It’s easy to be cynical about the world after a year like 2016. But, while the headlines have often been filled with stories of strife and people doing bad things, there was also lots of good being done by everyday folk who want to make the community where they live a better place. New Westminster was no exception.
Let’s take a moment to look back at some of the New West residents we encountered in 2016 and salute them with the It’s a Beautiful Life: the Do-Gooders Award.
Citizen of the Year
It’s not just the Record that has taken notice of all the work Jen Arbo has done to bring folks together in New West. The New Westminster Chamber of Commerce saw it too and recognized the local entrepreneur and community builder with its Citizen of the Year Award.
President of the Royal City Farmers Market, operational support director for KidSport, member of the city’s community grant committee, intelligent city advisory committee and public engagement task force, Pecha Kucha organizing committee member, organizer of three Vancouver Foundation small neighbourhood grant projects, Operation Red Nose volunteer, managing editor of Tenth to the Fraser and co-founder of Hyack Interactive, Arbo’s involvement in the community has been prolific and wide ranging.
What put the Parksville, B.C. native on this path?
“It wasn’t until I moved to a city and I felt that there was kind of a lessening of that connection that you get when you live in a super rural area,” she told the Record. “I moved to the city and I felt like you had to almost manufacture connection to a degree, you had to manufacture engagement to a degree. I started realizing I had spare time and I could volunteer for things and that I could help out.”
School District No. 40 alt ed staff
Whether it’s graduation or Christmas time, the staff at the New Westminster school district’s alternate education programs go above and beyond for their students.
The district runs three different alt ed programs: POWER, a program at the Columbia Square Shopping Center for students 16 to 18 years old, SIGMA for 16 to 18 year olds at New Westminster Secondary and RCAP, a program for 13 to 15 year olds at the high school.
Record reporters ventured out to two special occasions this year – the graduation bash for students at POWER and the annual SIGMA Christmas party at NWSS.
When mainstream schools aren’t working for kids, these programs provide a flexible learning environment with smaller class sizes and more support. But the X factor, from what we can tell, is the relationships that develop between students and staff. That was clear at Christmas and graduation.
“I think we’re really spoiled, to be honest,” said SIGMA student Joshua Kocsar.
“I treat them as family at this point,” said POWER grad Cody Koronko.
Do-gooders who travel
Flipping through the pages of the Record this year, it’s clear New West’s philanthropists aren’t afraid of go abroad to make the world a better place.
Take retired educator Mike Hoyer. For years, much of his time has been spent travelling overseas to volunteer with relief agencies during times of extreme hardship or natural disaster.
Most recently, Hoyer led a New Westminster Christian Reformed Church youth group on a spring break trip to Honduras to do some work in the northeast community of El Coyolar.
“I think the biggest factor is the social relationships. We're developing friendships. It's not like going in once, doing something and then disappearing,” he said.
For recent SFU grad Matthew Hutchinson, meanwhile, travelling to Greece to help people escaping the civil war in Syrian “changed everything.”
The 28-year-old volunteered at a non-governmental organization known as the Boat Refugee Foundation in the spring, patrolling the Greek coastline for new arrivals and helping out in crowded refugee camps.
"It was a horrific scene,” he told the Record. “There were 5,000 refugees at the Port of Piraeus, all living in tents, human waste all over the ground, garbage everywhere, fights, riots.”
To help abandoned and abused domestic animals in Latin America, three New West residents who’ve bonded over involvement at the Royal City Humane Society are in Guatemala this holiday season.
Lawyer Angela Kerslake, Coun. Lorrie Williams and Greens and Beans Deli owner Leona Green are volunteering at an Animal Aware shelter, walking dogs, tending to sick animals and helping to socialize cats.
“They struggle to provide the necessary care for these animals at the shelter and are constantly turning away animals as well,” said Kerslake, a director on the Animal Aware board who has adopted out about 20 Guatemalan dogs and puppies to homes in Canada and plans to buy a bus to convert into a mobile spay and neuter clinic to take down.
Top cop volunteer
At 88 years old, New Westminster Police Department volunteer Bruno Bersani has no intention of slowing down.
For 33 years, the now-retired cabinet maker, has provided an extra set of vigilant eyes and ears to keep the community safe.
He joined the department at a time when the city was facing a spike in street crime and police needed volunteers to keep an eye out for criminal activity on Friday and Saturday nights when officers were swamped with calls.
Bersani and another volunteer would patrol the streets at night, keeping watch over the city.
He also conducted home security checks within the community and has run speed watch initiatives. Today he spends most of his time at community events, greeting residents and kids.
On the weekdays, he can be found at the detachment building toy patrol cars to hand out at events.
“We wish we had two of him or three of him,” NWPD crime prevention services coordinator Shelley Cole said of Bersani.
