Workers pitch in for good causes

Workers pitch in for good causes
Here & Now column by Dan Hilborn, Burnaby NOW assistant editor
Published Sept. 6, 2003

The employees of the four Canada Safeway stores in Burnaby will be wearing their big hearts this week as they dole out more than $20,000 to a variety of good causes in the city.

The money, which was raised as part of the chain-wide Because We Care program, will benefit four specific causes in the city, and is part of a total $1.3-million fundraising effort for Safeway stores in this country.

Each of the four Safeway stores in Burnaby deserves special mention.

The folks at the Willingdon and Hastings store raised $7,696.36 for the Huntington Society B.C. Chapter. The Lougheed Mall Safeway employees raised $5,060 for the Burnaby Volunteer Citizens Support Services. The good folks at the Royal Oak Safeway raised $4,773.58 for the Edmonds Community Centre for 55-plus. And the Kensington Safeway staff donated $3,838.01 for one of my personal favourite groups, Sunshine Dreams for Kids.

The money was raised in a variety of creative ways, including the sale of paper stars and hearts, barbecues and parking lot sales, to name a few.

It's heartening in these days of apparently increasing strife around the world to see that employees can take issue with employer on working conditions on one hand, yet still work with the boss to help create a better community on the other hand. Kudos all around.

LIONS CLUB HELPS FIRES

MLA Harry Bloy was front and centre when the Burquitlam Lions club held a fundraiser for B.C. forest fire victims at Woody's Pub in Coquitlam recently.

"I couldn't be more thrilled with this display of generosity," said the MLA and Lions Club member after patrons of the pub raised $1,700, in addition to clothing, linen and other household items for the families who lost everything in the province's worst forest fire season in the past half century.

Bloy noted that the fires are still burning in many parts of the province and anyone wanting to help out can check out the Web site www.pep.bc.ca.

A VERY HAPPY 100TH

Congratulations to Laura Louisa Boyce, best known as Rose to her friends and family, since she first arrived in Burnaby more than 65 years ago.

Rose celebrated her 100th birthday last weekend in a rather impressive party held at the Eastburn community centre that brought out her 16 grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great- grandchildren, another 25 to 30 nieces and nephews, and even her former employer, septuagenarian Ernest Digney of Digney's Speedway fame.

"My grandmother used to work for the Digney family at the race track, in their theatres and the bowling alley," said a rather proud grandson John Boyce. "That was back in the days when the area around Nelson was known as the community of Bonsor."

Grandmother Boyce was the eldest of 14 kids, born in London, England, and who arrived in Halifax aboard the S.S. Canada on April 12, 1912. She moved to Manitoba for the first 23 years of her life in Canada, and then moved to Burnaby into the neighbourhood where she still lives on her own.

Gran is doing just fine, said her grandson. She had four separate birthday parties - "One for every 25 years," said John - and her blood pressure is even better than her grandson's.

NEW DEAN SHAKES UP SFU

His name is shaker, but he's not easily shaken. That was the heading on a the Simon Fraser University press release announcing the appointment of a new, high profile, Dean of Education for the venerated institution on Burnaby Mountain.

Paul Shaker, who recently left an identical post at the California State University Kremen school of education, says his focus at SFU will be to providing leadership and advocacy in turbulent times.

"I have worked to influence political process, media and our professional organization in education for the purpose of strengthening public education," said Shaker, who is well known for making pubic education accessible to minority and disadvantaged groups.

"I am an advocate for community schools," said the man who was primarily responsible for forging 70 different collaborative projects with local public school districts in Fresno County during his tenure at CSU.

Shaker is also known as a proponent of the Internet as an educational too, and helped launch CalStateTEACH - a Web-based, distributed learning teacher education program. The initiative sparked a 60 per cent jump in program registrations.

WINNING DOCUMENTARY

Kudos to the folks at the Knowledge Network who were recently selected as runner-up in the prestigious National Council of Family Relations 2003 Media Awards.

FAS: When the Children Grow Up, produced by Sharon Bartlett and Maria LeRose, was the second place finisher in the Families with Special Needs award category at the 36th annual awards presentation for the Minnesota-based organization. The winner was an ABC News Primetime Thursday episode.

The locally produced documentary gives first-person accounts of the causes, effects, stigmas and myths of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome plus factors that can improve the quality of life for adults who live with the syndrome.

FAS: When the Children Grow Up will be rebroadcast on B.C.'s public educational television channel, KnowTV Channel 5, at 6 p.m., Oct. 21.

In addition, the 65th annual NCFR Conference will be held in Vancouver from Nov. 19 to 22 at the downtown Hyatt Regency Hotel.