Community members are invited to stand up for seniors.
The Seniors Services Society invites people to clear their calendars for noon today (Wednesday, Oct. 1) and participate in their third annual Stand for Seniors in celebration of National Seniors Day.
Kelly Friesen, the society's independent living coordinator, said “the more the merrier” so everyone is invited to drop by.
“Join us at the corner of Sixth Street and Sixth Avenue in New Westminster outside the Royal City Centre,” Friesen said in a press release. “We will be standing for seniors for one hour. We will bring along our placards to help send the message to support the seniors in our lives.”
New West swimmer taking on the world
A local swimmer will be heading to Los Angeles to compete in the 2014 Special Olympics World Games.
New Westminster resident Carrie Dignan, who swims with the Coquitlam local of Special Olympics B.C., has been named to the roster for the national team that will be competing in L.A. next summer.
According to a press release, Dignan qualified through her performance at the Special Olympics Canada 2014 Summer Games in Vancouver, where she won two gold medals and one bronze in her individual races. She also swam to silver in her team relay event.
Seven thousand athletes from 177 countries will compete in the 2015 Special Olympics World Games, which are being held July 25 to Aug. 2, 2015 in Los Angeles.
Fitness fundraiser
A national boxing champion is back in New Westminster.
Lydia Walczak, who was awarded the Best Senior Female Boxer in B.C. and won Gold in the Canadian championships in 2007 and silver in 2005 and 2006, is the newest instructor at Zhoosh Fitness Garage. (Read more about Walczak on page 23.)
“Lydia will be heading up our new boxing program, and I’d say she is very qualified to be your coach,” Zhoosh Fitness Garage owner Robyn Murrell said in a press release.
Walczak, who started training at nine, joined the Queensborough Boxing Club when she was 17. In 2007, she was ranked 10th in the world and received the Boxing B.C. Award of Excellence.
“Boxing focuses your mind – it is a way of expressing yourself, understanding your weaknesses, as well as a way of instilling confidence,” she said in a news release. “I am bringing what I love about training at a boxing club. Seeing a fellow athlete push his limits and having a coach right there to push him some more. It is those moments that you begin to see something beautiful in his movements and focus – passion. At Boxing Bad, I’ll be bringing that old-school boxing feel mixed in with a functional style of training to give you a total body workshop.
Community members are invited to meet Walczak and other Zhoosh Fitness Garage instructors at its grand opening on Sunday, Oct. 5 from 12 to 4 p.m. at #110-113 11th St. (between Queens and Auckland avenues). The event is also a fundraiser for the Parkinson Society of B.C.
Pizza and juice samples will be free at the fundraiser, but people are asked to make a donation to the Parkinsons Society of B.C. if they want to try out any of the fitness classes and or get massages from New West Wellness Centre.
For more information, contact [email protected] or visit Facebook and search for Zhoosh Fitness Garage.
Send ideas for Around Town to Theresa, [email protected].
