Employees and volunteers at all schools in Drayton Valley and Breton will have to provide proof of vaccination or a negative Covid-19 test when school resumes after the Christmas break.
The Wild Rose school board approved the move at its regular meeting on Tuesday morning. The St. Thomas Aquinas Roman Catholic School Division made a similar decision earlier this month.
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The move does not include students in either school division and will only apply to parents if they are acting as volunteers.
The Wild Rose motion came after an hour long debate and was not unanimous. Board chair Daryl Scott said he was unhappy that the board had been left to make a decision on an issue that should have been handled by the province.
“We are an education board, not a health board,” he said. “We are not health experts, we are educators.”
Scott said he was personally vaccinated. However he could not support a motion where felt that staff were being placed in a position where they had no choice if they wished to keep their jobs.
Residents were lined up all the way out of the doors of the MacKenzie Conference Centre last week to sign the Stay Free Alberta petition, which aims to bring a referendum for Alberta separating from Canada.
Marlin MacDonald, the co-provincial lead for the area covering Drayton Valley, Devon, Beaumont, Leduc, Spruce Grove, and Stony Plain, says the petition only needs 177,000 signatures to be put forward to the province for a referendum on the question of separation.
The proposed question for the referendum is: Do you agree that the Province of Alberta should cease to be a part of Canada to become an independent state?
Officially, the petition kicked off on January 3, and canvassers have until approximately May 2, to collect the signatures. Should they have enough signatories, MacDonald says the referendum could take place as early as the fall.
January 16 was the first time the petition was available in Drayton Valley as there were delays in getting the pages printed. However, more than 200,000 people had signed a letter of intent to help speed up the petition process, allowing canvassers or members of the organization to reach out to those individuals for signing the petition.
MacDonald says he’s not worried about the 465,000 signatures that the rival Forever Canadian petition garnered earlier this year.
“Their question is on policy, where ours is on constitution,” says MacDonald. “Their referendum was to… change policy so that we couldn’t have another referendum for five years.”
The petition ran from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. and was located next to an information session about Alberta independence that ran from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Jason Lavigne was the emcee for the event and introduced attendees to Nadine Wellwood, a chartered investment manager, and Bruce Pardy, a law professor from Queens University, respectively.
About 200 people listened as Wellwood discussed the economic viability of separation and Pardy spoke about possibilities open to a new country with the chance to create a new constitution.
A similar event took place on Saturday afternoon at the Buck Creek Hall and drew a steady steam of people looking to sign the petition.
Local resident brings relief efforts to the Philippines
The devastation caused by Typhoon Kalmaegi left shockwaves around the world, and one local resident knew she had to step up to help with relief efforts.
Before Kalmaegi hit Thailand and Vietnam in the beginning of November 2025, it ran through the central provinces of the Philippines, where it was known as Typhoon Tino. Several provinces were hit hard, but the most damage was in the Cebu province, where Marve Walwal grew up.
According to GMA Integrated News, 150 of the 269 recorded deaths in the Philippines were in Cebu. Walwal says her hometown, San Isidro, Talisay City, was only a 20-minute walk from one of the hardest hit areas in Cebu.
When Walwal heard about the effects of the typhoon, she had already had a trip planned to visit her father toward the end of November.
“At first, I was just collecting bottles and clothes to help a little bit,” says Walwal.
Then her boss suggested she reach out to the Drayton Valley Community Foundation about their crisis relief grant. After applying through the Drayton Valley Multicultural Association, Walwal was granted $10,000 to offer aid to those affected by the typhoon. She also partnered with the Cebu chapter of the UNIFIED Inglewood Association, which is a Filipino teacher association based in California, United States, to secure the grant.
Walwal says Inglewood was already involved in relief efforts after a 6.9 earthquake hit only a month before the typhoon.
Because Tino had hit so close to home, some of Walwal’s childhood friends and acquaintances were affected. She also had the benefit of connections with people who worked in the local government for the area.
“Most people in the town office are mostly my childhood friends,” says Walwal.
While she was down there from November 28 to December 18, Walwal did her best to ensure the funds went directly to those in need to avoid any corruption. The only organizations involved were the multicultural association and UNIFIED Inglewood, and the relief efforts provided by the funding are still underway in Cebu.
