July 31, 2013

OurCommunity.

OurPeople.

What holds a community together? It’s civic pride, a common purpose and the desire to pursue a happy, healthy lifestyle. It’s the desire to raise a family in a safe environment. It’s the people who, after the workday is done, continue to improve the community for themselves and others, now and in the future. We’d like to introduce you to a few of your neighbours who, through their involvement, help to make our community what it is. Welcome to the third annual edition of “Our Community. Our People.”

Jim Coulter - Publisher

People make all the difference

Thank you to the amazing people in our community who contribute, volunteer and give back in countless ways to Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows.

We are thrilled to be a part of these great communities.

Giving back is part of our businesses and we appreciate the opportunity to work and live in our own backyard.

We invite you to come in today and see the difference people make at our dealearships.

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‘Welcome to downtown Maple Ridge’ Story By Michael Hall

Bradley thinks downtown Maple Ridge has cleaned up a lot...that there is more pride and ownership in the area, more sense of community.

Lynne Bradley’s job is more than picking up cigarette butts.

Although that is part of it – walking the downtown streets in her red golf shirt, pinching the discarded filters with tongs and filling a garbage bag with them.

She could probably fill her day just doing that, there are so many of them.

But she has other, equally important but eminently more enjoyable work to do as the sole member of the Downtown Maple Ridge Business Improvement Association’s Core Area Patrol.

She took the position three years ago, to provide a sense of community, take care of businesses and make sure the welcome mat to the downtown is always out.

Community associations across North America have operated such programs for more than 15 years. People helping people makes a better community, the BIA believes, and it is working hard to foster such a culture.

Bradley is the face of it.

She works Monday to Friday, 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., just in downtown Maple Ridge, rain or shine, 12 months a year.

She is visible walking the streets, at community festivals – such as the recent Caribbean Festival – and, most notably, at all the stores and shops.

She’s responsible for sharing with them all the programs the BIA offers – from facade improvements and graffiti removal to mural projects and vehicle security checks, coupon and map books, to shop local efforts, such as next month’s Treasure Hunt and Amazing Adventure.

She delivers invoices, collects money and solicits business.

She delivers event posters and paints over graffiti (if the business provides the paint).

“It’s not as bad as it was when I started three years ago,” she said of the amount of graffiti downtown.

She also writes crime prevention notices to vehicle owners, informing them if they’ve left windows open or change and other valuables in plain sight. Or she just might write, “Good job.”

Bradley also works closely with the municipal bylaws department. If she sees an unlocked or overflowing dumpster, she’ll report it.

If someone in a back alley looks lost, she’ll point them in the right direction.

Collecting cigarette butts is done in concert with community service work. She works with those assigned to it through the courts.

Together, they clean the streets – cigarette butts and plastic wrap from cigarette packages, condoms and parts of needles, food packaging and cardboard coffee cups and plastic lids.

Bradley finds a lot of Q-tips and plastic baggies, once in a while eyeglasses, and once a rat skeleton.

“Never ever have we gone out without people thanking us,” Bradley said. “It makes us feel good, that people notice we are doing our part to help clean up.”

She loves the fact that almost every downtown business knows her, that operators shout out her name and wave as she walks about, or run out and tell her what’s happening.

She talks to the people who live and work on the streets, too. Some have been there since she started.

Bradley thinks downtown Maple Ridge has cleaned up a lot since then, that there is more pride and ownership in the area, more sense of community.

Just recently someone thanked her for a coupon they had used at a new downtown business.

“That’s what we like to hear.”

• Visit downtownmapleridge.ca for more information on DMRBIA programs.

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Our Community. Our People. July 2013

3

The peace officer Story By Monisha Martins

Fleugel’s path as a Mountie has been somewhat unique.

Insp. David Fleugel doesn’t come from a long line of police officers. He has no grandpa who donned the Red Serge or walked the beat in crime-infested neighbourhoods.

“I didn’t even have a ride-along before I joined,” says Fleugel, who is currently at the helm of the R idge M eadows RCMP detachment as the acting officer in charge of more than 100 Mounties who police Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows.

“I’d never heard the crackle of a police radio until I went to depot.”

Fleugel grew up in eastern Canada in a suburb much like Maple Ridge.

He studied criminology and after completing his

We love our

degree, sent applications to most of the big police forces in the country.

His eyes, though, were always set on the RCMP. Uncannily, Maple Ridge was his first choice as a detachment when asked to list preferred posting locations at depot.

“I had no plan B,” says Fleugel. “I was going to pursue this career.”

Fleugel’s path as a Mountie has been somewhat unique. Instead of beginning his training at depot, the RCMP offered him an opportunity to become bi-lingual by sending him to Montreal before he went to Regina.

His career as a Mountie began across the Fraser River in Langley, where he started as a front-line constable and eventually went on to work with the detachment’s property crime unit and drug squad.

“My experience was always at the municipal level. I love the deep community connection,” says Fleugel, who took on an administrative role as strategic planner in Langley and was eventually recruited by RCMP headquarters to become one of the first regional duty officers in the Lower Mainland.

His stint as a regional duty officer saw him become the public face for some of the biggest calls in Metro Vancouver.

