Business excellence awards honour community builders

It’s not surprising that David Kampe of Peters Bros. was awarded the Businessman of the Year award at Saturday night’s annual Business Excellence Awards.

From being a major sponsor of the Peach Festival and providing free tickets to Vees games for kids to contributing millions to the Penticton Regional Hospital’s tower expansion — now named the David E. Kampe Tower in his honour — David Kampe and Peters Bros. have supported Penticton for many years.

Related: Peter’s Bros. Construction steps up to get youth at Vees games

Kampe couldn’t be on hand for the Penticton and Wine Country Chamber of Commerce’s annual awards gala at the Penticton Lakeside Resort Saturday, but Joe Cuzzocrea, construction president for Peters Bros., was there to accept the award in his stead.

Cuzzocrea said the award was well-deserved and Kampe was very happy to be nominated.

“Dave has been a pillar of the community for years,” said Cuzzocrea, adding that he doesn’t think anyone has done more for the community than Dave Kampe.

“He’s pretty well lived here for his whole life. He just wants to give back to the community which he has done for many years.”

Related: Best of: Peters Bros. making the community stronger

Save-On Foods Penticton was the winner of the Business of the Year Award. Now in their 30th year of operating at the Cherry lane Shopping Centre, they have a long history of supporting the community through the local hockey clubs, the Salvation Army Food Bank, Soupateria, Rotary Club projects, South Okanagan Hospital Foundation, Penticton Jazz Festival, various schools and other groups that have asked for fundraising support.

Cameron Betts, of Betts Electric, was chosen as the Young Business Leader of the Year. Betts is the fourth generation in his family to run the business and he is very active in the community volunteering for the Apex Ski Patrol and JCI Penticton.

“I love being a part of Penticton. My family and myself have grown up here over the years. Our business has been here since 1933 and we couldn’t be happier to live in Penticton and be a part of the community.”

Other winners at the 2018 business excellence awards include: Sustainable Resource Industry Excellence Award: Ogopogo Tours, Workplace Culture Excellence Award: Penticton Lakeside Resort and Conference Centre, Service Excellence Award: Boyd Autobody and Glass, Tourism Excellence Award: Penticton Farmers’ Market, Newsmakers of the Year: South Okanagan Events Centre, Non-Profit Organization of the Year: YES Project, Health and Wellness in the Workplace: Valley First Credit Union: a division of First West Coast Credit Union, Farm to Glass Award: Cannery Brewing, Community Volunteer of the Year: Tracy Van Raes, Community Impact Award- South Okanagan Immigrant and Community Services, Most Valuable Employee Award: Liz Murphy from Hoodoo Adventure Co. and New Business Award: NuVista Chiropractic and Wellness.

Related: Nominees announced for 2018 Business Excellence Awards