Walwal started at the relief centre in her hometown, bringing the donated goods with her and inquiring about how she could help. She says they chose to help those who were at the relief centre because those individuals did not have family or other support they could go to for help.
“We made a list,” says Walwal. “We needed some utensils, medication, this and that. We were able to help at least 250 people at the time.”
She says there were a lot of volunteers at the centre, and she had brought together several volunteers and family members to help her with her own efforts to help. Knowing the patrons at the relief centre were being looked after, she decided to look for areas where she could be more effective.
“Then I met some people who said the government hadn’t gone to their place because it’s a remote area,” says Walwal. “[They were in] an area where no vehicles can go there …and they don’t have transportation to go there.”
Across the Philippines, more than 600,000 homes were damaged, with 75,000 needing to be replaced. Walwal’s father encouraged her to build homes, but she knew they were limited to how many they could build. They had to carefully consider which families they could help out.
She says they plan to build six homes for families in remote areas. They already have contractors who have stepped up to the task and are volunteering their time. All Walwal has to do is provide the supplies.
Since Walwal is back in Canada, the UNIFIED Inglewood Association is acting on her behalf in Cebu. As the housing projects come up, Walwal is sending them money to cover the costs of roofing materials, lumber, and other items necessary for building a home.
While she’s confident she will be able to help some families, Walwal says she’s paying attention to the costs of goods. Once the rebuilds start on a larger scale across the province, the prices of some commodities will rise due to demand, and it may impact the number of homes she can build.
Though her trip home was tempered by the damage caused by Tino, Walwal says she still enjoyed reconnecting with friends and loved ones. She says there were moments that showed the resilience of the people in her hometown.
“They are already devastated, but children still play there as if nothing [had happened],” says Walwal. “They are resilient.”
Anyone who is interested in donating funds to help with the relief efforts can reach out to the Drayton Valley Multicultural Association at 780-514-5249
Gratitude can go too far
I am grateful that I don’t have to be grateful for something every single day.
Yes, you read that correctly. I don’t have to find something to be thankful for on a day when my car breaks down on the way to work, I find out I forgot to send off that one cheque, and my child tells me at about 8:30 p.m. that they need two dozen home made cupcakes for the next morning.
Gratitude is something we all need to practice more often, but the current trend of journaling about the many things you appreciate each day can be toxic. I mean, honestly, how many times can you be sincerely grateful for that first sip of coffee every morning?
To use a word my dad always used when I was little, people are putting a little too much em-PHAS-is on the wrong thing.
A rote practice of gratitude journaling can lead to something called toxic positivity. This is a condition in which people feel it’s so important to be positive that they ignore their negative emotions and don’t process them.
A good example of this trait is Dolores Umbridge from Harry Potter. This is a woman who at first appears to be a kind older woman who loves cats way too much. But as we get to know the character, we see that all of her cheerfulness and positive attitude are a cover up for her anger and racism.
The movie Inside Out also demonstrates this point as we see the character Joy, who also deals with toxic positivity, try to suppress Sadness because she believes Riley should always be happy. The main conflict in the movie is Riley’s struggle with accepting and processing the negative emotions that are a normal part of life.
We even have an idiom for this kind of situation. Someone who is looking at a situation through rose-coloured glasses is indeed seeing all the positives in a situation, but they are also overlooking important details that they don’t want to accept. Sometimes, a car is a lemon, and the salesperson’s fumbling attempts at flirting are just a scheme to get you to let your guard down.
Scientifically, studies have been done showing the benefits of gratitude journals. It can reduce stress, help with sleep, reduce anxiety and depression, and do numerous other things. However, those achievements are only successful when the person genuinely feels the gratitude.
Imagine coming home after a long weekend away to two feet of fresh snow on your driveway and six inches of compacted snow on your front sidewalk. You are tired, cold, and looking forward to getting into your favourite pair of pyjamas, but when you get to your front door, you see a ticket for failing to clear your sidewalks.
The argument for gratitude could be something like, at least I have a sidewalk and driveway to shovel, or this is a great opportunity for me to try out my new snowblower. However, another healthy way to look at the situation is saying, well this sucks, and I’m not happy about this.