Fleugel had never considered being a police chief until he transferred to Burnaby, where he was inspired by one of his mentors, Chief Supt. Rick Taylor.

Fleugel finally transferred to Ridge Meadows – his first choice out of depot – two years ago and admits he’s fallen in love with the community.

“It really feels and acts like a community and that’s a genuine statement,” says Fleugel, using the recent homicide of a suspected drug dealer as an example of why Ridge Meadows is unique to police.

RCMP arrested two men immediately after the shooting

Community’s

because so many witnesses came forward.

“People were coming into the detachment saying, ‘I was there.’ One person said, ‘I ran my groceries home, but I wanted to come back and provide information.’”

In his time as an inspector with Ridge Meadows RCMP, Fleugel sees that people care deeply and are really passionate about Pitt Meadows and Maple Ridge.

“It’s small enough that people know each other,” says Fleugel, who lives with his wife and three sons in Maple Ridge.

Last year, Fleugel joined police officers from across the world at Quantico, Virginia for three months at the FBI’s National Academy – one of the most prestigious law enforcement command schools in the world.

At the FBI academy, Fleugel took courses in hostage negotiation and conflict resolution, but also went through a basic training component that harkened back to his days at RCMP depot.

He exchanged ideas with police officers from all over the Commonwealth, as well as Afghanistan and Mongolia.

Instead of differences, Fleugel was surprised by the commonalities police officers share.

“You think that because we live so close to the United States, we would have a lot in common and we do. But when it comes to the philosophy of policing, there was a shared philosophy amongst officers from the Commonwealth.

“We are really peace officers and that’s the way a police officer is defined in the Criminal Code. Being a peace officer says a lot about our function,” said Fleugel, who clocks 22 years as a RCMP officer this year.

It’s that philosophy that guides his outlook as an officer in charge. It’s why he volunteers as a coach and cherishes his role as a liaison between politicians and the police force.

“The police are the people and the people are the police,” adds Fleugel, quoting Sir Robert Peel.

“The community is critical to our success as police.”

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Our Community. Our People. July 2013

Lanzarotta: Principal and ‘Call Me Maybe’ dad Story By Neil Corbett

The Maple Ridge principal married Carly Rae’s mother, Alexandra, when the singer was just three years old.

When Ron Lanzarotta’s family goes Christmas carolling, people stand up and take notice – his stepdaughter is a rock star.

None other than Carly Rae Jepsen went singing in her hometown Mission last Christmas.

The Maple Ridge principal married Carly Rae’s mother, Alexandra, when the singer was just three years old.

“Carly has always been a performer, and has always striven to be a performer and entertainer,” he said.

She was first in the public eye on the reality television talent contest Canadian Idol, on which she was in contention to win it all, and finished the competition in third place. Then last year, the singer-songwriter’s hit Call Me Maybe was named the song of the summer by Billboard magazine, which also called Jepsen 2012’s Rising Star.

She has won three Juno Awards and two Grammy

nominations.

Now the girl from Mission lives in California, plugged into the international music scene through LA, and also spends a lot of time in New York.

“She really has made it. She’s in a current of activity, and she can be in a different city every day,” he said. “She’s doing well, and loving it.”

Jepsen came back to her hometown for a free concert last year. She also donated $60,000 for arts bursaries in her hometown, and is clearly grounded despite her sudden fame.

“She’s a neat person. I love her dearly, but I like her too – if that makes sense,” said Lanzarotta.

As for Lanzarotta, he’s rocking his career in education.

He started out in professional life in the field of recreation administration, and was the manager of the former Mission Aquatic Centre. He instructed a lot of water sports, from Water Babies classes to canoeing courses.

But then he shifted gears, and both he and his wife went back to university, built on their degrees by getting their teaching certificates, and became educators.

He taught for six years, and for the past 11 has been an administrator, as a principal and vice-principal at the elementary level.

“I was pulled to a management/admin role – that skill set,” he said. “But I’ve always loved teaching.”

He has moved around the Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows school district’s elementary schools, including Golden Ears, Highland Park, was at Meadowland for its final year, Edith McDermott, and now five years as principal at Albion.

This past school year, he was asked to take on the dual role of Albion principal as well as the district’s principal of aboriginal education.

It’s a unique position, as he oversees aboriginal

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education staff in schools across the district. They work for students who are of First Nations, Métis and Inuit ancestry, providing academic support, social and emotional support, and cultural awareness for all students.

“They take a lot of pride in the work they do,” he said.

Improving literacy, numeracy and creating more a sense of belonging in aboriginal students is the ultimate goal, and it is measured in grad rates. This district does comparatively well. The provincial aboriginal graduation rate is pegged at 54 per cent, while this district was at 67 per cent for the 2012 school year.

“Maple Ridge is a fairly progressive district – on all fronts,” said Lanzarotta.

“I’m excited about our department, and where it’s heading.”

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Our Community. Our People. July 2013

5

Paying it forward Story By Colleen Flanagan

Finnie is a frontline worker for the facility that provides food, shelter and support for those in need in Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows. Born and raised in Maple Ridge, she struggled for many years as a single mom with two daughters. She is also a recovering alcoholic.

