Boston Terrier Rescue sa国际传媒 will be one of the participants at Pet-A-Palooza, a two-day festival and fundraiser for the Just Love Animals Society.
The rescue society will be onsite selling hoodies, T-shirts and Boston terrier-related trinkets for people and their dogs, including a great assortment of bandannas.
The exhibitor booth will also be selling handcrafted wood art by Jacstone Studios.
Proceeds from the event will support the work of the rescue group, which includes taking Boston terriers and mixed breeds that have been abandoned, neglected, abused or that can no longer be cared for by their owners.
The non-profit organization gives them a safe haven, medical care, training, support and lots of love. Their ultimate goal is to match every dog with a permanent, loving home through a careful adoption process.
Pet-A-Palooza is the West Coast鈥檚 largest pet festival, with about 20,000 people attending last year鈥檚 event.
Activities at the event include Dock Dogs sa国际传媒, the 鈥渕utt strut,鈥� flyball shows, agility demos, cool-down stations, photo lounges and up to 85 of the leading pet-related exhibitors.
The event is free to attend and runs 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Aug. 8 and 9 at Ogden Point, 199 Dallas Rd. For more information, go to bostonterrierrescuecanada.com or petapaloozawest.com.
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Art installation honours missing, slain women
A commemorative art installation honouring almost 2,000 missing and murdered indigenous women has just opened.
The Walking With Our Sisters memorial installation is an event meant to ease the pain and begin the healing in the native community. It is currently on view at the K鈥櫭砿oks Band Hall in Courtenay, the only British Columbia stop in a seven-year tour across the country that began in 2013.
The art piece is made up of more than 1,700 pairs of adult beaded moccasin vamps (tops). Each pair of vamps represents one missing or murdered indigenous woman. The unfinished moccasins represent the unfinished lives of the women, who met untimely ends.
There are also 108 pairs of children鈥檚 vamps, representing youngsters who never returned home from residential schools.
The vamps are arranged in a winding-path formation on fabric. Viewers are invited to walk barefoot on the path of cloth alongside the vamps, paying respect to their lives of sisters, mothers, aunts, daughters, cousins, grandmothers, wives and partners.
The commemorative art reminds us that they had been cared for, they are loved and 鈥攅ven if they are missing 鈥� they are not forgotten.
Last Monday volunteers, organizers and guests of the K鈥櫭砿oks First Nation held a ceremony to welcome the sacred bundle of vamps to the community for the next three weeks.
There was a police escort for 16 paddlers as they escorted the collection to their temporary home at the reserve. People wore their regalia and sung paddle songs as they made their way onto the reserve.
A special bell-ringing was held at the St. George鈥檚 United Church on Saturday. The church bell rang 1,181 times to commemorate the indigenous women and girls who have gone missing or have been murdered in the past 30 years.
The exhibition is open to the public and free to view. The collection can be seen until Aug. 15 in the K鈥櫭砿oks Band Hall, 3320听Comox Rd., Courtenay.
For more information, go to wwoscomoxvalley.com or walkingwithoursisters.ca.
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Dad, daughter pitching in on Clover Point cleanup
People strolling along the beach along Clover Point may have noticed it鈥檚 a lot cleaner these days, thanks to the efforts of a father-and-daughter team.
Patrick Stauch and Alyssa, his five-year-old daughter, have been picking up garbage and debris on the beach for about a month.
鈥淪he just picked up an empty medicine bottle one day and said: 鈥楾his could hurt the seals,鈥� 鈥� said Stauch of his daughter.
He discovered that she has aspirations to be an animal rescuer one day. Dad explained that she might be a bit young for the task, and suggested an alternative.
鈥淚 told her the next best thing to do is pick up litter and debris from our shorelines,鈥� said Stauch, who has some experience in web design. 鈥淪o we grabbed garbage bags, a reacher and gloves and started to clean the beach.鈥�
Now they want to see if others share their desire for a cleaner city.
He recently came up with a name 鈥� cleanvictoria.com 鈥� created a web page and has organized a community cleanup event for the end of the month.
鈥淚t鈥檚 an opportunity to give back and be constructive.鈥�
Sponsors have come on board to help in providing participants with free T-shirts, gloves and trash bags. People will be entertained with concerts and a scavenger hunt and enjoy free drinks and snacks at the conclusion.
The family-friendly beach cleanup event runs 10 to 11 a.m. Aug. 29 on the shoreline of Clover Point Park, Dallas Road.
For more information, go to cleanvictoria.com.
Sooke volunteer centre is听looking for you
The Sooke Region Volunteer Centre is looking for local expertise to facilitate workshops and provide training throughout the fall and winter.
The centre鈥檚 Recruit, Retain and Retrain project is funded in part by the federal government鈥檚 New Horizons for Seniors program. Their preference is for already developed workshops, though they are open to ideas.
At or near the top of the wish list of subjects is training in fundraising, grant-seeking and grant-application writing. There is also a call for information on succession planning, volunteer management and engagement, board development and marketing.
