The Senior Citizens' Association of Yahk, meets at the Community Hall every Wednesday at 1 pm, for lunch and recreational activities--usually card games and carpet bowling, although equipment for several other activities is available. On the second Wednesday of each month, a business meeting is conducted, before recreational activities begin. No age limit (either maximum or minimum) exists, and membership is open to persons of any vintage. New members are very welcome.
Yahk Elementary School Parent Advisory Committee ~ is an active group of parents, community volunteers and school staff who work hard to make our school the best it can be. As an example; our local PAC worked doggedly for seven years to raise the substantial funds necessary for our new playground ! Local kids are now enjoying a whole range of new playground equipment on the site between the school and the hall. Our PAC is represented at the district level by our DPAC representatives. Yahk Elementary School belongs to School District #8 Kootenay Lake.
We have a new Canadian Volunteer Fire Department - Watch for updates!
The Yahk Kingsgate Recreation Society ~ is the communities umbrella not for profit organization. The Yahk Kingsgate Recreation Society serves the recreational, cultural and community needs of the people of Yahk/Kingsgate. An elected board of directors manages the Community Hall facility while committees consisting of community members manage and coordinate a range of projects and activities. Local residents of our unincorporated area function as a community in times of celebration & in times of need. When community issues arise that affect our children, our environment, our lifestyles ~ concerned residents form committees under the umbrella of the YKRS The YKRS is the recognized voice of area residents. Every resident of Yahk and Kingsgate is automatically a member of the YKRS. Check out The Yahk Kingsgate Community Hall ~ an excellent rental facility for your next function.
Kyle MacDonald will trade with SnoRiders West live on CBC’s The Hour
by JEFFREY COOPER
YAHK IN THE MEDIA SPOTLIGHT: CBC Television is sending 15 to 20 people to Yahk, B.C. to do a live broadcast of The Hour with host George Stroumboulopoulos on February 9.
Lights, camera, Yahk!
The date is set, the flights are booked and a small British Columbia town is bracing itself for a whirlwind of excitement unlike any other in its 100 year history.
Yahk-tastic
On Thursday, February 9, CBC television host George Stroumboulopoulos and a crew of 15 to 20 people from CBC’s The Hour will be airing a live broadcast from Yahk, B.C.
“I’m so excited about this,” said One Red Paperclip trader Kyle MacDonald in a recent posting on his blog. “Finally, the hypnotic spell George Stroumboulopoulos put me under will be broken and a trade can finally take place in Yahk.”
Chili-icious
Yahk resident Penny A. P. Anderson is helping to organize the event and said the town is planning a big chili cookout to coincide with the CBC broadcast for all who attend.
“It’s really going to be great and we’re so excited to have George Stroumboulopoulos come to our community,” said Anderson.
So if you happen to be around Yahk, B.C., on Thursday, February 9, you might want to stop and see MacDonald, Stroumboulopoulos and the CBC, because, man, it’s going to be fun!
There have recently been several announcements regarding support for Community Network initiatives. The first announcement was from the BC Community Connectivity Cooperative (BC3) and the First Nations Technology Council (FNTC) regarding the "Community Networking Infrastructure Grants" (CNIG). The second announcement came from the Province of BC and Telus Inc. and identified support for Community Network initiatives through the "Connecting Communities" partnership.
Please find below information on the programs that may be of interest to our community and network initiatives underway or in development.
The First Nations Technology Council (FNTC) and the BC Community Connectivity Cooperative (BC3) have received a total of $600,000 in funding from NetWorkBC (Ministry of Management Services) to provide Community Networking Infrastructure Grants (CNIG) of up to $20,000 each in support of “last-mile” infrastructure to communities on the Provincial Digital Divide list. The funding is available for the purchase of equipment required to connect from a local broadband point of presence (POP) already existing in the community, or existing in a nearby community in the case of some First Nations, (see list of First Nations ‘in proximity’ from FNTC), to other community buildings. The Grant can also be used for labour in the installation of this equipment. Approximately 30 communities will receive funding Grants. .Only the 151 communities on the NetWorkBC Digital Divide list and the First Nations on the ‘in proximity list’ are eligible for this Grant.
Any communities applying for the Grant are required to complete the attached Community Networking Infrastructure Application form, describing how they plan to use the funding to successfully deliver broadband to their community. Applications will be evaluated by an independent committee and all applicants will be notified of the results. Regardless of whether or not your community submitted a Letter of Intent, if you meet the criteria you may apply for the grant.
Please contact NetWorkBC with any further questions regarding community eligibility. The list can be downloaded from the NetWorkBC website at http://www.network.gov.bc.ca, or you can contact the NetWorkBC office at 250-356-6118.
OK Folks we need the community to voice our concern over this GEORGE "the Hypnotist" fella making... literally making poor Kyle MacDonald say things he would not normally say and on National TV to Top it all off! Let's show them our Pride! Please Sign the petition, we can show him who we are! We will send Him a message load and clear very, very soon!
