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All things work together
Thieves made away with more than 80 boxes full of new
toys and four large freezers full of frozen food, including Christmas
turkeys designated for needy children, on the night of December 3. They
jacked open a garage door at the Salvation Army’s Fraser Street
family services warehouse.
Many institutions and individuals rallied around Sally
Ann as a result: Vancouver Police donated $2,000; online donations
exceeded $20,000; the Vancouver Giants donated 1,000 tickets.
Telus matched the first $25,000; and Canadian Tire
stores from the Lower Mainland contributed merchandise totaling $30,000, to
be divided between The Salvation Army and the Lower Mainland Christmas
Bureau.
Vancouver’s radio community came together in a
coordinated appeal as never before.
In a related story, a group of Langley teens chased a
thief December 8.
The man had stolen a Salvation Army donation box.
Although he scrambled free, he left the box behind. (Langley Advance)
Footprints author vindicated
Margaret Fishback Powers, Coquitlam-based author of the
immensely popular Footprints poem, was vindicated in a San Francisco courtroom last month.
Powers’ lawyer, John Hughes, summed up the case
for BCCN: “In
a nutshell: a man named Basil Zangare, the son and heir of Mary Stevenson,
who (falsely) claimed to have authored Margaret’s Footprints poem, filed a copyright
infringement lawsuit in New York in May of 2008, against both Margaret and
a woman named Carolyn Carty (Ms. Carty also falsely claims to have
written the poem). After Margaret filed a Motion to Dismiss Zangare’s
case, she and Zangare reached a settlement, whereby Zangare’s
suit was dismissed ‘with prejudice’ (which means it can not be
brought again), without any monetary payment between them.”
Powers recently released The
Footprints Book of Daily Inspirations (pictured),
published by HarperCollins Canada.
Big yellow truck
HomeStart Foundation, a Christian humanitarian
organization based in Vancouver that provides furniture to the
disadvantaged, has been given a brand new truck.
“We were trying to manage with an aging vehicle;
but the worry, expense and time off the road were bringing us to a
stop,” said Vikki Stevenson, executive director of HomeStart.
The gift was facilitated by Charity Trucks, a new
venture linking business and community, and was made possible by generous
and caring local sponsors. Since 2003, Homestart has furnished over 1,600
homes. Clients include refugees as well as women and children
escaping domestic violence.
Contact: 604.708.9556. homestart.ca
Firmer foundation
St. Andrew’s United Church in Fort Langley is the
oldest United Church building in continuous service in British Columbia; it
was built in 1885.
The wood construction is sound; however, the cinder
block foundation was failing. Earlier this winter, workers lifted the
church off its foundation, and added a basement. Worship resumed December
7.
standrewsfortlangley.ca
Youth for Uganda
Tsawwassen Alliance youth were visited by a group of
‘Roadies’ from the Invisible Children organization, and were
shown a video called GO, about the war in Northern Uganda.
‘Schools for Schools,’ featured in the
film, challenges students to spend 100 days raising money to send to
Uganda. The youth group’s response was quick, starting with bottle
drives and bake sales; a fundraiser called ‘Overcome with Love’
earned more than $3,000.
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They collected ‘change for change,’ and
kids gave babysitting money and allowances. One teen even got her mom to
donate the money she would have received from her entire family for her
Christmas presents this year. With help from the youth mission fund, 65
kids raised over $10,000.
Faith-based Rampage
Award-winning production company Rampage Entertainment,
based in Vancouver, is launching a ‘Christian film division.’
Its Venture Capital Corporate structure has been pre-approved by the
government of B.C. to raise $5 million in the province – to produce
meaningful, faith-oriented movies and TV shows.
“We have good relationships with various
Christian distributors and finance partners in the U.S. These are very
turbulent times, and there is opportunity in the ‘feel-good,
faith-based’ market,” said Rampage’s Gavin Wilding.
The company’s most recent release is Battle in Seattle, based on the
1999 protests against the World Trade Organization.
rampage-entertainment.com
New Sisters bio
A new 500-page book, Women
Without Frontiers, outlines the accomplishments
(within Canada and worldwide) of the Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate
Conception – some of whom have served in the Roman Catholic
Archdiocese of Vancouver. Sister Cecilia Hong calls the book a
“10-year labour of love put together by . . . archivists from
different missions around the world.” Hong is a counsellor with
Catholic Family Services in Vancouver.
– B.C. Catholic
Manners grant
The Manners Lady, aka Langley-based Judi Vankevich, is
an outspoken Christian with an award-winning message conveyed through
songs, books and, hopefully, a new DVD.
She has been promised a matching grant of $100,000 if
she can raise that amount to fund the DVD. She wants to feature a concert
on the DVD, “so that children can see the fun and catch the
vision.” She also hopes the funding will enable her to finish and
design a new book for the curriculum ‘Manners Matter & Character
Counts for Kids.’
Vankevich’s energy and enthusiasm is infectious.
She organized the Hamed Nastoh Anti-Bullying ‘Enough is Enough’
rally for teens, and hosted Langley’s first international students
Christmas party last year. nationalmannersmonth.com
January 2009
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