Their current funding allows for bursaries and travel expenses to some attendees, as well as paying professional fees and honorariums.
The centre represents more than 180 non-profit organizations in the Sooke region.
For more information, contact Marlene Barry, [email protected], or sookeregionresources.com.
Home Depot donation a boon for housing society
Youth facing homelessness in Greater Victoria got a helping hand as the Home Depot donated more than $10,000 to the Threshold Housing Society.
The money raised by the home-improvement business was from their Orange Door Project, which saw customers asked to purchase paper orange doors for $2. It only took 36 days for both the Saanich and Langford stores to reach their goal.
鈥淲e are grateful for the opportunity to be a part of the Orange Door Project,鈥� said Mark Muldoon, executive director of Threshold. 鈥淭he Home Depot sa国际传媒 Foundation is our ally in putting an end to youth homelessness. As a local, non-profit organization, this partnership allows us to raise funds on a larger scale than what we could do on our own.鈥�
The society helps at-risk youth attain self-reliance through long-term supportive housing. One hundred per cent of donations support housing and life-skills development programs. It has been working in the Greater Victoria area since 1992. For more information, visit thresholdhousing.ca.
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ALS Cycle of Hope starts听this week
Riders who have been training since April will be cycling around Victoria and the Cowichan Valley this week as part of the ALS Cycle of Hope.
The ride, founded in 2012, began as an awareness event with a group of six riders who spent 10 days going from Kamloops to Hope. The next year the event became a seven-day, 550-kilometre ride between Kamloops and Keremeos.
This year the team, which is made up of 10 to 14 riders, have added Kelowna and Victoria to broaden the reach of the event.
The local schedule includes:
Aug. 5: Greater Victoria/Duncan/Cowichan: The group departs Accent Inns, 3233 Maple St., at 8听a.m. and ride through Victoria, Cobble Hill and Duncan. A celebration 鈥� which includes cake 鈥� will be hosted by Country Grocer, 1153 Esquimalt Rd, at 2 p.m.
Aug. 6: Greater Victoria: Depart Trek Bikes, 338 Catherine St., at 8 a.m. and ride through Victoria, Saanich, North Saanich and Esquimalt. There will be a stop at Bottle Depot, 4261 Glanford Ave., at 11 a.m.
ALS is a neurodegenerative disease where the nerve cells that control muscles die. The living wires which connect the brain to muscles degenerate, leading to a loss of mobility, loss of speech and eventually impact the ability to breathe. There is no cure nor an effective treatment.
In sa国际传媒, approximately 2,500 to 3,000 Canadians are living with ALS. One thousand people will die from the disease and the same number will be newly diagnosed each year. A person鈥檚 lifespan after diagnosis is, on average, two to five years.
For more information, go to cycleofhope.ca or als.ca.
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Slo-pitch tourney raises funds for Child Find sa国际传媒
Twenty-four union-sponsored softball teams are poised to hit home runs at the Michael Dunahee Slo-Pitch Tournament of Hope, which runs Friday to Sunday.
This is the 24th year of the tournament, which raised $12,000 for the non-profit organization Child Find sa国际传媒 last year.
鈥淭his is the biggest fundraiser of the summer for Child Find sa国际传媒鈥� said Crystal Dunahee, president of the organization. 鈥淭he money raised through the tournament of goes toward printing costs for literature and the All About Me ID Kits.鈥�
Services provided by the organization are available at no cost to parents and communities.
Kids will be able to take part in a kids game at 1 p.m. on Sunday followed by skydivers who will descend with the final game ball at approximately 4 p.m.
Ball teams from Vancouver Island will be joined by competition from the Lower Mainland.
There will be free child care provided for children of players, with licensed child-care professionals on site from CUPE 2081 (Camosun College).
In 2014, there were over 41,000 cases of missing children reported in sa国际传媒. Founded in 1984, Child Find sa国际传媒 works with law enforcement, community organizations and families to reduce the incidence of missing and exploited children throughout the province.
The tournament is free to watch. The opening ceremony runs 5 to 9 p.m. Friday, the tournament runs 7:45 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 8 and 9 at Topaz Park. For more information, go to childfindbc.com.
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Tournament a fundraiser for soccer facilities
The public is invited to watch the Turf Burn Seven-a-Side Adult Co-ed Soccer Tournament 2015, Friday to Sunday.
This is the seventh year of the event, held annually to raise money for facilities and programming for soccer players of all ages. Since its inception, the community event has contributed more than $50,000 to the Saanich Fusion Soccer Club and other local charities.
The co-ed soccer tournament includes three days of soccer accompanied by a beer garden. Activities include a breakaway contest, limbo demonstration, local disc jockeys and a Saturday night social hour.
The event is free to watch. The round robin games start 6 p.m. Friday with playoffs starting Sunday morning at the Juan de Fuca Sports Fields, Juan de Fuca Recreation Centre, 1767 Island Highway.
For more information, go to turfburn.ca.