Another commonly used idiom is everything in moderation. The same goes for gratitude. Yes, you should be grateful for many of the things in your life, and if you feel like your life is lacking, you should look at what you do have. At the same time, it’s important to acknowledge and feel the negative things.
Go forth, dear reader, and allow yourself to feel the anger. The next time your coworker steals your pop out of the fridge, I encourage you to drop an f-bomb and express yourself. You’ll feel much better.
Auxiliary supports several important services
Last year was a busy one for the Drayton Valley Healthcare Auxiliary.
Doreen Beckett, the president and manager of the Drayton Valley Healthcare Auxiliary Thrift Store, says they raise funds for the Drayton Valley Hospital, the Serenity House, and the Breton Extended Care facility. Last year, they spent several hundred thousand to support those spaces.
The organization, which raises funds through sales at the Thrift Store and at the gift shop in the Drayton Valley Hospital, was able to donate $180,000 to the renovation of the palliative care room, $70,000 to the eSIM lab, while also purchasing an ICG machine, an ultrasound machine, replaced windows, replaced furniture, and more in the last year.
Along with practical donations, the Auxiliary also spent money on Christmas decorations to help keep spirits high.
Beckett says in the past, the facilities would provide the Auxiliary with a wish list of items they wanted, and the organization would put funds towards those projects or equipment. Today, they receive information packets about different projects and from there they choose how to spend their funds.
“We have purchased a lot of things last year,” says Beckett.
While they spent a lot of money in 2025, it isn’t always easy for them to raise the funds in the first place. The Thrift Store relies on donations from the public as well as the sales to the public. However, over the years, they’ve had to adjust the times they’ve had to make changes to what donations they will accept and what conditions those donations need to be in, as well.
“It’s been good since we put the gate on,” says Beckett. “We cannot go without having the gate closed.”
She says volunteers have to go through every donation they receive to make sure it is fit to be sold. In many cases, people have donated items they believe still have some use or use the drop-off as a place to save some money rather than going to the dump.
“It’s cheaper to dump it there than it is to take it to the dump,” says Beckett.
With the gate up, Beckett says donors have to wait until someone is present to accept the items. At that point, the volunteers can turn some of the items away. If unwanted donations are left, then the Auxiliary has to cover the cost of the dump fees to get rid of them.
After taking a break over the holidays, the thrift store opened again on January 6. Their hours for drop off are from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, with shopping hours running from 12:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. On Thursdays, the drop off starts at 7:30 a.m. until 1 p.m. with the store opening from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
That was the year that was
That’s just about a wrap for 2025. With the end in sight, it’s time to look back and reflect on the good and bad of the last 12 months.
Starting at the top, it was a mixed year for Justin Trudeau. On one hand he was able to step aside as prime minister without being chased by an angry mob. On the other hand, he had to go on a date with Katy Perry, which was something nobody wanted to see.
It was a bad year for Katy Perry.
In other celebrity news, Taylor Swift took time off from counting her enormous pile of money to get engaged to a man in a ridiculous hat.
We said goodbye to Robert Redford, Ozzy Osbourne, Hulk Hogan, Jane Goodall, Gene Hackman, Connie Francis, Jimmy Swaggart and a host of other people of varying degrees of fame or notoriety, but who are no doubt missed by those who loved them
Pierre Poilievre probably wishes he could have a do over of the last 12 months. Back in January he seemed all set to be next Top Canadian. A couple of months later he had the look of someone who’s woken up to find his dog had left a little surprise in his favourite underwear and then run off with the next door neighbour.
Meanwhile Mark Carney spent much of 2025 with the look of a man who’d unexpectedly found fifty bucks in the pocket of an old suit and was wondering if he should tell his wife or keep it to himself.
In sports, the Blue Jays came this close (I am holding my thumb and forefinger about a centimetre apart) to winning the World Series, but then didn’t. It was fun while it lasted though.
It was a huge year, spectacular really, very very spectacular, probably the best year ever, for tariffs and the people who like them.
But it was a dreadful year for the man formerly known as His Royal Highness Prince Andrew, Duke of York, Earl of Inverness and Baron Killyleigh who I think we’re now supposed to refer to as plain old Andy W.
