Not To Be Trusted With Knives

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Dec
21

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On the eight and ninth day of donating…

Category: New Westminster, Uncategorized Tags: , , Leave a Comment

I missed doing a blog posting yesterday because I take the red eye to Toronto and then got distracted by seeing my family and going to the movies and also being super tired from taking the red eye.

So, for yesterday’s donation, I asked my family for recommendations of a non-profit and my brother-in-common-law suggested charity: water. Their mission statement is:

charity: water is a non-profit organization bringing clean and safe drinking water to people in developing countries.

https://www.charitywater.org/about

Also from their website: “We work with local experts and community members to find the best sustainable solution in each place where we work, whether it’s a well, a piped system, a BioSand Filter, or a system for harvesting rainwater. And with every water point we fund, our partners coordinate sanitation and hygiene training and establish a local Water Committee to help keep water flowing for years to come.”

Donate to charity: water

And for today’s donation I’m going to do another local (to me) non-profit: Lookout Housing and Health Society. Lookout is a New Westminster-based non-profit that provides low barrier access to housing and other support for individuals who are already facing many challenges, such as poverty, mental health issues, substance use, disabilities, and more. Their mission statement is:

We provide housing and a range of support services to adults with low or no income who have few, if any, housing or support options. Because the people we serve have challenges meeting basic needs and goals, we place minimal barriers between them and our services.

https://lookoutsociety.ca/
Donate to Lookout

Dec
14

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On the second day of donating…

Category: New Westminster Tags: , Leave a Comment

BC is in the middle of a housing crisis, not to mention an epidemic of loneliness, and there are so many seniors living in situations of low income and social isolation. So for today’s non-profit, I’m donating to the Senior Services Society. They are located right around the corner from my home and directly across the street from my gym, but I didn’t actually know that much about them, so I just checked out their website.

Their mission is simply put:

To connect adults 60+ with individual supports & housing navigation services to enhance their lives. 

http://www.seniorsservicessociety.ca/Values.html

They run a number of services to help seniors live independently in their own home, as well as running a shelter for seniors who don’t have a home to live in. Some of their program include:

  • Better at Home, which provides non-medical services to help seniors live independently in their own homes
  • Meals on Wheels
  • Light Housekeeping
  • Bus Outings that provide an opportunity for social connections with other seniors
  • help completing a variety of government forms, like taxes and applications for social assistance programs
  • Santa for Seniors – providing gifts to seniors living in isolation
Donate to Senior Services Society

Dec
13

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On the first day of donating…

Category: New Westminster, sports Tags: , , Leave a Comment

I enjoyed my 12 days of giving last year so much that I’m doing it again this year! And just like last year, I’m starting with Purpose Society.

The Lower Mainland Purpose Society for Youth and Families is “a community-based multi-service organization that delivers a continuum of programs to children, youth and families.”

http://www.purposesociety.org/

As you may recall, Purpose Society is the non-profit for which my recent powerlifting competition raised funds. They do awesome things for our community and I’m happy to be able to support them.

Also, the trainers at my gym have to lift the same kilograms as we donate in dollars. Here’s their video from week 2:

Donate to Purpose

Jun
16

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Summertime!

Category: awesomeness, events, food, friends, goals, New Westminster, rampant narcissism, sports, Stupid Injuries Tags: , , , , , , , , , Leave a Comment

OK, so it’s not technically summer until Friday, but you’d never know it from the weather we’ve been having. It’s sunny and warm and the sun is up until nearly 9:30 pm.

Things I’m excited about for the summer, in no particular order:

  • The New West Grand Prix – watching professional cyclists ride around and around and around and around my home is actually a lot more exciting than one might expect. Plus my gym will have beer and snacks
  • playing tennis – Scott and I bought some tennis rackets that were on super duper sale at a sports store that was closing down, right before I sprained my MCL. And while the MCL healing has been going slower than I would like, it’s definitely getting better. So much so that I’ve been able to play hockey with a knee brace – so I think I’ll give tennis with a knee brace a try too!
  • the New West Farmers market – while the Farmers Market in New West runs all year, the winter market is uptown on Saturdays and somehow I never manage to get all the way uptown! But the summer market is at City Hall, which is just a short walk (up a very steep hill) from me on Thursday afternoons/evenings. I haven’t gotten out there for the first few weeks, but I’m planning to go soon.
  • canning/jamming more stuff – my friend Patricia has some pear trees near here that have those most amazing tasting pears EVER. I can’t wait until they are ready because I’m going to pick some and can them!
  • tackling stuff from my 2019 goals list – I am VERY behind on my goals for this year (I blame teaching too much in the January semester), but now that that is behind me (along with all my work travel for May), I can actually do some of that stuff
  • Fridays on Front Street and the New West StrEAT Food Truck festival – two New West traditions. I have a couple of friends who are moving/have moved to New West this year, so I’m excited to indoctrinate them into our New West ways
  • hiking – every summer I say I’m going to do more hiking. Hope springs eternal!