Cheryl Finnie sits in her quiet office on the top floor of the Salvation Army.

Quiet only because she is surrounded by the empty emergency shelter rooms that are vacated during the day.

She takes the odd phone call as she pours over paper work.

Sun streams in through the glass sun roof overhead.

A client ambles into her office door.

After a cheery “hello” and pleasant chit chat, he asks her for his medication, which is locked up in a filing cabinet.

As Finnie walks towards the cabinet, she passes a handmade note that is tacked to a cork board along her office wall.

It is decorated with pink hearts and orange stars.

The colourful lettering reads “Angels here on earth” and is addressed to the staff and volunteers of the Salvation Army Caring Place.

Finnie hands the man his prescription bottle and records on a chart the date and time he took the pills before locking them up again.

With a smile on his face, he wishes her a good day and is gone as quickly as he came.

Finnie is a frontline worker for the facility that provides food, shelter and support for those in need in Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows.

Born and raised in Maple Ridge, she struggled for many years as a single mom with two daughters. She is also a recovering alcoholic.

“I had the compassion and understanding about the struggles that people with alcoholism and addictions go through. That’s kind of what brought me here, it was my way of giving back,” Finnie said about her position at The Caring Place.

She started working there four years ago, first volunteering for the cold wet weather program, then as a frontline worker, and was eventually hired on full-time.

She is also the coordinator for Sonia’s Cradle, a program that provides parents with supplies to support their children – formula to diapers – for newborns, backpacks and school supplies for others.

Finnie is the first person someone in need sees when they first walk in the door. Her job is to book them a bed, get them a shower and a meal, take down their information and find out what their story is. Sometimes she will pray with them and encourage them to go to treatment, if that is the case.

On average, Finnie will see anywhere in between 12 and 20 new clients each month. She sees more when shelters have closed their cold wet weather programs for the season, when the homeless start looking for other places to stay.

6

Our Community. Our People. July 2013

Last month Finnie had 30 new clients; 12 from Maple Ridge, Pitt Meadows, Coquitlam and Port Coquitlam, eight from outside the Lower Mainland, seven from the Lower Mainland and three from out of province.

Finnie hates the stigma that surrounds homelessness – the notion that homeless people are lazy and steal.

“It’s not true,” said Finnie.

“You know, when you were young did you say, ‘When I grow up, I want to be a homeless drug addict, or I want to be a homeless person?’”

Often these are people who are have experienced much trauma in their lives, Finnie said. They have no family and no support within the community.

If it wasn’t for certain people in Finnie’s own life, she wouldn’t have received the help that she needed to be in a position to help others today.

“Everybody needs that first person to believe in them, and believe that they are worthwhile and worth it,” she said.

“It doesn’t matter what they are or what they’ve done.

They are still a person. They still deserve somebody to care.”

When people become sober, they can be remorseful of acts they committed while addicted. It is easy to numb those feelings with drugs and alcohol, something that Finnie struggles with every day.

“Sometimes when you are clean, it is too overwhelming

and sometimes it takes people back out there. It’ll be seven years this month for me [of sobriety]. And there are still times that it is hard.”

But working at the Caring Place reminds Finnie that it is so easy to end up back out on the streets. It helps her in her own recovery.

She has two grandchildren now and loves to spend time with them. She also finds time to organize Sonia’s Cradle, mostly on her own time.

She has 100 clients who use the program and she needs a more funding. One of her dreams is to have enough money to have her own space where people can come and pick out the items they need, instead of Finnie picking out items for them from the storage area.

The program also needs items like baby formula, diapers and strollers.

Finnie enjoys keeping busy. She enjoys the people she meets. She enjoys trying to help them, making them feel better.

Whether it is just listening to somebody who needed someone to talk to, serving them a meal or even just providing a smiling face, she said, “It makes you feel good at the end of the day that you did something nice for someone.”

• To donate to the Sonia’s Cradle program or The Salvation Army Caring Place go to www.caringplace.ca.

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SPCA manager a singing sensation Story By Michael Hall

When not with the choir, she sings to the animals at the shelter – Handel or Beethoven.

Jennifer York sings to cats and dogs.

It’s therapeutic for them, and she loves to sing.

York is a classically trained singer with a degree in music from the University of B.C. She’s also the manager of the Maple Ridge branch of the SPCA, and last month earned a Staff Excellence Award from the provincial non-profit society.

York first joined the B.C. SPCA’s Vancouver shelter in 2008, then was promoted to manager of its Richmond education and adoption centre two years later.

In February, she was appointed manager of the Maple Ridge branch, where she is known for her professional credibility, integrity and sense of responsibility – as well as singing.

“She is very committed to the advancement of animal welfare in the branch and to the overall quality of animal and human care in our organization,” said Jane Talbot, manager of training and development in human resources for the B.C. SPCA. In 2011, the SPCA opened a new $3.7 million, 6,500 square-foot facility in east Maple Ridge. Today, it is one of the highest-volume SPCA shelters in the province, having cared for 1,263 animals last year.

Some of them need special care, like a cat covered in scabs.

York’s speciality is rehabilitating cats.

