TAKE THE 'WINDOW CHALLENGE'

COLD LAKE - In a brief telephone interview on the weekend, Constable Luana
Giroux of the Cold Lake RCMP detachment had nothing but kind words to say
about Barb Spilchuk.

"She is vice-principal of the (Grand Centre) middle school in Cold Lake,
and she gets involved in the community a lot for as long as I've known her.
She's got a doctorate, she teaches university courses, and has a PhD as
well. She's a very smart woman," said Cst. Giroux.

Not only is she smart; she's also extremely generous. Just how far does her
community involvement go? All of the work she does outside of school, she
wants donated to Cold Lake RCMP Victims Services and the DARE program.

Spilchuk is on a mission to decorate as many windows in this city as possible.

"She wants to challenge all of the businesses downtown to have their
windows decorated by her for Halloween and for fall to raise money for the
DARE program," said Cst. Giroux.

DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) is an RCMP initiative for Grade 6
students, aimed at keeping these young people from getting involved with
alcohol, tobacco and other harmful drugs.

The program costs about $20 per student per year.

Business owners getting their storefront windows decorated are actually
helping kids in the community.

"There are so many kids who smoke and drink. If we can prevent this is in
any way, that would be perfect," said Cst. Giroux.

Any doubts about the professionalism of Spilchuk's windows will quickly be
laid to rest after seeing Images Foto Source in downtown Cold Lake.

Images manager Susie O'Connor wanted her windows decorated, so she asked
Spilchuk how much this would cost.

"She said she wouldn't charge anything as long as I gave a donation to the
RCMP Victims Services and the DARE program," said O'Connor.

Spilchuk decorated the windows - and they looked magnificent! O'Connor
donated $50 to Victims Services and DARE.

"Now I am challenging other businesses to hire Barb to get into the spirit
of fall," said O'Connor, referring to this as a sort of "Decorate to
Donate" campaign.

Any business owner wanting their storefront windows decorated by Spilchuk
is asked to contact either O'Connor at Images or Cst. Giroux at the RCMP
Victims Services.

"I am challenging every business to meet or beat the $50," added O'Connor.