A LOCAL teen takes her love of helping the community from here to the rest of the province with her latest endeavour.
Selena Kunar, 16, is raising money to send underprivileged children to Camp Phoenix and began with a coin drive at Skeena Junior where the classroom that brought in the most coins won a pizza lunch.
The Camp Phoenix staff consists of the young people who go to the BC Youth Parliament, which Kunar attended during Christmas break, and she plans to apply for a camp position.
At the BC Youth Parliament for youths 16 to 21, she was the youngest of the group of 95 students from around B.C. who took part.
“I was lucky enough to be one,” she said of the opportunity to go to youth parliament.
The young people conducted their own parliament, which wasn’t a mock parliament, as the bills that were passed will go to the provincial government, she said.
Two of the several bills the young people voted on included one to legalize marijuana that passed by a slim margin of 37 votes to 35 and another to make voting in municipal elections mandatory, which failed to pass by a 34 to 32 vote against it, said Kunar.
The mandatory municipal election voting bill was taken from Australia, where people are hit with an extra tax if they don’t vote in municipal elections, she explained.
Kunar won the northwestern heritage fair here and went on to the provincial heritage fair where she showcased her project, her family tree, which stretched back five generations and did well there too.
Kunar also coaches mixed badminton, girls basketball and boys volleyball at Suwilaawks, which she’s been doing for six years now.
“I do a lot of sports myself but I enjoy coaching,” she said.
It’s her first year at Caledonia, and not too many clubs have started, but in the past she has been a member of the cancer cause, the leadership committee, peer tutoring and physics club.
Kunar is planning more fundraisers for Camp Phoenix in future.
A Vancouver business, Turning Point Resolutions, that works on resolving conflicts in the workplace, schools and families across the country, is also sponsoring her fundraising efforts for Camp Phoenix and will match the amount she raises up to $1,000, she said.
She would love to have a local business be involved too, even if that just means leaving a donation can there for people to put their change in if they’d like to help.
“I’m hoping to make my fundraisers bigger and larger and if anyone wants to donate please call me,” said Kunar, adding any donations are appreciated very much.
To donate to Camp Phoenix, email her at skunar02@hotmail.com.
Camp Phoenix is a weeklong residential summer camp for children between the ages of eight to 12, who would otherwise be unable to attend a summer camp due to social or financial circumstances.
Camp Phoenix is held at different campsites throughout the province each year.