“Obviously, I love working with dogs, too.”

She and her husband have two at home. One, Clara, an eight-month-old mixed breed from the SPCA, just passed puppy training – basic commands like ‘stay,’ ‘lay down,’ ‘come,’ ‘leave it.’

The training helps dogs build social skills, and to become relaxed house dogs.

York loves animals, and is passionate about educating people about caring for their pets.

Disciplining pets used to be “squirt the cat, spank the dog.” Now it’s about positive reinforcement, giving treats for using a litter box.

They learn quicker that way, York said.

“And there’s no stress on them.”

York had pets as a child – a hamster named Nadia Comaneci, after the Romanian gymnast who won three gold medals at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal and was the first female to be awarded a perfect score of 10 in the Olympics. York’s hamster loved to run in its treadmill. She used to take Nadia out of her cage and snuggle with her. When Nadia passed away, York made a coffin and performed a funeral procession, and said a few words at the burial site.

She also had a dog named Mac, after MacBeth, a beagle rescued from the Coquitlam SPCA. She once dressed him 8

Our Community. Our People. July 2013

up in a bathing suit.

“He was not really impressed.”

York first started volunteering with the Richmond SPCA while studying music at UBC. She first worked with rabbits, and enjoyed it so much that soon she was volunteering 40 hours a week. But she needed to help pay rent, and had to take an office job in downtown Vancouver.

She still found time to volunteer at the SPCA, filling in all over the Lower Mainland when someone was sick or on vacation. That allowed her to gain experience as a kennel attendant and in animal control, learning numerous positions and understanding the stress and pressures of each one.

She then found work in an auxiliary role for the SPCA, which fit well with her music schooling, after which she toured eastern Canada with a chamber ensemble.

She most recently performed as a soloist with the Pacific Spirit Choir in West Vancouver.

When not with the choir, she sings to the animals at the shelter – Handel or Beethoven.

“I’m known around the SPCA for that,” York said.

The human voice will actually stimulate animals into selfcare, she added.

She has sung to despondent cats who lost their appetite, and they start to self-groom, then get up and use the litter box or eat.

It’s just another form of animal care, which is what she does at the SPCA – from adoptions to education programs for kids, to advocating against puppy mills and starting a new low-cost spay and neuter program.

York is most proud of the SPCA’s growth. It no longer warehouses animals, but looks at the emotional and behavior needs of each one, and addresses medical concerns.

“Hallie” was a recent puppy who had to have his right eye removed. It was bulging and at risk of rupturing and could not be saved. Afterwards, Hallie was adopted to a good family in Maple Ridge.

York is most proud of the work her team does at the SPCA. “What an amazing group we have,” she said. “They always go above and beyond.”

Graffiti as art, and pineapples Story By Colleen Flanagan

Kupskay’s colourful, intricate murals adorn skateparks, snowboard shops, trampoline facilities and walls The first competition Kris Kupskay ever entered, he was a complete mess.

He couldn’t sleep the night before, he was anxious and he kept asking himself, ‘What am I doing?’

It was 2006, and the one-day competition took place along Terminal Avenue in downtown Vancouver. Kupskay, a graffiti artist, had to paint a historical city landmark or an event that had some kind of impact on the city.

Kupskay chose Expo ’86 and painted a rendition of Expo Ernie and the H2O UFO. He didn’t even come close to placing.

But now Kupskay’s colourful, intricate murals adorn skateparks, snowboard shops, trampoline facilities and walls throughout the Fraser Valley, Vancouver, Whistler, the Sunshine Coast, Kelowna and Pemberton. His murals can even be seen in Hawaii and Mexico.

Born in Winnipeg, Kupskay was raised in Maple Ridge

7

from the age of three. He attended Fairview elementary, then Maple Ridge secondary before studying at the University of the Fraser Valley. Kupskay got his degree in criminology with a double minor in communications and visual arts.

Growing up with a paint brush in hand, he credits his mother for nurturing his creative side.

“My mom was super artsy. She’s a Grade 2/3 teacher and any time and all the time was arts and crafts time,” said Kupskay.

However, it was not his minor in visual arts, but the thesis he worked on for his major that propelled him into the world of graffiti art.

For his thesis, Kupskay took 100 photos of legal and illegal graffiti art downtown Vancouver and analyzed people’s reaction to the colourful compositions compared to a grey wall. He found out that even though people generally react positively to colour and negatively to grey, or the lack of colour, colour coming from a spray can was always seen as a negative – no matter what the positive impact of the graffiti was.

It was while gathering research for his paper, he met a store owner downtown who advised him to learn about the art himself and told him about the Vancouver competition.

He met fellow artist Milan from High Five Murals, and spent the next week “learning from the best.”

While Kupskay was working as a youth outreach worker at Pacific Legal Education Association, PLEA, in the TriCities area, he started applying locally for work on murals.

“It turns out that the city loves to get the community involved and at-risk youth involved,” said Kupskay, who received numerous grants to paint murals and slowly built on his portfolio.

Locally, you can find his work along 240th Street, just south of Dewdney Trunk Road, at the indoor skate park at the Greg Moore Youth Centre, and at various businesses.