Closer to home, the municipal elections brought some new faces to town and county councils. The new people are still feeling their way in, so we’ll have more of a sense of how things are going to shape up from a municipal perspective in a few months.
The Omniplex got a new mural on the outside wall and a new name too. It is now called the Team Auctions Centre, for those of you who like to keep track of that sort of thing. I intend to continue to call it the Omniplex, because I am too old and stuck in my ways to change. Incidentally, I noticed a while back that you can tell how long someone has lived in Drayton Valley by what they call the store now known as Your Independent Grocer. To me, it will always be Extra Foods, while some of my friends still call it Blocks. Keeping up with the times? Not us. No sireee. We’ll leave that to the young folks.
And that’s your lot. Or at least it’s all I have room for. Thanks for sticking with us through the year that’s (almost) gone by.
There will be no Free Press next week, because of Christmas. We’ll be back, bleary eyed and wondering where we left our car keys, on January 1 of a whole new year!.
See you in 2026.
High demand for food bank
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Hamper requests at the Drayton Valley Food Bank have increased this year, but not at the same rate as last year.
Phil Bell, the treasurer for the board, says that along with the increase in hamper requests, there have also been more in-kind donations.
“[Drayton Valley] is a very generous community,” he says. “It continues to amaze us.”
Bell says last year there was a 50 percent bump in people, but this year the increase was roughly 10 percent, or about 200 family units.
“Last year was probably the biggest increase we’ve ever experienced,” he says.
Over the past 13 years, the most significant increases in usage were in 2015, when the number of hampers jumped up to 948. By 2016, they had doubled the number of hampers they gave out in 2012 and were sitting at 1,262. For the next seven years, the hampers didn’t increase significantly, and even dropped in 2020.
In 2023, the number of hampers spiked to more than 1,600, and in 2024, that number increased to 2,479. The projected total for 2025 is 2,750 hampers.
“We are seeing more working people coming as well,” says Bell. “To me that’s a sign that people are just struggling to make it.”
Only two percent of users have indicated they are unsheltered. Another four percent have given no information. The remainder of the users are from other counties (three percent), Brazeau County (26 percent), and Drayton Valley (65 percent).
The reason for the slowdown isn’t clear, says Bell. He’s not sure if the inflation rate is affecting things or if last year the bulk of the people needing help came forward.
Even though they did see an increase, Bell says this year they haven’t had to cut their hamper sizes, which further goes to show the generosity of the community. They’ve also been able to give out more seasonal items this year because some companies and individuals have given large donations. Hams, chocolates, and Christmas oranges were some of the items that were donated.
“We were able to supplement all the hampers with those items, which was nice to be able to give to people this time of year,” says Bell.
In order to ensure they can still continue to supply hampers to those that need them, Bell says they have been working to get their Foodbanks Canada accreditation.
“That’s kind of a heavy lift for us to be able to get these standards in place so that we can maintain our membership under Food Banks Alberta, which is under Food Banks Canada,” says Bell.
The accreditation will help the food bank with federal grants as well as the allotment that it gets from Food Banks Alberta. Every year, the food bank pays $150 for a membership with Food Banks Alberta, and in return they get between 3,000 and 4,000 lb of food every month.
“They only charge us $100 to get the food out here,” says Bell. “That’s a refrigerated truck, so we have access to frozen stuff.”
Because of the significance of the allotments, Bell says they are working hard to meet the requirements set forth. He says Drayton Valley is expected to continue to grow, and with that growth could come a higher demand for services, but he’s confident that the community will continue to step up to help those who need it.
Anyone looking to make a donation to the food bank can visit www.draytonvalleyfoodbank.ca/donate.
“Get vaccinated or do a rapid test or you don’t have a job. That’s not choice,” he said.
Scott’s view was in the minority. Trustee Charlene Bearhead said that she wished the pandemic wasn’t happening. However, she felt that the board had an obligation to do the best that could with the information available. Rapid testing will be available free of charge to staff, and those that choose unpaid leave would be able to resume employment at a later date.
