A theft of food from the Fairfield United Church led to new knowledge about Victoria poverty and a new partnership with kids from Sir James Douglas Elementary School.
Fairfield United Rev. Beth Walker says a laptop was stolen. But also taken was food collected for the food bank.
So when Sir James Douglas students asked to help, Walker sat down with kids and teachers and talked about why a person would steal food. The kids decided they wanted to help hungry people.
Several bake sales followed, and about $260 was raised and converted into gift certificates. Walker then passed these out to people she knew and to some she just noticed on the streets.
Walker said she was moved by the kids鈥� choices, which included gift certificates to Oxford Foods on Cook Street, so Fairfield recipients wouldn鈥檛 have to walk too far, and McDonalds restaurants, because some might not have kitchens.
As she passed them out, Walker asked recipients if she could take their picture and share their names and stories with the children. Most agreed and expressed gratitude to the kids.
鈥淭ell them I am not embarrassed, just poor and I am very thankful to be seen,鈥� one told Walker.
$50,000 donation aids Nigel House residents
Residents of Nigel House, a community facility for adults with physical disabilities, will engage electronically with the world thanks to the generosity of Telus Friendly Future Foundation.
The $50,000 donation will be used to equip an activity room with things such as a large-screen TV, computers, adjustable desks and phones to suit people with limited mobility or those in wheelchairs.
鈥淲e are so grateful for the support of companies like Telus,鈥� said Mandy Parker, spokeswoman for Broadmead Care, the manager of Nigel House. 鈥淚t鈥檚 going to make a significant difference and help ensure residents at Nigel House have a more full life.鈥�
Nigel House offers homes with 24-hour, seven-day assistance for adults with physical disabilities ages 19 and older, located in the Nigel Valley near Uptown shopping centre. It now houses 26 people.
But the 1970s-era facility will soon be replaced and expanded to 41 residents. The project is part of a large upgrade for the entire valley led by sa国际传媒 Housing.
The Nigel House project is expected to cost $35 million, with Broadmead Care contributing $5.5 million and $2.5 million that will be raised from the community.
Anyone who wishes to help can go online to .
Contest seeks to focus on life on the street
A challenge has been issued to all writers willing to extend their empathy to people living on the streets of Victoria.
Deadline is Dec. 27 to enter the contest, Dignity of the Streets 鈥� To See With New Eyes, To Hear With New Ears. So poets, writers and visual artists should be sharpening their pencils.
The TD Bank Group will award $300 prizes for the best written story, poem and graphic art story. Special $100 prizes will be issued to winning entries from people under 19.
The contest is organized by the Oasis Society For Spiritual Health, a not-for-profit organization for urban Indigenous people. Oasis believes people in trouble can be assisted in recovery by establishing spiritual connections. For First Nations peoples, that is best served with a reconnection to their Indigenous spirit lives.
But the contest is open to everyone. All that鈥檚 required is a willingness to demonstrate the human dignity of all peoples, including those on the street.
Contest judges include Monique Gray Smith, author of Speaking Our Truth: A Journey of Reconciliation, winner of the 2018 Bolen Books Children鈥檚 Book Prize, and Gareth Gaudin, cartoonist and co-owner of Legends Comics and co-creator of the Perogy Cat graphic art book.
To learn more about the Oasis Society, including rules and an entry form for the writing challenge, go online to .
Raising awareness of dangers of opioid abuse
National Addictions Awareness Week starts Monday, and this year the focus is on breaking down false stereotypes and stigma surrounding substance abuse.
Organizers of the special week want people to understand opioids prescribed by doctors are a significant driver of drug addiction in sa国际传媒.
National Addictions Awareness says that in 2016 in sa国际传媒, 21.5 million prescriptions for opioids were dispensed, almost one for every adult. Canadians are the second-largest consumers of opioid prescriptions after Americans.