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Most recently, he had the opportunity to paint the entire backdrop for the Believe Freedom Festival in Whistler. In October, he is hoping to travel to Costa Rica to work on another mural.

Kupskay loves working with spray paint because he can work on large surfaces and cover large areas in a small amount of time. He goes through 200 cans of spray paint every two months.

Although his favourite mural was one he drew of Jaws on the slam wall of the Whistler skate park, he prefers to paint portraits.

“I think evolving as an artist it was always something I found most difficult and gave the most respect to. There’s so many layers underneath the face,” said Kupskay.

Over the years, he has painted the likes of Mahatma Gandhi, Marlon Brando from The Godfather, Snoop Dog, Marilyn Monroe and even Ren and Stimpy.

He also enjoys painting pineapples.

“That’s tied to an emotion for sure,” said Kupskay, explaining the happiness he felt every time he had a pineapple in his hand, in Hawaii with his feet in sand and his board shorts on.

He tries to hide a pineapple in every mural he designs.

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A picture to last a lifetime Story By Colleen Flanagan

Brenda Garcia tears up when she thinks about the first year she participated in Help Portrait.

A mother along with her three high-school-aged daughters came to St. Andrew’s Haney United Church to have their portrait taken.

The mother never had enough money to order school pictures in the past and her eldest daughter was graduating that year.

The family sat down to have their hair and makeup done, then posed for a series of photographs, some with the mother and her three daughters and some with just the daughters.

When the mother saw the finished portrait of her daughters, she started to cry.

Then the photographer, editor, co-organizer, and Garcia all started to cry, which caused the mother to exclaim,

“Why are you guys crying?”

Help Portrait was founded in 2009 by American celebrity photographer Jeremy Cowart, to give back to his community.

The one-day event takes place every second Saturday in December. It is a non-profit organization that has grown to include 3,883 photographers and 8,315 volunteers worldwide.

Last year, 80,928 portraits were given out at 408 locations in 47 countries around the world.

Since its inception, 282,295 portraits have been handed out across the globe.

Locally, Help Portrait started in 2011 with locations in both Pitt Meadows and Maple Ridge.

Garcia, who moved to B.C. from Calgary 20 years ago, living in Maple Ridge for the past eight years, started her own business called Thrive Solutions, training small businesses in social media.

As part of her business, Garcia would host Tweet Ups, face-to-face meetings for people who have met online, either on Twitter or Facebook.

It was at one of these Tweet Ups that Garcia and her friend, Andrea Walker, met Matt Brennan, a local photographer. Brennan explained to Garcia and Walker what Help Portrait was about and mentioned that he wanted to start one here in the community and they immediately jumped on board.

Two locations were set up for the first year, one in Maple Ridge and the other in Pitt Meadows. At each location there were professional makeup artists and hair stylists and a series of photo studios for the portrait sittings.

In total, 180 groups turned out to have their portraits taken.

Last year, 150 turned out to the Maple Ridge location alone.

Garcia and Walker have since taken over the organization of the event, after Brennan moved to Chilliwack. They are hoping to include more communities like Langley and Mission. They are also hoping to get more people involved

to provide shuttle service to and from the event. But this can’t be done without donations.

Garcia says people generally love the concept, but don’t donate because it is not a cause that puts food on the table. This Garcia firmly disagrees with.

“If a young mom doesn’t feel good about herself and all of a sudden she gets dolled up with hair and makeup and she has a pretty picture, she feels better about herself,” said Garcia.

“And maybe she’ll get out into the world and do something better for her family. So how is that not the same thing as putting food on the table?”

Garcia would really like to see the event grow to serve over 300, even 400 people, with transportation to help people that live in communities outside Maple Ridge, like Port Coquitlam, Mission or Langley, get there.

“It doesn’t just have to be homeless people. It’s just generally people in need,” said Garcia.

“Single parents, somebody who has just lost their job, low income. Somebody living on the street. Somebody using the Salvation Army. It can be anybody. Anybody that would not normally have the money to pay for a professional portrait,” she said.

Volunteers are needed for this year’s event. Garcia is looking for photo editors, makeup artists, hair stylists and general volunteers.

Garcia would also like to have some live musicians to provide entertainment throughout the day.

Donations are also needed. Garcia would like to get better printers for this year’s event. Photo paper, frames, makeup and hair products are also welcome.

Donations can be dropped off at Golden Ears United Church at Dewdney Trunk Road and 223rd Street.

• For more information go to www.helpportraitridgemeadows.com or to sign up for this years event on Dec. 7 go to http://bit.ly/RMHP2013.

Run Date: July 31, 2013 Maple Ridge News (4.5” x 5.3333”) B&W EOR#5740

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PROUD TO HAVING SERVED OUR COMMUNITY FOR 34 YEARS

Story By Colleen Flanagan

Before she retires Patenaude would like to finish what she started which is making information more accessible to the public.

They looked like little rolled up birchbark sausages.

The three tightly rolled scrolls were once owned by George Sayers, who came to Maple Ridge from England with his family in 1912 and attended school in Haney before heading off to UBC. He would eventually become an accomplished metal worker, inventor and botanist.