Superintendent Brad Volkman said that a recent survey of school divisions staff suggested about 78 percent were fully vaccinated, however, he couldn’t be absolutely confident in that figure since not all staff had responded. He said there could be as many as 100 employees who might require rapid testing. That number included substitute teachers and casual staff. The division had obtained 2,400 free rapid tests, which he said should last about three months.
Trustee Mae Tryon, who represents the Breton area, joined Scott in voting against the motion.
Residents were lined up all the way out of the doors of the MacKenzie Conference Centre last week to sign the Stay Free Alberta petition, which aims to bring a referendum for Alberta separating from Canada.
Marlin MacDonald, the co-provincial lead for the area covering Drayton Valley, Devon, Beaumont, Leduc, Spruce Grove, and Stony Plain, says the petition only needs 177,000 signatures to be put forward to the province for a referendum on the question of separation.
The proposed question for the referendum is: Do you agree that the Province of Alberta should cease to be a part of Canada to become an independent state?
Officially, the petition kicked off on January 3, and canvassers have until approximately May 2, to collect the signatures. Should they have enough signatories, MacDonald says the referendum could take place as early as the fall.
January 16 was the first time the petition was available in Drayton Valley as there were delays in getting the pages printed. However, more than 200,000 people had signed a letter of intent to help speed up the petition process, allowing canvassers or members of the organization to reach out to those individuals for signing the petition.
MacDonald says he’s not worried about the 465,000 signatures that the rival Forever Canadian petition garnered earlier this year.
“Their question is on policy, where ours is on constitution,” says MacDonald. “Their referendum was to… change policy so that we couldn’t have another referendum for five years.”
The petition ran from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. and was located next to an information session about Alberta independence that ran from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Jason Lavigne was the emcee for the event and introduced attendees to Nadine Wellwood, a chartered investment manager, and Bruce Pardy, a law professor from Queens University, respectively.
About 200 people listened as Wellwood discussed the economic viability of separation and Pardy spoke about possibilities open to a new country with the chance to create a new constitution.
A similar event took place on Saturday afternoon at the Buck Creek Hall and drew a steady steam of people looking to sign the petition.
The devastation caused by Typhoon Kalmaegi left shockwaves around the world, and one local resident knew she had to step up to help with relief efforts.
Before Kalmaegi hit Thailand and Vietnam in the beginning of November 2025, it ran through the central provinces of the Philippines, where it was known as Typhoon Tino. Several provinces were hit hard, but the most damage was in the Cebu province, where Marve Walwal grew up.
According to GMA Integrated News, 150 of the 269 recorded deaths in the Philippines were in Cebu. Walwal says her hometown, San Isidro, Talisay City, was only a 20-minute walk from one of the hardest hit areas in Cebu.
When Walwal heard about the effects of the typhoon, she had already had a trip planned to visit her father toward the end of November.
“At first, I was just collecting bottles and clothes to help a little bit,” says Walwal.
Then her boss suggested she reach out to the Drayton Valley Community Foundation about their crisis relief grant. After applying through the Drayton Valley Multicultural Association, Walwal was granted $10,000 to offer aid to those affected by the typhoon. She also partnered with the Cebu chapter of the UNIFIED Inglewood Association, which is a Filipino teacher association based in California, United States, to secure the grant.
Walwal says Inglewood was already involved in relief efforts after a 6.9 earthquake hit only a month before the typhoon.
Because Tino had hit so close to home, some of Walwal’s childhood friends and acquaintances were affected. She also had the benefit of connections with people who worked in the local government for the area.
“Most people in the town office are mostly my childhood friends,” says Walwal.
While she was down there from November 28 to December 18, Walwal did her best to ensure the funds went directly to those in need to avoid any corruption. The only organizations involved were the multicultural association and UNIFIED Inglewood, and the relief efforts provided by the funding are still underway in Cebu.
Walwal started at the relief centre in her hometown, bringing the donated goods with her and inquiring about how she could help. She says they chose to help those who were at the relief centre because those individuals did not have family or other support they could go to for help.
“We made a list,” says Walwal. “We needed some utensils, medication, this and that. We were able to help at least 250 people at the time.”
