FRIDAY December 14, 2012 Vol. 27•No. 100 ••• $1.25 inc. H.S.T.
COMOX VALLEY
ARTS
SPORTS
Winter Wonderland happens this weekend in downtown Courtenay as WinterFest rolls on. page B1
Young and old alike can benefit from a Learn to Run clinic. page B14
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RON WEBBER, LEFT, receives a commendation from Minister of Veterans Affairs Stephen Blaney.
Webber gets award Scott Stanfield Record Staff
MICHAEL’S OFF MAIN co-owner Terry Chaney prepares stockings for Comox Valley homeless with the help of other Fourth Street businesses. The stockings are filled with essentials and treats then handed out to homeless people by the Comox Bay Care Society via the Care-A-Van. PHOTO BY RENEE ANDOR
Ron Webber has received a commendation from the Minister of Veterans Affairs, awarded to those who have performed service to the veteran community or who represent role models to fellow veterans. “I was quite shocked,” said Webber, a former Courtenay mayor and alderman. “I guess somebody recognized and put my name to Ottawa.” Born and raised in Courtenay, Webber served in the Canadian Scottish Regiment Reserve for two years before serving in the Canadian Army with the 2nd Battalion of the Black Watch of Gagetown, N.B. He was
Downtown merchants aid homeless Renee Andor Record Staff
Terry Chaney works to brighten the holidays for homeless people in the Comox Valley. With help from other Fourth Street businesses in Courtenay, she does this in a relatively simple, yet very thoughtful way — Christmas stockings. Filled with essentials, and of course treats, these stockings are given to homeless people via the Comox Bay Care Society’s Care-A-Van, which provides
medical care to the Comox Valley’s homeless. This is the second year Chaney has prepared stockings for the Valley’s homeless, and she says Helen Boyd of the care society told her about the positive response they created last year among the people who received them. “Most often she heard, ‘Somebody actually made this for me?’ you know, and she said they were just amazed — they loved it,” recalls Chaney. “That seemed to be their biggest thing was, ‘Wow, somebody
made something like this for me.’” The idea first started when Chaney, who co-owns Michael’s Off Main restaurant with her husband Michael Gilbert, met four homeless men who hung out behind the restaurant several years ago. She got to know them by spending time talking to them on her breaks, and when the holidays rolled around, she wanted to do something special for them. “I’ve always loved doing stockings,” she admits. “But
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I decided these guys don’t have Christmas and it’s one of the fun parts of Christmas — and I realize there’s many people without and we need to feed people and all these things, but this little Christmas stocking with goodies and treats in it really puts a smile on some people’s faces.” After a few years the homeless men left and Chaney was in the restaurant telling a friend about how she wouldn’t make the stockings for them anymore. Boyd happened to be sitting ... see STOCKINGS ■ A2
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honourary colonel of the 407 Long Range Patrol Squadron at Canadian Forces Base Comox for seven years. “I did a red flag parade down the main street when I was honourary colonel,” said Webber, who also co-organized a charity plane pull at the base to raise funds for the B.C. Lions Society for Children with Disabilities. He is considering another plane pull, possibly at the Airpark, in the form of a supermarket challenge. A 48-year member of the Courtenay Legion, Webber chaired the Legion Memorial Wall of Recognition committee that organized photo murals on the side of the Sid Williams Theatre.
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