Meanwhile, the number of opioid overdose deaths continues to spiral upward. sa国际传媒 leads the country in its rate of deaths, 390 per 100,000 people, ahead of Ontario, at 320, and Alberta at 203, according to Health sa国际传媒.
Last year in sa国际传媒, 1,452 people overdosed and died, according to the sa国际传媒 Coroners Service. Nationally, the death toll was 3,987.
This year, sa国际传媒 appears to be on the same path, with 1,143 people dying by Sept. 1, with 74 in Victoria and 184 on Vancouver Island.
Don Evans, executive director of Our Place Society, which last month opened a therapeutic recovery community in the former youth detention centre in View Royal, is glad to hear of efforts to reduce stigma around drug addiction.
鈥淧eople are hiding it now and dying in their homes because they are too afraid to tell anyone they are addicted or using drugs,鈥� said Evans. 鈥淚t鈥檚 hard to help somebody if they are too frightened to come out and talk.鈥�
Never too early to get into the Christmas spirit
Start your holidays this coming Saturday in Saanichton with a pancake breakfast served up by Santa himself, and follow it up with a stroll down the Christmas Tree Trail.
The Saanichton Village Association invites you to their 14th annual Community Christmas and Food Bank Fundraiser to be held on Dec. 1.
There will be horse and carriage rides with Tally-Ho, gingerbread decorating at the Pioneer Museum and lots of prizes for kids. Complimentary coffee, tea, hot chocolate and mulled cider will be served at various locations.
Spelt鈥檚 Shell Station, at the corner of East Saanich Road and Wallace Drive, will be the Food Bank drive-through drop-off. Visitors are asked to bring non-perishables for the Saanich Peninsula Lions to donate.
The community event is from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. And don鈥檛 forget to start the day off with a flapjack with Santa at St. Mary鈥檚 Church, on the corner of Cultra Avenue and East Saanich Road.
For more information go online to .
Donations sought for Soap for Hope program
Soap for Hope reduces waste in Victoria and extends the chance for clean hands to people in the community and around the world.
Soap for Hope is putting together hygiene kits for people in need and is asking for donations of new products, soap, shampoo, tampons, toothpaste, toothbrushes and shaving supplies. Also requested this year are underwear, socks, toques and gloves.
Disaster Aid sa国际传媒 organizes Soap for Hope, which signs up hotels for $6.75 per room per year to take away all the hygeine products after a room has been used.
Bryce Reynolds, campaign co-ordinator, said hotel cleaning staff must work so fast the hygeine products are usually tossed out, used or not, and replaced with new ones.
But Soap for Hope collects them all. Even used bars of soap are scraped and repackaged. Little bottles of shower products, shampoo, conditioner, body washes, are heated up, cleaned and the product transferred to create newly filled items.
The campaign then supplies hygiene kits to shelters and emergency housing. It also ships bars of soap around the world, a little extra to go with necessary disaster aid such as water purifiers or tents.
鈥淲e do our best to provide hotels a channel to keep waste out of the landfill and at the same time to give something back to the community,鈥� Reynolds said.
To donate items to Soap for Hope, go to the organization鈥檚 warehouse at 426B William St. weekdays 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Also check out Soap for Hope on Facebook or visit Disaster Aid sa国际传媒 online at .
Star goalie aids hospital foundation fundraiser
Patients in Victoria hospitals can pass along some gratitude to fans of the Montreal Canadiens and team goaltender Carey Price.
Nurses and doctors at the Royal Jubilee Hospital and Victoria General are using high-tech monitoring gear purchased with money raised by the Victoria Hospital Foundation at their annual Visions charity auction on Nov. 18 at the Fairmont Empress.
This year, a top prize was a trip for two to Montreal to see the Canadiens play and a stick autographed by Price.
The Visions Gala raised more than $800,000 鈥� a new record for the event and the Victoria Hospital Foundation.
Medical equipment purchased with the money includes patient monitors, and a miniature arm that wraps around a patient and allows doctors on-the-spot X-ray views on a video screen.