She says there were a lot of volunteers at the centre, and she had brought together several volunteers and family members to help her with her own efforts to help. Knowing the patrons at the relief centre were being looked after, she decided to look for areas where she could be more effective.
“Then I met some people who said the government hadn’t gone to their place because it’s a remote area,” says Walwal. “[They were in] an area where no vehicles can go there …and they don’t have transportation to go there.”
Across the Philippines, more than 600,000 homes were damaged, with 75,000 needing to be replaced. Walwal’s father encouraged her to build homes, but she knew they were limited to how many they could build. They had to carefully consider which families they could help out.
She says they plan to build six homes for families in remote areas. They already have contractors who have stepped up to the task and are volunteering their time. All Walwal has to do is provide the supplies.
Since Walwal is back in Canada, the UNIFIED Inglewood Association is acting on her behalf in Cebu. As the housing projects come up, Walwal is sending them money to cover the costs of roofing materials, lumber, and other items necessary for building a home.
While she’s confident she will be able to help some families, Walwal says she’s paying attention to the costs of goods. Once the rebuilds start on a larger scale across the province, the prices of some commodities will rise due to demand, and it may impact the number of homes she can build.
Though her trip home was tempered by the damage caused by Tino, Walwal says she still enjoyed reconnecting with friends and loved ones. She says there were moments that showed the resilience of the people in her hometown.
“They are already devastated, but children still play there as if nothing [had happened],” says Walwal. “They are resilient.”
Anyone who is interested in donating funds to help with the relief efforts can reach out to the Drayton Valley Multicultural Association at 780-514-5249
I am grateful that I don’t have to be grateful for something every single day.
Yes, you read that correctly. I don’t have to find something to be thankful for on a day when my car breaks down on the way to work, I find out I forgot to send off that one cheque, and my child tells me at about 8:30 p.m. that they need two dozen home made cupcakes for the next morning.
Gratitude is something we all need to practice more often, but the current trend of journaling about the many things you appreciate each day can be toxic. I mean, honestly, how many times can you be sincerely grateful for that first sip of coffee every morning?
To use a word my dad always used when I was little, people are putting a little too much em-PHAS-is on the wrong thing.
A rote practice of gratitude journaling can lead to something called toxic positivity. This is a condition in which people feel it’s so important to be positive that they ignore their negative emotions and don’t process them.
A good example of this trait is Dolores Umbridge from Harry Potter. This is a woman who at first appears to be a kind older woman who loves cats way too much. But as we get to know the character, we see that all of her cheerfulness and positive attitude are a cover up for her anger and racism.
The movie Inside Out also demonstrates this point as we see the character Joy, who also deals with toxic positivity, try to suppress Sadness because she believes Riley should always be happy. The main conflict in the movie is Riley’s struggle with accepting and processing the negative emotions that are a normal part of life.
We even have an idiom for this kind of situation. Someone who is looking at a situation through rose-coloured glasses is indeed seeing all the positives in a situation, but they are also overlooking important details that they don’t want to accept. Sometimes, a car is a lemon, and the salesperson’s fumbling attempts at flirting are just a scheme to get you to let your guard down.
Scientifically, studies have been done showing the benefits of gratitude journals. It can reduce stress, help with sleep, reduce anxiety and depression, and do numerous other things. However, those achievements are only successful when the person genuinely feels the gratitude.
Imagine coming home after a long weekend away to two feet of fresh snow on your driveway and six inches of compacted snow on your front sidewalk. You are tired, cold, and looking forward to getting into your favourite pair of pyjamas, but when you get to your front door, you see a ticket for failing to clear your sidewalks.
The argument for gratitude could be something like, at least I have a sidewalk and driveway to shovel, or this is a great opportunity for me to try out my new snowblower. However, another healthy way to look at the situation is saying, well this sucks, and I’m not happy about this.
Another commonly used idiom is everything in moderation. The same goes for gratitude. Yes, you should be grateful for many of the things in your life, and if you feel like your life is lacking, you should look at what you do have. At the same time, it’s important to acknowledge and feel the negative things.
Go forth, dear reader, and allow yourself to feel the anger. The next time your coworker steals your pop out of the fridge, I encourage you to drop an f-bomb and express yourself. You’ll feel much better.
