Royal City residents are invited to attend a fundraising dinner and auction in support of Homelessness Action Week.
The eighth annual fundraising dinner and auction takes place at the Columbia Theatre on Thursday, Oct. 15 (tonight). Judy Graves, a former housing advocate for the City of Vancouver, will talk about her efforts to help rebuild the lives of people who are struggling with homelessness.
The event gets underway at 5:30 p.m. and dinner is at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $75 and available by calling Martha Kerr at 778-847-4468 or emailing [email protected].
The City of New Westminster has proclaimed Oct. 11 to 17 as Homelessness Action Week. A variety of events are being held throughout the week to raise awareness about homelessness. Homelessness Action Week kicked off on Monday with a free Thanksgiving lunch at the Union Gospel Mission. On Tuesday, people took part in Connect Day, where they enjoyed a free egg breakfast, a lunch served up by the folks from the Sikh temple, and services offered by numerous community organizations. Wednesday’s offerings of an art show and an interfaith service rounded out the week’s events.
Festival returns to century house
Seniors Festival 2015 is returning to its old stomping grounds at Century House.
After a year at Anvil Centre, this year’s festival is taking place at Century House on Saturday, Oct. 17 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Along with information provided by more than 35 businesses and organizations, you’ll be able to check out some of the arts, social and recreation classes offered by the city and take part in seminars by Service Canada and B.C. Seniors Advocate Isobel Mackenzie.
Century House is located at 620 Eighth St.
Catholic heritage explored
The New Westminster Historical Society is highlighting two Catholic facilities that were once landmarks in downtown New West.
St. Ann’s Academy and St. Louis College are the focus of this month’s New Westminster Historical society evening, which is taking place on Wednesday, Oct. 21 at 7:30 p.m. in the New Westminster Public Library auditorium at 716 Sixth Ave.
“In 1865 two Roman Catholic groups opened new facilities in New Westminster. St. Ann’s Academy for girls and St. Louis College for boys would become prominent in New Westminster and well known for many years,” said a press release about the event. “This is a fascinating story of the structures that were landmarks in town: St. Ann’s at Albert Crescent and the College on Blackwood Street.”
Jacqueline Gresko, a retired history teacher at Douglas College, is well versed in Catholic history, will lead the presentation. It’s free and everyone is welcome.
Remembering Amanda Todd
Douglas College has established an award in memory of Port Coquitlam teen Amanda Todd.
Todd took her own life on Oct. 10, 2012, after posting a video online detailing her experience with bullying.
The day of her death coincides with World Mental Health Day.
“In Amanda’s memory, I wanted to be able to fulfil her dream of helping others. By creating this award, it will give opportunities to support the education of those who want to work in the field of mental-health care,” Carol Todd, Amanda’s mother, said in a press release. “It is important that we are enabling interested students to assist those with mental-health illnesses. There are never enough workers in that particular support system.”
The annual award, which will be given to students for the first time in the 2016 winter semester, was made possible with a $1,000 donation from the Amanda Todd Legacy fund, via the Vancouver Foundation, as well as $1,000 from the Douglas College Foundation and $250 donations from each of the four Tri-City Rotary clubs.
The Amanda Todd Legacy Award will provide $1,000 each to three students enrolled in the Child and Youth Care program at Douglas College.
“At Douglas we promote discussions about mental health inside and outside the classrooms, as well as providing counselling for students who might be facing mental-health challenges,” said Hazel Postma, Douglas College’s associate vice president, advancement and alumni relations. “It is important to combat the stigma around mental health, and the Amanda Todd Legacy Award will help us do that.”
Literacy in New West
Literacy New Westminster is looking to fill “literacy gaps” through a variety of endeavours in New West.
The group has funded and supported various initiatives including book shares, summer reading flash mobs, ESL for grandparents, literacy programs, Mother Goose programs for little ones, reading circles, book distributions at the Santa Claus Parade and book shares. It recently hosted a book fair as part of Literacy Month, which aimed to raise awareness about the importance of literacy and community-based resources and to raise money to support community-based literacy programs, initiatives and organizations.
Decoda Literacy Solutions, B.C.’s provincial literacy organization, points out that literacy is not just the ability to read or write, but also the ability for people to use computers, read and fill out online materials such as service agreements and job applications, the ability to read prescription labels and use social media. The non-profit organization states that 49 per cent of B.C. adults don’t have the skills necessary to calculate a tip, create a budget, calculate sales tax or understand credit card interest rates.
“It’s about learning the skills you need to get by on a day-to-day basis,” said Judy Venable, literacy outreach coordinator for Literacy New Westminster. “A lot of it has to do with reading and writing and language skills.”
For more info on the group’s activities, check out its new Literacy New Westminster page on Facebook.
