Mortgage company helps fight kidney disease with fundraising program

Dave Kelly set out to help his friend raise money for charity in Lethbridge.

But within a few months, his idea – the Kidney Mortgage, a fundraiser for the Kidney Foundation of Canada – had grown bigger than he ever imagined.

"It started off as something small," said Kelly, a mortgage associate with Dominion Lending Centre Mortgage Excellence in Lethbridge. "But the idea has really been taking off."

Tim Logel and Ryan Ockey team up to bring Logel Homes to life

For more than three decades, Tim Logel has worked at Cardel Homes, and for the past 17 years he has been a 50-50 partner with Ryan Ockey in Cardel Lifestyles, the company's successful multi-family division.

Now, the two have teamed up again to bring Logel Homes to the Calgary marketplace and to continue to offer affordability and quality in their product.

"Logel Homes has been two years in the making," said Logel, president and COO of Logel Homes. "I approached Ryan with the idea and he thought the same as I did, that Logel Homes would provide an opportunity to grow market share."

But, for Logel, there was another reason for reaching out with the idea of creating the new multi-family entity.

"It is time to SHIFT or get off the pot!" That's the call to action Pathways 2 Sustainability – Alberta's Sustainable Communities Initiative – has issued in advance of its upcoming conference, SHIFT, which takes place June 15-17 at the St. Louis Hotel in Calgary's East Village.

SHIFT promises attendees an opportunity to "Experience the Future of Calgary – the SHIFT to a resilient society and new economy and what it means for our city."

"We have a changing political landscape in Alberta and Canada that's moving to adopt climate resilience in the ways in which we build, design and manage communities and community systems, including food systems, energy systems and transportation systems," said SHIFT co-ordinator and Pathways 2 Sustainability executive director, Lisa Fox.

Solar's appeal is growing for Calgary homeowners due to falling costs, and rebates

With the cost of solar power generation dropping, and a provincial rebate program launching, it's a pretty good time to be living in the sunniest city in Canada.

More homeowners are investing in solar as it becomes more economically viable.

In the past, many who embraced it traded the wallet shock for the feel-good vibes of reducing their ecological footprints.

That's the original reason Michael Betzner added solar to his Bowness home about eight years ago.

Bragg Creek forges its own identity in Calgary's shadow

For more than 100 years, Bragg Creek has existed in the shadow of the ever-expanding city of Calgary.

Yet the hamlet, located a 45-kilometre drive west of the city, has managed to maintain its enviable lifestyle in a beautiful location along the edge of the Rocky Mountains.

Resident and local business owner Mark Kamachi says he and his wife moved to Alberta from Vancouver 20 years ago to work at a Calgary advertising agency, and they chose to live in the city at first.

However, they found themselves spending many weekends hiking and biking in the mountains near Bragg Creek. Fifteen years ago, they decided to make it their new home.

Snapshots of Calgary's lake communities

Life at the water's edge may not be the defining Calgary experience. But for thousands of Calgary homeowners, life by the lakeside was a key reason they chose to buy in one of the city's many man-made lake communities. Here's a look at each of the Calgary neighbourhoods with a blue jewel of H2O at its heart, making them among the most desirable communities in
the city.

Gardening is easier in the southwest, where the climate is mellow

Are you a north-side person in Calgary or a south-side holdout? I have lived all over the city and surrounding areas, including Airdrie, Riverbend, Ramsay, Valley Ridge, Rideau Park and Spruce Cliff, and I make it to many more communities around the city during my travels for work.

During all this moving, there is one thing that I've noticed. If you are a gardener, life in the south is simpler: less wind, less frost, less killer hail and more heat, as elevations drop and the climate gradually mellows. In the southwest, the climate is softer and the garden living is easy.

New communities and developments in bustling town offer more choices for would-be residents

The explosive growth that Cochrane continues to enjoy is evident when Mayor Ivan Brooker reels off the names of more than a dozen new communities either under development or in the planning stages in the scenic town west of Calgary.

"We've had huge growth – we were the second-fastest growing community in all of Canada from 2011 to 2016," said Brooker.

"People love the location. We're a beautiful community, you're on your way to the mountains, and we're not a small town necessarily, in the aspects of not having services. We have everything you would expect in a big city. The amenities are there for anything you might want to entertain as a family."

Mature and distinctive communities are a point of pride for Calgary's southwest residents

Lawyer Chris Davis is no stranger to Calgary's southwest, a sprawling quadrant of the city roughly bordered by the Bow River to the north, Macleod Trail to the east, and the city limits to the south and west.

"My family has long roots in the southwest, going back to the early 1920s," he said, adding he spent his early years growing up in Lower Mount Royal and is also running for city council in Ward 8 in this fall's municipal election.

"Historically, there seemed to be a big divide as to whether your family chose to live north or south of the Bow River."

Because of his familial connection, Davis found himself gravitating toward an adult life in the southwest, residing in Bankview, Elbow Park, Garrison Woods, Parkhill and Richmond-Knob Hill at various times.