COMMUNITYprofile
Far More Than Just Taxes
S Accounting Services Inc. is located at 187 Asher Road in Rutland and owned by Wendi Swarbrick who proudly runs her business in Lisa Simone Rutland and lives here as well, a 22 year Rutland resident! Wendi I Love Rutland can be seen in the community at many events, be it community or recreational gatherings or with the Uptown Rutland Business Association (URBA) in supporting the business community. In fact, WS Accounting Services Inc. is hosting the URBA Business after Hours in September, an Asher Rd. Block Party. WS Accounting Services and several other Asher Road businesses will be showcasing their businesses and doing their best to make sure everyone has a good time, they look forward to connecting with everyone and having some fun – see you there!
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WS Accounting Services Inc. has been in business since 2000 and, after outgrowing its office space, the decision was made to relocate and expand the business. It was late 2008, right in the midst of the economic crash. “I live in Rutland and a good portion of my client base does as well. I’ve always been a big supporter of our local business community and knew I wanted to be a bigger part of that.” Wendi shared. The location on Asher Road was perfect; it brought her even closer to the growing downtown Rutland business centre and was very convenient for her clients as well. Wendi felt that while the timing did seem unusual to some, given the economy, it was in fact good timing. Businesses were realizing very quickly that they had to be proactive and very cautious if they didn’t want to become a casualty of the recession, and a proactive approach to business planning is paramount when ACCOUNTING the economy is unstable. Businesses and individuals were more in need SERVICES INC. of sound accounting and tax advice than ever before and WS Accounting accounting bookkeeping personal taxes business and corporate tax returns Services was there to provide their clients with the level of service, attention business consulting and confidence needed.
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WS Accounting Services Inc. is a full service accounting firm with a dedicated team and an emphasis on quality service. At WS Accounting Services, the clients are not just a number or another business and it’s that attention to service that makes Wendi’s business unique. As Wendi says, “We
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August 2013
(250) 491-7819
187 ASHER RD. KELOWNA WWW.WSACCOUNTING.CA
www.iloverutland.com
A TIME TOremember
10 Years after the Summer of Fire
n August 16, 2003 a lightning strike started a wildfire near Rattlesnake Island in Okanagan Mountain Park. This devastating wildfire burned in and out of the park for several weeks, ultimately forcing the evacuation of approximately 30,000 residents and consuming 239 homes. The final size of the forest fire was determined to be just over 60,000 acres. Battling the fire took over 60 different fire departments, 1,400 armed forces troops and 1,000 forest fire fighters. Lisa Simone I Love Rutland
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Now, 10 years later, I want to reflect and give thanks that no human was killed during the fire storm. Thank you to all the first responders, support staff and volunteers, men and women that risked their lives fighting that fire. A huge thank you to then Fire Chief Gerry Zimmerman, who kept our city calm and informed. Many lost everything in that fire, but were able to rebuild from the ashes, and become a much stronger community. Why did it happen? It was unfortunate; near perfect conditions created what is now known to be the most significant fire storm in BC’s history, a one in a hundred year inferno. It was one of the driest summers in BC History, driest summer ( June to August), since records began in 1899, a record 44 days without rain, temperatures soaring to 40 degrees, the third, hot dry summer in a row, coupled with lightning and high winds – the rest as they say is History. Or is it? Since that life altering event, these questions have been asked repeatedly by experts, valley residents and many others – why did this happen and will it happen again? We have touched on a few of the details that may answer the why but the will it happen again is a very daunting question, as is the answer. Given the unpredictability of the forces of nature, there is no amount of planning or preparation that could ever assist us in preventing or controlling such a monumental disaster. There are things we can do to mitigate the impact on our towns and cities, however, we appear to be doing the opposite. We are increasingly encroaching on wild land with our urban development, current fire suppression techniques have left massive amounts of fuel on the forest floors, not to mention the amount of beetle infested standing dead forests, the actual amount of standing dead beetle infested wood is still being assessed, but I can say, we would all be shocked by the tremendously massive areas of BC that is affected. Global warming is creating more and more unpredictable weather patterns – hotter drier summers, stronger electrical storms triggered by the temperature changes. So the question is – could a firestorm like 2003 happen again – absolutely, and it won’t take another 100 years.
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August 2013
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RUTLANDproud
This is our community, and we love it
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s a kid I can remember watching the news coverage of different American events and holidays and being amazed at how they celebrated being American, how serious they seemed to take their nationality. They had flags on their houses and vehicles and in their yards and while I didn’t fully understand what it was, I knew I envied it – it was Patriotism. These days Canadians seem to have found their voices and appreciation of our individuality as a nation and patriotism is currently alive and well in Canada – I’m sure it was always there but I have seen a big shift in our thinking and our willingness to express how we feel about ourselves and our country in the last 10 years – we were definitely late bloomers in the patriotism department. Rutland Girl I Love Rutland
We have all heard the Rutland jokes, and most of the Rutlander’s I know, don’t appreciate them. You can probably see where I’m going with this, seems to me that Rutland is a community of very proud late bloomers. We like our community, the people that live here, the history that is Rutland, and we very much have our own way to rock! We have been fighting for more resources, overdue much needed improvements and what we feel is our piece of the tax pie, and fighting back against the stereo typing of Rutland and its residents for decades, since long before I moved here (not to date myself but that was in 1991). There have been times, even years that it seemed like things would never change or at least were changing at an infuriatingly slow pace. Not anymore - I’m going to say it – Change has arrived! Of course there is still much work to be done, there always is, work, change, progress – it’s never ending, but these days I can feel the winds of change in Rutland. More and more people proudly say – I’m from Rutland, not Spring Valley, or Black Mountain – “Rutland”. Our business community is really growing, our parks, our yards and neighborhoods have never looked better, esthetically pleasing new buildings are popping up on some of those unsightly lots that have been empty for too long. It’s nice to see some improvements finally coming our way from the City as far as sidewalks , landscaping, the transit loop etc. Of course many of us still feel like we are often forgotten when the budget is being finalized, and that fight is far from over, but things are moving in the right direction and it’s up to all of us to make sure it keeps moving in that direction. We have to stay positive, live like a community, believe in the value of our community, continue to demand what should be rightfully ours, it’s not an easy task and at times can be discouraging but sooner or later, it will pay off. Keep up the hard work and feel it, I can – RUTLAND PROUD!
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August 2013
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