Seventeen-year-old Royal City native Mia Hargrave is going to Ecuador this summer on a mission to help others.
Since Mia was in Grade 7, she has been heavily involved in Me to We, a for-profit social enterprise, which donates half of its profits to Free the Children. It organizes We Day, an annual event held at Rogers Arena every fall and organized by the Free the Children.
Mia has been doing various campaigns such as Halloween for Hunger/We Scare Hunger (collecting non-perishable food for the food bank on Halloween nights) and helped raise funds to build a well in Kenya.
Now she is planning to go to Ecuador for a Me to We volunteer trip this July. Participants will help build a school for children who have limited access to education.
Mia has saved $2,000 of her allowance and paper route money so far, but she still needs more funds to make the trek. She is planning a bottle drive to raise funds for the cause on June 20, 21 and 24. For more info, email fundraise4mia@ gmail.com.
NWSS choir
The New Westminster Secondary Chamber Choir and The Coastal Sound Youth Choir were invited to perform as special guests at a concert on June 22 at Christ Church Cathedral in Vancouver.
"We have had an excel-lent year with the choir, with great response from educators, conductors and singers at the various festivals in which we have participated. It is an honour to be invited to sing with the Coastal Sound Youth Choir, which is, in my opinion, one of the finest youth choirs in Canada," music teacher Kelly Proznick stated in an email.
The performance is called Summersong and is described in the press release as an evening of choral favourites inspired by the joy, spontaneity and freedom of summer.
Under the direction of Carrie Tennant, Coastal Sound has had a banner season. Last August, it was chosen as the top choir in all categories at the National Music Festival.
In June, Coastal Sound was named one of three finalists from across Canada in the Mixed Voice Youth Choir category of the National Competition for Amateur Choirs. Winners for the competition will be announced in July. Also this June, Coastal Sound was chosen as the Top Youth Choir, and the Top Choir Overall at the B.C. Festival of the Performing Arts.
The New Westminster Secondary choir - directed by Proznick - and Coastal Sound "share a similar philosophy and artistic vision," the release says.
"To us, there is no better way to learn about compassion, humanity, integrity, beauty and so many other fundamental concepts than by exploring them through music," Stephanie Browning, a Grade 12 student who sings in both choirs, said in the release.
The event is on Saturday, June 22, 7: 30 p.m. at Christ Church Cathedral, 690 Burrard St. Admission is by donation. For more information, call 604-5522762 or visit www.coastal soundmusic.com.
Helping others
New Westminster Secondary School graduate Ian Bain has helped launch a non-profit partnership with small-scale Kenyan tea farmers to produce premium whole leaf tea and bring social justice to their industry.
Bain is working on the project with his uncle Grayson Bain, cousin Paul Bain and a team of volunteers.
"It's called JusTea and it is a first-of-its-kind social justice project, which was conceived by my uncle, Grayson, best known for founding Rocky Mountain Bikes," Bain wrote in an email. "We have launched a crowd funding campaign on Indiegogo."
Kenya produces around 300-million kilograms of black tea each year. The lion's share of tea is grown by over 500,000 small-scale tea farms in the country, and then processed in large industrial factories.
Consequently, the farmers only receive about one per cent of what the consumer pays, Bain wrote. "This leaves the farmers in poverty and without a voice to change their circumstances."
Watch the campaign video at www.justea.com, to learn more.
Local CA grads
Three New Westminster chartered accountant students graduated from the qualification program at a ceremony held last month.
The local graduates are Colleen Chong (PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP), Pascal Lambert Paradis (Deloitte LLP), and Oleksiy Orlovskyy (MNP LLP). The students are eligible for membership in the Institute of Chartered Accountants of B.C.
"These students have earned their CA (chartered accountant) designation by successfully completing a rigorous and competitive academic program, focused on business and accounting competencies," Richard Rees, CEO of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of British Columbia, said in a press release. "We are very proud of them, and they should take great pride in having earned their CA designation."
