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The Western Counties Regional Library is a regional public library with 10 branches serving the counties of Digby, Shelburne and Yarmouth in southwestern Nova Scotia. Established in June 1969, the library has its headquarters at 405 Main Street in the Town of Yarmouth, the largest population centre of the three counties. The Western Counties Regional Library began with five staff in 1969 and has grown to 60 full- and part-time employees. Over the years, services were added such as bookmobiles (which were replaced by Library Express), visits to hospitals, seniors residences and schools and Library Express. All of the library branches offer free computer and wireless Internet access.

In any given year Search and Rescue groups in BC respond to nearly 1000 incidents involving over 1300 missing (lost) or injured persons. Our 2500 unpaid professional volunteers, located in more than 80 BC communities are available day or night. Together these men and women donate over 100,000 hours of their time on callouts annually, and an astounding 95% subjects were found or rescued within the first 24 hours of a volunteer SAR group being activated. This volunteer service offers tremendous value for citizens and visitors alike. The cost to replace this volunteer service in direct salary dollars alone would exceed $5,000,000 annually (excluding infrastructure and capital costs, which are estimated at over 50 million dollars). BCSARA is proud of its role in making this service better.

This all volunteer group has built and now maintains over 23 km of trails in the Cole Harbour Area of Nova Scotia. The Salt Marsh and Heritage trails, part of the Trans Canada Trail system, form the backbone of our system and have gained widespread praise for the views. We have also built and maintained the Cole Harbour Heritage Park on behalf of the Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources. The Park and the trails provide residents of the Halifax Regional Municipality and visitors from around the world with a valuable resource for recreation, fitness and perhaps most of all the opportunity to have a wilderness experience complete with varied coastal wildlife close to the urban core. The group successfully leverages grants from all levels of government along with private donations to work closely with local contractors to provide a first class trail and park system at low cost.

Services Offered: Sporting activities on Saturdays (Respite Care) Adapted Guard Service (Respite care) Swimming activity at the CRE Family Support Summer Day Camp Animation (Respite Care) Conferences - Training of stakeholders Research and development - Project Workshops ASJHE (Respite Care)