Last year was a busy one for the Drayton Valley Healthcare Auxiliary.
Doreen Beckett, the president and manager of the Drayton Valley Healthcare Auxiliary Thrift Store, says they raise funds for the Drayton Valley Hospital, the Serenity House, and the Breton Extended Care facility. Last year, they spent several hundred thousand to support those spaces.
The organization, which raises funds through sales at the Thrift Store and at the gift shop in the Drayton Valley Hospital, was able to donate $180,000 to the renovation of the palliative care room, $70,000 to the eSIM lab, while also purchasing an ICG machine, an ultrasound machine, replaced windows, replaced furniture, and more in the last year.
Along with practical donations, the Auxiliary also spent money on Christmas decorations to help keep spirits high.
Beckett says in the past, the facilities would provide the Auxiliary with a wish list of items they wanted, and the organization would put funds towards those projects or equipment. Today, they receive information packets about different projects and from there they choose how to spend their funds.
“We have purchased a lot of things last year,” says Beckett.
While they spent a lot of money in 2025, it isn’t always easy for them to raise the funds in the first place. The Thrift Store relies on donations from the public as well as the sales to the public. However, over the years, they’ve had to adjust the times they’ve had to make changes to what donations they will accept and what conditions those donations need to be in, as well.
“It’s been good since we put the gate on,” says Beckett. “We cannot go without having the gate closed.”
She says volunteers have to go through every donation they receive to make sure it is fit to be sold. In many cases, people have donated items they believe still have some use or use the drop-off as a place to save some money rather than going to the dump.
“It’s cheaper to dump it there than it is to take it to the dump,” says Beckett.
With the gate up, Beckett says donors have to wait until someone is present to accept the items. At that point, the volunteers can turn some of the items away. If unwanted donations are left, then the Auxiliary has to cover the cost of the dump fees to get rid of them.
After taking a break over the holidays, the thrift store opened again on January 6. Their hours for drop off are from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, with shopping hours running from 12:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. On Thursdays, the drop off starts at 7:30 a.m. until 1 p.m. with the store opening from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
That’s just about a wrap for 2025. With the end in sight, it’s time to look back and reflect on the good and bad of the last 12 months.
Starting at the top, it was a mixed year for Justin Trudeau. On one hand he was able to step aside as prime minister without being chased by an angry mob. On the other hand, he had to go on a date with Katy Perry, which was something nobody wanted to see.
It was a bad year for Katy Perry.
In other celebrity news, Taylor Swift took time off from counting her enormous pile of money to get engaged to a man in a ridiculous hat.
We said goodbye to Robert Redford, Ozzy Osbourne, Hulk Hogan, Jane Goodall, Gene Hackman, Connie Francis, Jimmy Swaggart and a host of other people of varying degrees of fame or notoriety, but who are no doubt missed by those who loved them
Pierre Poilievre probably wishes he could have a do over of the last 12 months. Back in January he seemed all set to be next Top Canadian. A couple of months later he had the look of someone who’s woken up to find his dog had left a little surprise in his favourite underwear and then run off with the next door neighbour.
Meanwhile Mark Carney spent much of 2025 with the look of a man who’d unexpectedly found fifty bucks in the pocket of an old suit and was wondering if he should tell his wife or keep it to himself.
In sports, the Blue Jays came this close (I am holding my thumb and forefinger about a centimetre apart) to winning the World Series, but then didn’t. It was fun while it lasted though.
It was a huge year, spectacular really, very very spectacular, probably the best year ever, for tariffs and the people who like them.
But it was a dreadful year for the man formerly known as His Royal Highness Prince Andrew, Duke of York, Earl of Inverness and Baron Killyleigh who I think we’re now supposed to refer to as plain old Andy W.
Closer to home, the municipal elections brought some new faces to town and county councils. The new people are still feeling their way in, so we’ll have more of a sense of how things are going to shape up from a municipal perspective in a few months.
