This incredible result has set a record for this annual event. This is the third year for The Kindness Always Wins event put on by the athletes of Beyond Sport Academy. The Beyond Sport Volleyball Academy (BSVA) is one of the specialized program offerings from SD#22. They currently operate in the first Semester beginning in September, thru January. The BSVA is held at the Sky Gateway training facility at 5000 Silver Star Road, Unit 204/205. Troy Lorenson is the head coach, founder/director of Beyond Sport Inc. and The Volleyball Academy. Troy Lorenson was Emily Dahl's head coach in her final season as a captain for The Sky Volleyball Club in 2018. 

Troy Lorenson stated: "The entire academy got behind this event, as did all the parents, friends and coaches - it was bound to be a success. As we remember Emily, we are reminded that teamwork and kindness are not just ideas; they are requirements for success on and off the courts.” 

The success of this annual event is a major team effort. The work of the young athletes at Beyond Sport will endure forever as it adds to Emily Dahl's legacy.  They are making their own painting - and as famous American basketball Coach John Wooden would say: “The main ingredient of this stardom is the entire team at play.”   


About thirty years ago the well-known teacher Thich Nhat Hanh was looking for an English word to describe our deep interconnection with everything else. He liked the word “togetherness,” but he finally came up with the word “interbeing.” The verb “to be” can be misleading, because we cannot be by ourselves, alone. “To be” is always to “inter-be.” If we combine the prefix “inter” with the verb “to be,” we have a new verb, “inter-be.” To inter-be and the action of interbeing reflects reality more accurately. We inter-are with one another and with all life.

There is a biologist named Lewis Thomas, whose work is well followed. He describes how our human bodies are “shared, rented, and occupied” by countless other tiny organisms, without whom we couldn’t “move a muscle, drum a finger, or think a thought.” Our body is a community, and the trillions of non-human cells in our body are even more numerous than the human cells. Without them, we could not be here in this moment. Without them, we wouldn’t be able to think, to feel, or to speak. There are, he says, no solitary beings. The whole planet is one giant, living, breathing cell, with all its working parts linked in symbiosis.

Leanne Hammond from The Community Foundation North Okanagan stated: "The annual Kindness Always Wins Fundraiser shows that we’re better together. By building continuous community connections at all levels, we create a better North Okanagan for us all. Community Foundation North Okanagan (CFNO) offers a flexible yet structured approach for charitable giving. We are proud to be the home of The Emily Dahl Foundation Charitable Fund."  

In the end, absolutely everything relies on everything else in the cosmos in order to manifest—whether a star, a cloud, a flower, a tree, or you and me - and that is why - KINDNESS ALWAYS WINS!  

The Emily Dahl Foundation 
December 2024