Maureen Sywolos remembers the first time she heard about Project Porchlight. Regional coordinator Jane Baker had travelled to Tumbler Ridge this July to introduce the campaign and announce plans to expand to North Eastern BC. Maureen heard the presentation and was interested in getting involved, but was too busy to volunteer at the time. When she ran into Jane on October 2nd at the Tumbler Ridge Community Centre [1], she saw an opportunity to make a contribution.

“It was a lucky circumstance,” says Maureen, who was at the centre for a Tumbler Ridge Community Arts Council [2] meeting down the hall from where Jane was scheduled to meet with the Tumbler Ridge Lions Club. “It so happened that our meeting this last week was the same night as the Lions… so I invited her to drop in (to our meeting).”

Turns out it was a very good thing she did! Jane was a welcome addition to the Tumbler Ridge Community Arts Council [3] agenda. Maureen and several of her fellow Council members signed up to deliver a total of 450 light bulbs throughout Tumbler Ridge.

“The program sounded promising,” says Maureen, who has already replaced almost every bulb in her house with a CFL. “In spite of the fact that there are ads on television and so on, I suspect that a number of people are still not really aware, or perhaps they’re a little shy of buying an unusual bulb. This way, if they get a free one and try it, they’ll see that it can be quite useful.”

Now, months after hearing about the campaign, Maureen is looking forward to donning her Project Porchlight toque and button and doing her part to promote CFLs in Tumbler Ridge.