I also have a bunch of vacay that I need to book, but I don’t really want to go away when it’s so nice out and there’s so many fun things going on. Perhaps I’ll take some days off to do stuff around here (especially if a certain friend of mine comes to visit and wants to jump out of a plane with me, as we may or may not have previously discussed).

And maybe I’ll look at the fall for a trip somewhere…

Dec
15

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On the fourth day of donating…

Category: New Westminster Tags: , , , , , Leave a Comment

Another non-profit organization that my class worked with this semester was the New West Hospice Society. This is a relatively new non-profit organization in New Westminster that is working “to provide services and to facilitate processes for those in New Westminster experiencing end-of-life and bereavement”.

Death and dying are a fact of life, but so often we don’t know how to talk about it or how to support people going through it – both people who are dying and those close to them. The Hospice Society is looking to change that.

We will work to build a community where death is no longer hidden or whispered about; where people know what to say and do to be supportive; where residents can die with dignity; and family and friends can grieve well.

New West Hospice Society Vision

One of the things that I learned as my students worked with the New West Hospice Society is that there is something called the Compassionate City Charter, which is “a framework to address 13 social changes/sectors to normalize dying, death and loss”. The Society works with partner organizations from a variety of sectors (including schools, trade unions, religious organizations, arts groups, etc.) “to support those at end-of-life to live as fully and comfortably as possible in locations that are conducive and appropriate.”

One example of this is a partnership with the non-profit that I wrote about yesterday, the Arts Council of New Westminster! For example, the Hospice Society and ACNW are jointly holding a short story contest on the theme of “compassion through sharing stories of loss, grief, and healing.”

 

When my dad died, my mom, sister, and I received a lot of love and support from our family and friends and work colleagues and classmates. But not everyone has that kind of support. The New West Hospice Society is working towards a future where everyone is supported – and everyone knows how to be supportive – around death and dying. And I think that is very important work.

 

Donate to the New West Hospice Society

Dec
14

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On the third day of donating…

Category: arts, New Westminster Tags: , , , , Leave a Comment

This semester I taught a program planning and evaluation class at SFU and the main assignment was for the students to work with a non-profit organization to develop an evaluation plan that the organization can use. So I figure I will highlight the five nonprofits that we worked with as part of my course.

First up is the Arts Council of New Westminster. You may recall the ACNW from such things as me being on their board of directors for a few years. The Arts Council is so integrated in the community that they have a hand in pretty much ever event that happens in the city. Fridays on Front Street, New West Craft, Music by the River, Uptown Unplugged, the Cultural Crawl, etc., etc., etc.!

Bringing Community Together Through the Arts

ACNW Tagline

In recognition of the great work that the Arts Council does, both the Executive Director, Stephen O’Shea, and the President, Leanne Ewen, won Platinum Awards1 , this year. Stephen won Citizen of the Year and Leanne won the Bernie Legge Cultural/Artist of the Year award!

Donate to the ACNW
  1. For those of you not from New West, the Platinum Awards are given out by the New West Chamber of Commerce and are kind of a big deal. [↩]

Dec
12

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On the first day of donating…

Category: New Westminster, rampant narcissism Tags: , , , , 1 Comment

As I’ve mentioned before, my charitable giving “strategy”, well, doesn’t really exist. I typically end up giving to charity when someone I know is doing a fundraiser, like a fun ride or the Ride to Conquer Cancer. Some years I get a lot of asks and end up donating to a variety of charities. But this year, I haven’t seen any asks like that from family and friends. I’m not sure if people have become tired of fun runs or if everyone is just asking on Facebook instead by email and I’ve missed them all. So in the interest of actually doing some giving, I decided to do my own version of the 12 Days of Christmas, featuring one charity per day that I’ll give some money to.

Today I’m starting with the one ask I’ve actually seen from people that I know – specifically, the trainers at my gym. As I have mentioned before, the people at my gym are the best people ever and here’s yet another example. They encourage gym members to donate to the Purpose Society, which is a social services agency located about a block away from the gym. And the trainers have to lift a kilogram for every dollar that is donated. So if we donate $1000, they have to lift 1000 kg! (Not all at once, of course, but enough reps with enough weight so that they’ve listed the total).

