 2018, they collected 8,000 cans. Last year, they collected 20,000.

COSAR president Dan Schlosser said they are grateful.

“They are some of the most generous supporters we have,” he said.

“We rely on fundraising to stay fully operational and this certainly helps.”

Thanks to the couple’s support, COSAR was able to purchase a TrailRider wheeled chair that they use to extract an injured subject who can’t walk but may not need a stretcher.

READ: Kelowna couple collects 20,000 beverage containers for Central Okanagan Search and Rescue


Twila Amato
Video journalist, Black Press Okanagan
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Twila Amato

About the Author: Twila Amato

Twila was a radio reporter based in northern Vancouver Island. She won the Jack Webster Student Journalism Award while at BCIT and received a degree in ancient and modern Greek history from McGill University.
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