Truckers pull for PRH

Berry & Smith Trucking has donated $30,000 to the South Okanagan Similkameen Medical Foundation’s campaign to provide medical equipment for the upcoming expansion of Penticton Regional Hospital.

Berry & Smith was formed in the mid‐1950s, when co‐founders Stu Berry and Ted Smith decided to merge their two small trucking operations in Naramata which hauled fruit and other goods such as coal, firewood and peat moss.

Now, some 60 years later, it is among the biggest trucking firms in the B.C. Interior.

In addition to Penticton, it has offices in Vancouver and Calgary with 180 employees and 110 trucks including lease operators, driving across North America.

It also operates the transit service for the city of Penticton and the RDOS (for going on 39 years) and has provided school bus service for the Okanagan Skaha School District for more than 50 years.

Family still runs deep at Berry & Smith.

President Matt Berry and vice‐president Mark Berry head the company started by their father. Their sister Deb works in the front office and sister Julie is a former driver.

Ted Smith sold his interest in the company to Stu Berry in 1970 when he joined the Penticton Fire Department, and remains a good family friend to this day.

Being able to contribute to the SOS Medical Foundation’s $20‐million PRH campaign is the right thing to do and it received full support from the Berry family and its management team, said Mark.

“It’s a great cause, we’ve got an aging population here in Penticton and the need is there,” he said. “It’s giving back to the community as well. The community has supported our company over the years and we feel strongly about that too. We congratulate those who have stepped forward to contribute and we encourage others to do what they can to help make this project work.”

Construction of the new patient care tower will get underway this spring.