The Omniplex got a new mural on the outside wall and a new name too. It is now called the Team Auctions Centre, for those of you who like to keep track of that sort of thing. I intend to continue to call it the Omniplex, because I am too old and stuck in my ways to change. Incidentally, I noticed a while back that you can tell how long someone has lived in Drayton Valley by what they call the store now known as Your Independent Grocer. To me, it will always be Extra Foods, while some of my friends still call it Blocks. Keeping up with the times? Not us. No sireee. We’ll leave that to the young folks.
And that’s your lot. Or at least it’s all I have room for. Thanks for sticking with us through the year that’s (almost) gone by.
There will be no Free Press next week, because of Christmas. We’ll be back, bleary eyed and wondering where we left our car keys, on January 1 of a whole new year!.
See you in 2026.
Psst….this is just a sample of what we have in the full Free Press.
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Hamper requests at the Drayton Valley Food Bank have increased this year, but not at the same rate as last year.
Phil Bell, the treasurer for the board, says that along with the increase in hamper requests, there have also been more in-kind donations.
“[Drayton Valley] is a very generous community,” he says. “It continues to amaze us.”
Bell says last year there was a 50 percent bump in people, but this year the increase was roughly 10 percent, or about 200 family units.
“Last year was probably the biggest increase we’ve ever experienced,” he says.
Over the past 13 years, the most significant increases in usage were in 2015, when the number of hampers jumped up to 948. By 2016, they had doubled the number of hampers they gave out in 2012 and were sitting at 1,262. For the next seven years, the hampers didn’t increase significantly, and even dropped in 2020.
In 2023, the number of hampers spiked to more than 1,600, and in 2024, that number increased to 2,479. The projected total for 2025 is 2,750 hampers.
“We are seeing more working people coming as well,” says Bell. “To me that’s a sign that people are just struggling to make it.”
Only two percent of users have indicated they are unsheltered. Another four percent have given no information. The remainder of the users are from other counties (three percent), Brazeau County (26 percent), and Drayton Valley (65 percent).
The reason for the slowdown isn’t clear, says Bell. He’s not sure if the inflation rate is affecting things or if last year the bulk of the people needing help came forward.
Even though they did see an increase, Bell says this year they haven’t had to cut their hamper sizes, which further goes to show the generosity of the community. They’ve also been able to give out more seasonal items this year because some companies and individuals have given large donations. Hams, chocolates, and Christmas oranges were some of the items that were donated.
“We were able to supplement all the hampers with those items, which was nice to be able to give to people this time of year,” says Bell.
In order to ensure they can still continue to supply hampers to those that need them, Bell says they have been working to get their Foodbanks Canada accreditation.
“That’s kind of a heavy lift for us to be able to get these standards in place so that we can maintain our membership under Food Banks Alberta, which is under Food Banks Canada,” says Bell.
The accreditation will help the food bank with federal grants as well as the allotment that it gets from Food Banks Alberta. Every year, the food bank pays $150 for a membership with Food Banks Alberta, and in return they get between 3,000 and 4,000 lb of food every month.
“They only charge us $100 to get the food out here,” says Bell. “That’s a refrigerated truck, so we have access to frozen stuff.”
Because of the significance of the allotments, Bell says they are working hard to meet the requirements set forth. He says Drayton Valley is expected to continue to grow, and with that growth could come a higher demand for services, but he’s confident that the community will continue to step up to help those who need it.
Anyone looking to make a donation to the food bank can visit www.draytonvalleyfoodbank.ca/donate.
Did somebody say the F word?
A long, long time ago there was a push to build a fieldhouse in Drayton Valley. It began as an idea to create a dedicated space for indoor soccer. That sounded just dandy. Then some other folks got involved and they added all sorts of stuff to the proposal
Wild Rose to charge for busing
Due to a gap between provincial funding and actual transportation costs, the Wild Rose School Division will be charging busing fees for students beginning in the 2026/27 school year.
Opinion: Don’t write off seniors
There is a little bit of a stereotype around newspapers. Some people think that the only people who read them are seniors. Our data shows otherwise. Typically as soon as you own property or enter the family phase of life, you get more involved in the community.
Hockey and firefighting go hand in hand
The Drayton Valley Thunder players recently had the chance to see if their team-building skills held up off the ice.
Drayton Valley/Brazeau County Fire Services Chief Tom Thomson says the team has been getting to meet and exercise with fire services members for some time.
