Helping Hand
Consultation has concluded

The City of Penticton and Valley First, a division of First West Credit Union, have selected a sculpture from their Call For Artists issued last fall. David Jacob Harder’s proposal for Helping Hand was chosen by a jury of three local artists and City and Valley First representatives for a permanent spot in front of the Valley First branch at 184 Main Street.
Residents invited to lend a hand
Mr. Harder’s submission was set apart from other proposals by the opportunity for the community to get involved in the sculpture. Residents are invited to suggest a series of words that convey the spirit of community in Penticton to be etched on the exterior of the hand.
Drop in at an event on March 29 to meet the artist and suggest your words. Not able to attend? Submit your words through shapeyourcitypenticton.ca or at City Hall. Once the words are collected, a shortlist will be created and you can vote on the final words to be used on the sculpture.
The final list will be translated into nsyilxcən (Syilx Okanagan) in collaboration with the Enowkin Centre, as well as some of the languages commonly spoken in Penticton in collaboration with the South Okanagan Immigrant and Community Services Society (SOICS).
The City of Penticton and Valley First, a division of First West Credit Union, have selected a sculpture from their Call For Artists issued last fall. David Jacob Harder’s proposal for Helping Hand was chosen by a jury of three local artists and City and Valley First representatives for a permanent spot in front of the Valley First branch at 184 Main Street.
Residents invited to lend a hand
Mr. Harder’s submission was set apart from other proposals by the opportunity for the community to get involved in the sculpture. Residents are invited to suggest a series of words that convey the spirit of community in Penticton to be etched on the exterior of the hand.
Drop in at an event on March 29 to meet the artist and suggest your words. Not able to attend? Submit your words through shapeyourcitypenticton.ca or at City Hall. Once the words are collected, a shortlist will be created and you can vote on the final words to be used on the sculpture.
The final list will be translated into nsyilxcən (Syilx Okanagan) in collaboration with the Enowkin Centre, as well as some of the languages commonly spoken in Penticton in collaboration with the South Okanagan Immigrant and Community Services Society (SOICS).
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Over 380 words received!
Share Over 380 words received! on Facebook Share Over 380 words received! on Twitter Share Over 380 words received! on Linkedin Email Over 380 words received! linkCLOSED: This discussion has concluded.The opportunity to suggest words to be etched on the exterior of the sculpture is now closed. Thank you to everyone who suggested their word through shapeyourcitypenticton.ca or to the artist in person during one of the events on March 28 and 29. The complete list of words is provided below. You can see snapshots from the events on this page. The words are also on display at City Hall.
Change in process
We had originally planned to invite registered members to vote for their favorites but because the words will be translated, it needs to be a more collaborative process between the artist and the translators. This means that you won't see which words were selected until the sculpture is unveiled the second weekend in May.
Your words
"Hand"some... "My Penticton is hedonistic!" "welcome"; "sharing"; "friendly" 2 lakes A Helping Hand. Penticton help those who fall on hard times whether it's a health issue or financial issue the community comes together. about lakes Accepting Accepting Accessible nothing is more than 5 minutes. accessible active active adventure adventurous alive (russian) Alive! - Penticton is a place to experience life to the fullest. Amazeballs! amazing Amazing appealing Artsy attractive awesome awesome bahay (home tagalog) balance balanced beaches beaches beautiful beautiful beautiful Beautiful beautiful (hungarian) beautiful and safe Beautiful beaches beautiful town better life bicycle trails big heart BLISS blossoms brave Breathtaking bro butterfly (metamorphosis) Capable captivating captivating Caring caring, giving, helping, sharing in the spirit of kindness. Caring. just read the local paper or walk our streets. if you say good morning or hello, a smile or other response in return. our many volunteers, groups and individuals. Penticton cares! cathartic cats Citizenship Clean clean Collective Spirit comfort Community community Community, Friendly, Alive, Bustle, Liveliness, Enterprise, Vitality, Elvis, Peach, Okanagan, Fruit, Wineries, Vineyards, Beautiful, Sunny, Welcoming compassion compassion compassionate connections connections cool cool cool Cooperation cornucopial crazy culture day camp destination dignity Diverse Diverse diverse diverse diverse DIVERSE Penticton is diverse in so many aspects: landscape, climate, demographics, year-round lifestyle opportunities, arts and culture activities and multiculturalism. Diversity dogs dogsome downtown Drivers empathy empathy enchanting enchanting end-of-the-rainbow enduring energetic Engaging epic equality evolving evolving exceptional weather exciting Explore beauty,eat peaches fabulous family family family, friends and beautiful scenery fellowship festivals fish-tastic flower power for everyone Forever fortnite fortunate and blessing free internet freedom Freedom FRESH Friendliness friendly friendly Friendly Friendly friendly (hungarian) friends friendship fruit trees full of love fun fun fun Funlicious generations generous genuine giving back go karts good town grounding