While working for the logging company Abernethy and Lougheed, he was also charged with touring Winston Churchill around the logging operation on a speeder, a fast single car used on the railroad track to carry men to and from the job.

When Sayers passed away in 1987, his friends kept belongings that were most important to him and then donated them in 2010 to the Maple Ridge Museum.

Val Patenaude, the museum director, knew that they must be important because Sayers kept them throughout most his life. But the museum didn’t have the equipment nor the funds to unroll the scrolls.

This spring, a young woman with a background in conservation was hired to work short-term for the museum. She took the scrolls to a lab at Burnaby Village and was able to unroll them. The scrolls contained the signatures of one of the first classes at MacLean High School, the first high school in Maple Ridge.

All were members of the school’s 1924 Literary and Athletic club, all classmates of Sayers.

Patenaude still can’t get over the series of coincidences that brought the scrolls to the museum’s collection. The last coincidence continued on page 12

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being that they also have in the collection the 1924 annual from MacLean High School.

It is moments like these that Patenaude loves her job.

“You never know what’s going to walk in off the street,” Patenaude said as she told the story of a package she received recently by mail from the Piers-Dunning family in California. The family used to own the local Gazette newspaper, for which their grandfather was a photographer.

“They sent us the whole package of his original photographs all about Maple Ridge and they are fabulous. So you get the mail and you open this up and it’s just like Christmas. So that’s fun,” exclaimed Patenaude.

Patenaude was born in Vancouver, then lived in Burnaby until the early 1960s. Her family moved to Port Alberni on Vancouver Island in 1965, when she attended high school, after which she moved back to Vancouver to attend UBC. Patenaude got her degree in anthropology, but focused more on archeology and worked as an archeologist until her two daughters were born.

Patenaude thought she would be one of those mothers who would be back to work in three months, but that was not the case. Aside from the odd contract, Patenaude didn’t have any regular work hours until she started work at the Maple Ridge Museum in 1993.

This August will mark her 20th year at the museum.

And, says Patenaude, nothing has changed.

“I never will be able to swing a cat in my office,” she laughed.

Someone from the parks department wanted to put in new linoleum flooring. “How would you ever move stuff up here enough to put a new floor down? I mean, where would it go?

Where do you move five filing cabinets?”

Patenaude’s office is on the second floor of the 100-year-old

Selling quality feed and hardware since 1930

house. The rooms are small and the hallways even narrower.

“I’m afraid [the filing cabinets] are going to end up downstairs any minute.”

Patenaude dreams about a new facility. One where they will have real archives with access to historic documents and research materials. And, “where we can display more than what the main floor of an old house allows.”

Currently 97 per cent of the Maple Ridge Museum collection is in storage.

Before she retires Patenaude would like to finish what she started which is making information more accessible to the public.

“One of the big tasks we are working on right now is that we are digitizing all of our research files,” said Patenaude.

Thirty eight thousand individual items have already been digitized from two filing cabinets and there are two more to go.

“People talk about digitizing as if it was magic, but it’s not, it’s a lot of work. And keeping track of it all is really something,” said Patenaude, adding that it is worth it in the end to see the history of the community incorporated into all elements of present day.

Patenaude is hoping to have the birchbark scrolls up for viewing soon. Right now they are pressed between plastic sheets and she is looking for a shadow box frame to mount them in.

For Patenaude, the items in the museum that she loves most are the ones with the best stories.

“We are the keepers of the stories. And whether the stories are in the form of pictures or old diaries or minutes of club meetings or dolls that women cannot part with and carry all through their lives, you know, those are all stories that are about the people, the families, the businesses that make up this community.”

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A family supporting families Story By Neil Corbett

Between being a paramedic, the running business, and her AIK work, Lorie has a busy life.

In the middle of running a 14-hour Ironman triathlon, Lorie Muller had an epiphany.

“I could be doing this for a reason,” she thought to herself.

“And the reason can’t be just me conquering the Ironman, it has to be something bigger.”

It was the genesis of Athletes in Kind, a made-in-Pitt Meadows charity that financially supports families who have children undergoing cancer treatment at Children’s Hospital.

Muller has been a paramedic for almost 20 years, and part of the job is transferring stable patients in nonemergency situations. The mother of two would always be affected by young cancer patients, and often the parents would “open up” about their situation to her as she drove.

“We just can’t afford this,” was a common refrain for parents forced to deal with the tragedy of childhood cancer

alongside the practical problems of paying bills.

Typically, one person in a two-income household must put their career on hold to “be there” in every way for their child. So the income slows to a trickle, while the family incurs new expenses. Treating childhood leukemia costs the average family an estimated $70,000.

“We’re in Canada – we shouldn’t have to worry about our kids having cancer and still putting food on the table.”

“Financial help shouldn’t be a problem for people whose children are sick,” she said. “Maybe it’s $500, maybe it’s a mortgage payment, maybe it’s a last trip as a family.”

The organization she founded, Athletes in Kind (AIK), runs events like the Canada Day 8k run in Pitt Meadows to raise money, and has been popular and successful. It turns out other people also like taking on the challenge of a race with a charitable motive. Muller calls it being “purpose driven,” and it resonates.

