City of Kelowna providing travel assistance for Okanagan Sun

[Castanet News]

The Okanagan Sun got an assist from Kelowna city council Monday morning. Council agreed to take $10,000 from its contingency fund to help the junior football...

[Mike_T]

I need a hand getting to my important thing in Hawaii

little help? 30K would do it

[strongarm242]

Why should taxpayers be funding a private sports team's travel expenses? There's lots of us out there with kids in sports, music, etc. that don't get help and/or expect help from anyone to cover expenses, never mind City Hall. What's so special about these guys? I think the mayor is abusing his authority here and needs to get his priorities straight.

[RustyCrayon]

I agree with strongarm242. The team should do some fundraising if they need extra money. It shouldn't be up to the taxpayers to pay.

[the truth]

Why should taxpayers be funding a private sports team's travel expenses? There's lots of us out there with kids in sports, music, etc. that don't get help and/or expect help from anyone to cover expenses, never mind City Hall. What's so special about these guys? I think the mayor is abusing his authority here and needs to get his priorities straight.

I am a big sports guy, but in this case I agree with you 100%.
On a side note for those who do not know dyas is a very big sports fan, would explain why this happened

[amandaauch_82]

To the ppl commenting and complaining saying the Okanagan Sun don't deserve to have help for their trip....SHAME ON YOU! What if it was YOUR kid going to play for the Canadian Bowl or a big sporting event that the team couldn't afford on their own?! I bet you'd be singing a different tune! What's your issue with supporting a winning team? These guys deserve to go play in Windsor and not have to worry about expenses.
My son is in sports too and what?! The City isn't paying for his sports but I'm not going to cry about the City helping out the Okanagan Sun. "What's so special about these guys?" LOL! They actually win games! They have played hard all year long, they are undefeated and they deserve this money! Unless you're paying the whole thing for these guys to go play for the Canadian Bowl, surely you have something better to complain about. If I had the money to send these guys on their trip, I would gladly help fund this! Oh that's right, my tax dollars are paying for this and it's the one thing I'm happy to see my tax dollars going towards.
GO SUN GO! Let's bring home the Canadian Bowl!

[strongarm242]

To the ppl commenting and complaining saying the Okanagan Sun don't deserve to have help for their trip....SHAME ON YOU! What if it was YOUR kid going to play for the Canadian Bowl or a big sporting event that the team couldn't afford on their own?! I bet you'd be singing a different tune! What's your issue with supporting a winning team? These guys deserve to go play in Windsor and not have to worry about expenses.
My son is in sports too and what?! The City isn't paying for his sports but I'm not going to cry about the City helping out the Okanagan Sun. "What's so special about these guys?" LOL! They actually win games! They have played hard all year long, they are undefeated and they deserve this money! Unless you're paying the whole thing for these guys to go play for the Canadian Bowl, surely you have something better to complain about. If I had the money to send these guys on their trip, I would gladly help fund this! Oh that's right, my tax dollars are paying for this and it's the one thing I'm happy to see my tax dollars going towards.
GO SUN GO! Let's bring home the Canadian Bowl!

If it were my kid I wouldn't expect the money and I wouldn't want to take it. Regardless of how good they are or how hard they worked it's inappropriate and the optics are bad. It now sets a precedent and who will decide moving forward which kids, sports, activities, etc. get funding? Only the ones that the mayor has a soft spot for? The mayor has let his love of football cloud his judgement here.

Pay your own way like every other parent with kids in activities. Fundraise if you have to. Start a Go Fund Me.

[RustyCrayon]

To the ppl commenting and complaining saying the Okanagan Sun don't deserve to have help for their trip....SHAME ON YOU! What if it was YOUR kid going to play for the Canadian Bowl or a big sporting event that the team couldn't afford on their own?! I bet you'd be singing a different tune! What's your issue with supporting a winning team? These guys deserve to go play in Windsor and not have to worry about expenses.
My son is in sports too and what?! The City isn't paying for his sports but I'm not going to cry about the City helping out the Okanagan Sun. "What's so special about these guys?" LOL! They actually win games! They have played hard all year long, they are undefeated and they deserve this money! Unless you're paying the whole thing for these guys to go play for the Canadian Bowl, surely you have something better to complain about. If I had the money to send these guys on their trip, I would gladly help fund this! Oh that's right, my tax dollars are paying for this and it's the one thing I'm happy to see my tax dollars going towards.
GO SUN GO! Let's bring home the Canadian Bowl!

"To the ppl commenting and complaining saying the Okanagan Sun don't deserve to have help for their trip....SHAME ON YOU!"



Once again, I'm with strongarm242. If my kid and their team needed money to travel to some sports event/competition/game, we would do some fun fundraising. We would not ask, expect or take taxpayer money. Even if they were really really good and "actually win games!"

If anyone needs to be ashamed, it's the mayor for giving them taxpayer money.

[URudolph]

As a parent whose daughter has progressed in youth soccer for a decade, we are told in advance to expect that there will be associated additional costs to cover things like travel expenses. When my daughter's soccer team traveled to the U.K. to meet with their sister club, the parents paid those travel expenses. I'm not a Grinch. But the parents who sign their kids and youth up for league sport, should do so knowing that travel will be the most expensive component that they will be expected to fund.

The City of Kelowna is contributing $10,000 to help offset the cost of sending the Kelowna Sun football team to Ontario.. At best, that money should be a loan, to be reimbursed back to the city through various team fund raising efforts. It's time they put their thinking caps on to identify creative ways to raise money on their own.