Growing Hand-in-hand Hands up! happy happy happy Harmonious harmony Harmony 'Harmony' ~ working together, cooperation and friendship along with the beauty the makes Penticton so special. HARMONY -represents: living in harmony with the Indigenous peoples upon whose land we live; the city living in harmony with nature; the long-term residents living in harmony with the newcomers; people & wildlife live in harmony ; harmony of past & future Help One Another Helping hand. In Penticton whenever someone is struggling or hurting or fail on hard times when people find out in the community they go above and beyond to help that person. Whether it is through financial means or building something. Hi! hiking hiking trails hiking trails Home Home home home HOME home HOME Home Home home home Home home (domov) home (ghar urdu) home town hope hope Hospitable human (russian) Inclusion Inclusion INCLUSIVE inclusive Inclusive inclusive inclusive inclusive inclusive Inclusive industrious Inspiring integrity integrity interactive Ironman Ironman joie de vivre Just so GRAPEfull to live in the beautiful Okanagan! justice Kind Kind Kind lakes lakes Lakes Lawless Leave Nobody Behind! legacy Lively lots of support Love love Love love love lovely lovely (maravilloso) lovely people loving loving loving loving and peace loving and peaceful loving people loyal loyal mabuhay (welcome tagalog) making lasting memories markets meowsome minecraft multicultural Musical My Penticton is ebullient My Penticton is Perfection My Penticton is picturesque, home and community, nature at its best, welcoming, Canada’s Wine Region, place for everyone My Penticton is the HAND OF HARMONY my playground natural nature everywhere nature, calm and recreation nature.....community......family. Penticton is a place where people, families come to enjoy the natural surroundings...for free. That is Penticton's 'brand' - enjoying the abundance of life and nature with the community and family-any kind of family nice people no traffic off the wall opportunity (tagalog) organization (hungarian) our lakes outdoor playground outdoors P for peaceloving, E for enduring, N for noble, T for timeless, I for inviting, C for caring, T for transparent, O for open, N for non-judgemental, surrounded by Harmony and Hospitality! paradise Paradise paradise part of paradise peace peace peace peace and quiet peaceful peaceful peaceful peaceful Peaceloving peach Peachy Penticton is what I tell visitors is 'Paradise'. We have it all, mountains, fresh clean lakes, beaches, all sorts of outdoor year-round activities, vineyards, wineries, orchards, and good people. People-centred perfect perfect perfect Picturesque picturesque pink skies playful PlayPen! Pentabulus! Mysandbox! Funscape! Stay'nPlay! PenUltimate! PentAwesome! FanCity! FunCity! MyPenticton! OkanAwesome! MyHappyPlace! WelcomeHome! SuperCity! PowerPlay! PentAction! ForeverMine! ForeverPlace! PentAction! GoPen! Oh-Pen! AllForOne! Playtime pleasant Precious pride pristine progressive progressive Progressive, inclusive, supportive proud quiet quiet place (tiche miesto) REACHING recycle Reminiscent resilience resourceful resourceful resplendent Room for everyone roots S.U.P. Time safe safe safe safe safe safe (punjab) safer sanctuary secrets and alleyways serendipity serendipity skaha slow down and smell the roses small social sparkling spirit of penticton is:united/friendly/spiritual/peaceful spirited Stop and think summer summer's paradise Sunlicious sunny sunrise Sunshine super supercalifragilisticexpealadocius superOKfragilistic the best place The City with a helping hand The honest hand of humanity. the mall The Place To Live Forever! The word should be "PEACH" in our opinion as the peach has been here in three centuries so what else would be more appropriate.especially with that is what people know penticton for.thanks.have a great day The...Spirit of Harmony timeless togetherness tourism trails tranquil tranquility transportation Tree Of Hands Unique unity unity urban user-friendly vacations valuable variety very kind people vibrant vibrant vibrant vineyard and beauty volunteer volunteer walk a dog warm warm warm Warm and Welcoming Warmth We belong Welcome Welcome Welcome to Penticton! Welcome! welcoming welcoming welcoming welcoming Welcoming Wholesome Wonderland , Penticton is full of Hope, inspiration, friends, family and beauty. Penticton is a magical place, “wonderland” envelops all those things. wondrous
Snapshots
Meet the Artist! Public Events
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29 March 2019
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29 March 2019
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29 March 2019
Get involved
Meet the Artist! Private Events
The artist is also visiting several locations on March 28 to meet with members of the following organizations:
- Penticton Seniors' Drop-in Centre (8:30 am to 9:30 am)
- Community Centre Spring Break Camp (10:30 am to 12 pm)
- South Okanagan Immigrant and Community Services (1 pm to 2 pm)
- Library Teen Night (6 pm to 6:45 pm)
- Enowkin Centre (to be confirmed)
Timeline
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Suggest your word
Helping Hand has finished this stageThe City and Valley First are accepting submissions until March 31.
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Identify the list
Helping Hand is currently at this stageThe artist will work with staff and local translators to develop the list that will be inscribed on the sculpture.
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Sculpture unveiled
this is an upcoming stage for Helping HandThe words will be revealed when the Helping Hand sculpture is unveiled the weekend of May 10 and 11.