Shirley Piper’s memory lives on in Royal Columbian Hospital.
Piper was a founding member of the Group of Five, a local non-profit that holds fundraisers to purchase items for Royal Columbian Hospital. After she passed away in April 2014, the Group of Five held an event in her honour.
“Shirley’s dream was to get a vital signs monitor into one of the operating rooms,” said Gerda Suess, who co-founded the Group of Five with Piper. “We did a tribute for Shirley at the Galbraith House last year. We raised enough money to get this monitor.”
The Group of Five donated $4,713.50 to the Royal Columbian Hospital Foundation for a vital signs monitor. While the monitor will be used in the operating room, it’s portable so it can be used anywhere in the hospital.
Piper’s husband, local orthopedic surgeon Dr. Michael Piper and daughter Jordan-Anne recently joined Suess at Royal Columbian Hospital to see the equipment, which measures patients’ temperature, blood pressure, heart rate and more.
Searching for the ONE
The hunt is on for innovative, community-based projects that could use a helping hand.
Applications are now open for the fourth year of ONE Prize, which provides support to community-based projects.
“Many of the projects kick-started by the ONE Prize have continued to enrich community life beyond their initial pilot,” said River Market’s ONE Prize project lead Leslie Shieh.
As examples, she highlights PopLuck, a series of pop-up potluck picnics, and So Are We Creative, a community event collective. Both events were funded in the first year of the ONE Prize program and are still growing. Other winners include ArtStarts and the Festival of Trees, both of which included children’s programming and have received additional sources of funding.
“It shows that given seed money and support, a great idea and commitment to one’s community can really have an impact,” Shieh said.
In 2015, community members submitted 19 projects to ONE Prize, with winners including: Hammer and Saw, an organization founded by two technical education teachers who are committed to empowering youths through skills training and community engagement; Seniors Out N’ About, a program by the Seniors Services Society that prevents senior isolation in the community through organized outings; Seniors to the Market Shuttle Program, proposed by the Royal City Farmers Market, provides seniors door to door services to the farmers’ market to engage with local farmers and to shop for local produce.
Donald’s Market and River Market launched ONE Prize in 2012 as a community fund for New Westminster. When ONE members shop at Donald’s Market, the grocery store contributes one per cent of every dollar spent to the ONE Prize fund. The winners are decided by members who vote for their favourite projects from a shortlist of submitted proposals. Projects can be big or small but must contribute positively to living, working, or playing in New Westminster.
For 2015, ONE members have collectively raised $6,000 for the ONE Prize and the program will award three projects $2,000 each. The project group can be a non-profit organization, a for-profit enterprise, a community group, or an individual.
According to a River Market press release, ONE Prize’s aim is to kick-start new projects or strengthen existing ones, rather than fund a group’s ongoing operating costs.
Eric Siu, general manager of Donald’s Market, said the idea behind ONE Prize is a simple concept based on the power of community.
“It’s about investing in our own backyard,” he said in a press release. “Through ONE Prize, we can support local projects that contribute to the place where we all live and work.”
The deadline for submission is March 22. More information and submission forms are available at www.rivermarket.ca/oneprize. After receiving submissions, River Market and Donald’s Market will shortlist the projects and ask ONE members to vote. Prizes will be announced in early May.
To contribute to the ONE Prize fund, shoppers can sign up for membership through a Donald’s Market cashier at River Market.
Send Around Town ideas to Theresa McManus, [email protected], or find her on Twitter, @TheresaMcManus.