 The Lower Mainland Purpose Society for Youth and Families is “a community-based multi-service organization that delivers a continuum of programs to children, youth and families.”

http://www.purposesociety.org/

They offer a variety of services, including:

  • youth health clinics
  • outreach workers for high risk youth
  • youth groups
  • family therapy
  • early childhood programs
  • parenting groups
  • a rent bank
  • an independent secondary school

…just to name a few!

Donate to Purpose!

So that’s my charity for the first day of donating. Check back tomorrow for another instalment!

Oct
19

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Vote!

Category: politics Tags: , , , , , , 1 Comment

Tomorrow is municipal election day in BC and if you are an eligible voter and haven’t yet voted in an advanced poll, then get out there and vote!

A lot of people don’t pay attention to municipal politics, but the municipal government deals with a lot of the things that affect our daily lives: roads, recreation facilities and community centres, development permits, parks, libraries, schools, policing, fire fighting, garbage pickup, and recycling, just to name a few. In my city, New Westminster, the city even runs its own electrical utility! The city can also advocate for things that are important to its residents, but that aren’t wholly within their jurisdiction and/or collaborate with other municipalities and/or other levels of government for projects that require them to work together – thinks like public transit and the much needed Patullo Bridge replacement.

I consider myself lucky that I live in a vibrant city with a real community feel, where the mayor, council, and school board all work hard to make it that way and to keep making improvements where we still have work to do (things like reconciliation with indigenous people, and more inclusive and meaningful engagement with the public).

Since I’m currently over in the UK on holidays, I voted in an advanced poll and based on my Twitter feed, it seems like a lot of other people did too. But tomorrow is e-day, so if you haven’t voted yet, get out there and do it!

Due to the 8 hour time zone difference, I’m probably going to go to sleep tomorrow night before the election results are in. But I’ll be checking those results first thing when I get up on the 21st!

Oct
10

By

Vote early, vote often!

Category: Canada, politics Tags: , , , , , , Leave a Comment

OK, maybe just vote early.

It’s municipal election time here in BC (as it is in some other places in the country) and while election day isn’t until Oct 20, I’m going to be in the far away land of Scotland on some well-earned holidays on that day1, so I exercised my right to vote today at the advanced poll. I got to cast my vote for mayor, city council, and school board – and I’m happy to say that there are some pretty great people running for these positions, so I happily voted for some incumbents who I think have been doing a great job running our city, and some fresh faces that I think have a lot to offer.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

‪Took me longer to take a selfie that I was happy with than it did to vote! #vote #newwest #advancedvoting #municipalpolitics

A post shared by Beth Snow (@drbethsnow) on

I guess now I’ll just have to wait until Oct 20 and watch the returns come in from across the pond! Thank the FSM for the internets!

  1. I’m very much looking forward to my holidays, but I’m a wee bit sad that I won’t be in town to watch the results come in and then take part in the victory party! [↩]

Nov
26

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NaBloPoMo – Day 26 – Happy 50th Birthday to the Arts Council of New Westminster

Category: arts, awesomeness, events, NaBloPoMo, New Westminster Tags: , , , , , , , , Leave a Comment

Today was the Annual General Meeting of the Arts Council of New Westminster, followed by its 50th birthday party! For the past 50 years, the ACNW has been bringing community of New Westminster together through the arts and I’m proud to have been a small part of that.

Name tag. Arts Council of New Westminster

I joined the board of ACNW back in June 2014, at the encouragement of my friend, Tig. It was shortly after I finished my MBA and it gave me my first experience of being on a board of directors. For the past year, I served as the secretary on the board. I got to work with a fabulous group of people, got to contribute to an organization that supports artists in the community and runs many of the amazing events that makes New West such a cool place to be. I learned a lot, made some great friends, and am proud of what we’ve accomplished over this time. I made the tough decision to step down from the board after 3+ years – with my day job getting busier and busier and my new role on CESBCY, I felt like I should not spread myself too thin and that it was a good time to make way for some new blood on the Arts Council board. I will continue to be a supporter of the ACNW, but now as a cheerleader on the side rather than as a member of the board. Looking forward to seeing what amazing things the ACNW does in the next 50 years!

Happy birthday, ACNW and thank you to all the artists, art enthusiasts, donors, staff, volunteers, board members, and ACNW members who make it all possible!

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