Since it was founded in 2005, AIK has donated more than $130,000 to the B.C. Childhood Cancer Parents Association.

“The community has really supported the idea.”

There are even kids in Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows who have AIK birthdays – they forego birthday presents in exchange for donations to be given to AIK. “Those kids are unbelievable.”

Muller’s life has been personally touched by the dreaded disease. Her mother died in 1993 after a five-year battle.

Then, last year, her 16-year-old son Reid was affected by it. He had an eye droop, and the reason turned out to be a golf-ball sized brain tumour. It was benign, but the entire experience left the Mullers with new insights into the charity work they are doing, and a fresh appreciation for Children’s Hospital in Vancouver.

“That hospital is unbelievable,” asserts Lorie.

Fitness is her life. Her husband Eric has a company that assists people at all levels of ability in meeting their

running goals, and Lorie and Reid both work for the family business as run leaders.

“We get people up off the couch and running,” summarized Lorie.

Between being a paramedic, the running business, and her AIK work, Lorie has a busy life. There is now a board of directors to help run AIK, which takes some of the pressure off her.

She said the organization still has the potential to become a household name in Canada, or even become an international entity.

“I had big ideas – that it would go world[wide],” she said.

“But if it stays small, that’s fine too.”

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haneyplacemall.com Our Community. Our People. July 2013

13

Making everyone feel better in a tough situation Story By Phil Melnychuk

She is the first person people see at the reception desk of the Friends in Need Food Bank on Tuesdays and Thursdays When people show up at the Friends in Need Food Bank asking for groceries so they can feed their families, it’s never an easy situation. Many are proud, and would rather be anywhere than in a lineup of people asking for help.

“That’s where you have to show these people some respect,” says Mary Young.

She is the first person people see at the reception desk of the Friends in Need Food Bank on Tuesdays and Thursdays, when she puts them at ease with some chit-chat in her Scottish Mrs. Doubtfire accent.

As a volunteer for the past seven years, she greets regulars who stop by for weekly or monthly help with food supplies. She’s also the one people see when they’re showing up for the first time.

That’s when Young applies the skills she’s used in the work world, in order to put them at ease. Having a brief conversation helps people feel they’re on an equal level, she says.

“I’ve always dealt with the public, being in retail.”

Young has always tried to do some kind of charity work. A

dozen years ago with her Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in Westbank, she heard from a boy in Central America who used to receive the Christmas shoebox packages.

The family wrote back and asked for a wheelchair for the boy. Young didn’t know what his actual problem was, only that his legs were shrunken, she didn’t know how he could function.

But he needed a wheelchair, and Young was determined to somehow send him one from Canada to Central America.

So after asking around, she learned that if she disassembled the chair and mailed it in pieces, the family could reassemble it at the other end. That’s what she did and the boy got his chair.

“These kinds of things appeal to me. Do what you can and be thankful you’re not in that position yourself.”

With a tough economy, there are many stories of people struggling to get by. Young agrees, making a living is not getting easier. Rent and food are expensive for seniors and those on income assistance, and getting some basic food stuffs can make a difference.

“We find we’re doing registrations for the food bank on a daily basis.”

Some days, people are lined up around the building at 7 a.m., waiting for the 8:15 a.m. opening, she says.

While food bank recipients are entitled to a monthly food hamper, which is a big bag of groceries, they can also stop by weekly for top ups, such as bread and produce.

education FOR TRANSFORMATION

Many don’t take advantage of that, and just try to stop by once a month.

Young says most who show up are good people, although some try to push her buttons.

“You have to try to make them feel good and hopefully I can do that. They’re no different than the rest of us.”

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Our Community. Our People. July 2013

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Maple Ridge’s caped crusader Story By Neil Corbett

He flies through the air, scores a goal, then celebrates by ripping at his chest like Clark Kent about to pull off his jacket and reveal the big ‘S’ on his chest.

In lacrosse, a goaltender’s crease is even more sacrosanct than one’s in hockey, because a player cannot even step into it.

The goaltenders are hugely padded, and the nets behind them only four feet wide. There is nothing for a box lacrosse shooter to see.

So, a tactic has developed where a player will run to the edge of the crease and launch himself, flying through the air across the front of the net, and tucking the ball around the goaltender.

One of the best at it is none other than Maple Ridge’s own Curtis ‘Superman’ Dickson.

He flies through the air, scores a goal, then celebrates by ripping at his chest like Clark Kent about to pull off his jacket and reveal the big ‘S’ on his chest.

The elite scorer for the Calgary Roughnecks of the National Lacrosse League scored 33 goals in 2011, which got him rookie of the year honours in the pro ranks.

Then he scored 31 in 2012, before busting out for 42 goals and 62 points during the 2013 professional campaign.

So, much was expected from him in the summer 2013 campaign for the Maple Ridge Burrards of the Western Lacrosse Association, and Superman did not disappoint.

With a game still to play, he had 103 points, with 58 goals and 45 assists in 17 games. He was 21 points ahead of the closest rival for the league scoring title.

The WLA went to an 18-game regular-season schedule in 2005, and he is just the fourth player to crack 100 points since.

