Published July 31, 2025
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The volunteer team of the TEXADA AEROSPACE CAMP made last week's camp a success and a memorable time for the 24 youth that attended. I would like to extend my gratitude to these awesome individuals - Rebecca Can, Angela Sargent, O.C. Dobrostanski, Peter Teuner, Peter Chick, Kathy Kirk Hanson, Wendy Davis, Dr. Robert Reimer, Larry Dyke and his wife Gillian, as well as junior instructors Yasha Pacatang, Lukus Kessler, Tim Pavlushik, Gregory Pavlushik, Baden Halliwell and Sydney MacLaurin-Hogg.
We missed the presence of long-time volunteer Dr. Sidney Boloten, who is now retired from aerospace volunteering, and we wish him and his wife all the best.
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We thank the many people who have helped build up the Aviation Museum, the Airbuzz, and the camp over the years, and we are grateful for the support of Texada Arts Culture and Tourism (texada.org). Our team would like to say a big thanks to the many others who made the TEXADA AEROSPACE CAMP possible this year, in no particular order:
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Joe Martin and Charlie Groves for parachute class - Charlie also for providing complimentary familiarization flights for students; Gerry Johnson for shop work and fundraising; Angus Cumming and Gretchen Longanecker for taking part in a career panel; Dr. Elisabeth Crisci for doing a career talk; the Gillies Bay Volunteer Fire Department for an awesome fire safety class with extinguisher demos; pilots Chris Hansen, Raymond Henault and Duane Dubyk of the Courtenay Air Park (courtenayairpark.com) for providing complimentary familiarization flights for students; Lawrence McLeod for also providing complimentary familiarization flights for students; Brianna Chabassol and Brad Marriot for "beside the plane" in depth chats with students in particular those interested in joining the armed forces; Dan Can for helping with t-shirt design; David Colussi for presenting graduation medals (and for inviting two junior instructors and myself for a Legion Museum tour - if you've not seen this yet you really must!); Mike MacDonald for flying in to give an amazing graduation talk; Manager Cam Reed for helping with airport related items including the NOTAM to close the Gillies Bay runway for the Cormorant; Captain Malcolm Grieve and crew of the Royal Canadian Air Force for the Cormorant demo; Dan Abramov for his keynote talk about space exploration; the BC Aviation Council for their generous donation of awesome graduation items for each youth; Larry Brisebois for pro bono metal machining time to support the metal working class; the qRD for the capital grant for metal working class; Alan MacIsaac for making a beautiful cheesecake with Canadian flag; Gavyne Rycroft and Kris Montgomery for cutting wood pieces for metals class; the Texada Legion Branch 232 for its generous donation of two camp scholarships plus more; Roxanna Rasmussen for her generous donation from a sale of the books of her late husband and pilot, Knud; Allan Rempel for doing a seminar on Search and Rescue with Becca and for generally helping out; Mike Pavlushik for assisting with software and camp setup and clean up, and Mike's wife for the yummy cupcakes for staff. There were a few local businesses as well that provided seamless service contracts to us - the Gillies Bay General Store & the Texada Market (food), the Texada Home and Garden Centre (supplies), Texada Tao (t-shirts), the Texada Island Inn (pizzas), Mary Mary Cafe (lunch), and Crystal Clear Engraving in Powell River.
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Stay well all.