For over 60 years, Arrow Transportation Systems has been operating in Kamloops. It all began in 1960 when Arrow hauled fuel for Shell and then expanded operations six years later, hauling pulp for the Kamloops Pulp and Paper Company, now Domtar’s Kamloops Mill. Today, Arrow Transportation is just one of the Arrow Group of Companies operating in Kamloops and within the Central Interior Region – others include Arrow Reload Systems, Arrow Environmental Services, Arrow Marines Services and Streamline Transportation Technologies. Founded in 1919, the family-owned company has over 1,200 employees in Canada and the United States, and has strong ties to Kamloops with more than a quarter of its workforce based in the Central Interior Region and an operational headquarters in the city.

With such a long history and firm commitment to the region, supporting the Royal Inland Hospital’s capital campaign for a new Patient Care Tower was an easy decision for Arrow. The company’s Vice President Trucking, Tim Bell, sits on RIH’s fundraising committee. “More than 350 Arrow employees are based in the Central Interior Region and many, like me, grew up here.” He continues, “Arrow’s yellow trucks were part of the fabric of our childhoods and I can guarantee every one of us has been touched by RIH at some point too. Therefore, it’s our collective responsibility now, as members of this community, to step up and help the Foundation reach its fundraising goals,” he explained.

Jackie Charles is Arrow’s Chief Information Officer & Vice President Corporate Development, and is also the great granddaughter of Arrow’s founder, C.W. Charles. “The heart of our commitment to corporate responsibility is to support the health and wellness of our employees, and the communities in which we live and do business. As a fourth generation family member, it’s a privilege to work alongside people whose parents and grandparents were a part of Arrow’s long history, and whose children or relatives will be future employees. Family and community are an essential part of Arrow’s DNA.”

The Charles family, on behalf of the Arrow Group of Companies and all Arrow employees, is making a $250,000 donation to RIH to fund 1 of 11 state-of-the-art operating theatres in the new, nine-storey Patient Care Tower. Charles continues, “it is an honour for Arrow to give back to Kamloops and the surrounding communities through this gift – to help ensure that our employees and their loved ones, and everyone across the Central Interior have access to the best healthcare possible.”

“We support a population of more than 225,000 people who need healthcare, in good times and bad. The Foundation is very grateful to the Charles family, and all Arrow employees, for their donation to our campaign. Some of the features of the new tower will include patient rooms with single occupancy only and negative pressure rooms in a much-larger Emergency Department. Both of these will enhance our ability to deliver safe and excellent healthcare across our region,” says RIH Foundation CEO, Heidi Coleman.