On Dec 5th 2005, CBC anchorman and body piercing fanatic, George Stroumboulopoulos put me on the spot on live TV and asked if there was any place I would not go to make a trade. For some strange reason, I told him that I would go anywhere on Earth to make a trade, except Yahk B.C. Don't get mad at me for this, get mad at George Stroumboulopoulos. I'll let you in on a little secret - I think he hypnotized me. Yes, I think George Stroumboulopoulos hypnotized me on live TV with a double whammy of an extremely long impossible-to-remember-how-to-spell last name and abundant body-piercings. He forced me to say that I would not go to Yahk to make a trade. I've been to Yahk before. Yahk seems like a very nice place. I'm sure you're a nice person too, it's just that George Stroumboulopoulos forced me to announce an official trade embargo with your town. I hope you can live with the stigma of being the only place on Earth I can not go to make a trade. We can still be friends, just not trading partners. Maybe the citizens of Yahk should boycott George Stroumboulopoulos in retaliation for his heavy-handed hypnotic prowess - seems like the most logical thing to me. Actually, I think we should start a petition to get George Stroumboulopoulos to do a remote broadcast of The Hour on CBC from Yahk in January when I'm there to apologize for his evil ways. Yes, if there's anybody out there who knows how to organize an on-line petition, can you set it up and forward me the link? Thanks in advance - this is definitely a step in the right direction.
*If you don't know who George Stroumboulopoulos is, well, he's kind of like Canada's answer to Carson Daly, only way more badass and with a much longer last name - and of course, he has way more body piercing's.
Here is the rest of the Story...
One trip to yahk
Yes, that’s right. The next item up for trade is an all-inclusive three-day trip to Yahk, British Columbia, Canada. This trip was put together by Jeff Cooper of SnoRiders West magazine. Jeff seems like a super awesome guy and is a very good photojournalist. You can check out his personal website here: www.cooperphoto.ca
SnoRiders West gets one famous skidoo, you get one trip to the Canadian Rockies and Yahk.
one trip to yahk includes:
-Return airfare for one person from anywhere in North America
-Three nights Accommodation in a ‘swanky’ hotel.
-Meals
-Full-day guided snowmobile trip in and around Yahk (Michel Barrette’s actual snowmobile will be there too)
-1 day skiing at either Fernie or Kimberley Alpine resort (If you’re not interested in skiing, a day at hot springs or something similar can be arranged.)
-lots of other stuff planned, stay tuned for more details.
The trip will take place in mid to late January 2006.
I’m coming on the trip too, so I get to hang out with you for three days! We will fly in and out of Cranbrook B.C., which is just beside the Rocky Mountains. This is going to be fun. This trade has funtential on so many levels. The Kootenay region of British Columbia is awesome.
Send your trade offer to: oneredpaperclip@gmail.com
POTENTIAL TRADERS - I said on international TV that I’d go anywhere in the world to make a trade except Yahk, British Columbia Canada, and I’m not a liar – so we’ll have to make the actual trade for your item outside of Yahk.
I hope you understand.
Thanks Jeff, for putting this trade together. This goes out to everybody out there in Internet Land: I can't wait to see your offer for 'one trip to yahk' - I can't wait to not make a trade with you in Yahk.
On July 12, 2005, a young man named Kyle MacDonald posted a picture of a paperclip on his website. His mission is to trade that one red paper clip for bigger and better items, until he gets a house.
He traded one red paperclip to a couple who contacted him online for a peculiar pen, shaped like a fish. Then he traded the fish pen for a decorative door knob. He traded the door knob for a Coleman stove, and the stove for a gnerator; the generator for a keg of beer; and the beer for a snowmobile, which he traded for a trip to Yahk, British Columbia, Canada.
So far, Kyle has traded his way up to a cube van — which he drove from his Montreal home to New York for a high-profile appearance on ABC news.
No biggie.
The amount of press this guy has been getting lately could give Paris Hilton the screaming heebie-jeebies.
Who is This Guy?
Like his bio page says,
Originally from Belcarra, British Columbia, Canada, Kyle MacDonald has planted more than one hundred thousand trees, delivered more than one thousand pizzas, but eaten only one scorpion. When he's not stealing a flag from the Prime Minister's office or promoting Alberta Beef by hitch-hiking in a parade, you might find him leaving his wallet in El Segundo or hanging out in Bangkok modeling Italian Soccer jerseys to fund 4am Red-Bull and Rum-fueled urban hitchhikes. He also enjoys writing third-person bio pages for his website and loves to stand on street corners in Montreal hawking shoddily-bound English literature to Francophones in sub-zero temperatures.
Sheer Marketing Genius
This Kyle MacDonald fellow knows all about swimming in multiple income streams for fun and profit.
With a growing blog and website network, generating what one can only assume must be a gratifying stream of advertising revenue, Kyle's branched out to auctioning off his other office detritus on Ebay. He's got a Podcast, he's got a Fan Club, he's got a blogging mother who's very proud, and he's got 43 things he wants to do, of which trading a paper clip for a house is only one.
But Kyle's heart, it seems clear, is with his writing.
I've had a few literary agents and publishers contact me about the idea of making a book about one red paperclip. I was like, "Cool, but who wants to read a book about one red paperclip? - it's just a paperclip." They all replied, "No, not a book about one red paperclip, but a book about your story about trading from one red paperclip up to a house."
As an aspiring writer currently published by Kinkos and funded by my credit card, this is extremely awesome.
Stay tuned.
Kyle MacDonald is going somewhere —
and it won't always be down the road in a second-hand cube van.
