Beryl Itani

As the volunteer emergency social services director for the City of Kelowna and latterly for the Central Okanagan Regional District, BURL Itani has been on-call, every hour of every day, for the last 20 years. During the 2003 Okanagan Firestorm, Beryl was instrumental in the region’s largest evacuation in history. It was her professional leadership that led the team that evacuated and cared for 30,000 Kelowna residents. As well, Beryl has served in other volunteer capacities in her community; the Sunshine Theatre, the Justice Institute of B.C.and for 27 years on Kelowna’s Snowfest Committee. Fire Chief Gerry Zimmerman notes that Beryl is considered one of the best examples of a true volunteer and regardless of the situation over the years, ‘Beryl has never let us down’.