Dickson, 25, grew up in Port Coquitlam and had an outstanding NCAA college career with

the University of Delaware. He established himself as an elite field lacrosse scorer, with 62 goals and 15 assists in his senior season, for 77 points in 16 games, and was a finalist of the Tewaaraton Trophy for player of the year in 2010.

Last year, he played just two games with Maple Ridge, because a shoulder injury he suffered with the Roughnecks needed to heal.

In the 2011 WLA campaign, he scored 46 goals and 78 points in 17 games.

He is talked about as one of the best in the game right now. Catch him after a game, when he has just scored in double digits, and it’s clear Dickson is loving the game as much as it is loving him.

He is quick to acknowledge his teammates as helping him take the game to another level.

When he gets fronted by a pair of defenders and flips a backhand pass to an open teammate, the sure-handed Jarrett Davis is there to make the opponents pay for the double team.

The team captain and his sniper linemate have shown great chemistry this year.

And when Dickson looks to pass across the crease, the likes of Joel Delgarno is there to finish a play.

Dickson says when everyone is scoring, and every player is chipping in, it makes the game easier.

Burrards president Lance Andre said after one of Dickson’s many offensive outbursts: “Ten points – there’s not too many guys in our league who can do that.”

A teammate after Dickson scored a gamewinning, buzzer-beater remarked: “The guy’s a machine.”

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Our Community. Our People. July 2013

15

keeping

OUR PEOPLE OUR COMMUNITY

warm

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Strata Approved

We love our new fireplace inserts from both a comfort and appearance perspective. We look forward to many relaxing and toasty evenings.

Lisa and your sales staff are knowledgeable, professional and friendly. Lisa’s insight and help on the rebate programs and claim filings were immensely helpful. Your chimney cleaning and airtight stove removal crew are quick, clean and thorough.

The delivery guys are prompt, careful and most helpful. The installation contractor was certainly an added bonus.

In all, your staff combined to make this a most positive experience.

“Just wanted to say that our new fireplace is absolutely stunning.

It is really, really beautiful. The gas fitter did a fabulous job. We are so, so pleased. Big, big thank you to all! So warm, so cozy.

It’s just what we wanted!

Thank you again.”

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Wood Stove

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Your fireplace specialist... www.warmhearth.ca 16 Our Community. Our People. July 2013

Warm He a r t h

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winner of the best fireplace store...10 years in a row Our Community. Our People. July 2013 17

keeping

OUR PEOPLE OUR COMMUNITY

warm

Strata Approved • Wood Fireplaces • Wood Stoves • Wood Inserts • Gas Fireplaces • Gas Stoves • Gas Inserts • Pellet Stoves • Chimneys & Ventings • Accessories • Barbecues

What our clients are saying about our products and services...

“Dorothy and I would like to extend our sincere thanks and appreciation for all that you and your staff have extended to us.

Strata Approved

We love our new fireplace inserts from both a comfort and appearance perspective. We look forward to many relaxing and toasty evenings.

Lisa and your sales staff are knowledgeable, professional and friendly. Lisa’s insight and help on the rebate programs and claim filings were immensely helpful. Your chimney cleaning and airtight stove removal crew are quick, clean and thorough.

The delivery guys are prompt, careful and most helpful. The installation contractor was certainly an added bonus.

In all, your staff combined to make this a most positive experience.

“Just wanted to say that our new fireplace is absolutely stunning.

It is really, really beautiful. The gas fitter did a fabulous job. We are so, so pleased. Big, big thank you to all! So warm, so cozy.

It’s just what we wanted!

Thank you again.”

Trish & John “We finally did the turkey on the BBQ as you told us.

It was moist and delicious!

Thanks for the info. We love our BBQ.” Anne & Henk

Wood Stove

Once again, thank you.”

Dorothy & Rick

EXCHANGE PROGRAM

We are a participating retailer in the Metro Vancouver Wood Stove Exchange Program.

Metro Vancouver residents are eligible to receive a rebate for trading in their old uncertified wood burning appliance for a new low emission appliance.

Purchase an EnerChoice fireplace and you qualify for a $300 mail-in rebate from Fortis BC.

Your fireplace specialist... www.warmhearth.ca 16 Our Community. Our People. July 2013

Warm He a r t h

11834 226th St Maple Ridge 604-467-2200

winner of the best fireplace store...10 years in a row Our Community. Our People. July 2013 17

A life by what you give

T c

S

Story By Phil Melnychuk

“McCrindle spends four hours a week helping in whatever way she can at the Unique Boutique, a specialty store operated by the Cythera Transition House Society.”

Judie McCrindle knows she’s been fortunate, with a good family and career.

She also knows, not everyone is as lucky.

She knows that there’s not much separating a happy life from a tough one.

“It’s just really strange the way things like poverty and homelessness and drug use and abuse is just kind of a big, ugly circle that, as a society, we kind of close our eyes to it sometimes.”

Mental illness also falls into that category.

“It’s just kind of a big, swirling circle.”

She used to tell her kids, now grown, four wrong decisions and you could be on the street.

“You get involved with drugs, or lose your job or whatever, and life the way you knew it comes to screaming halt.”

That’s why McCrindle spends four hours a week helping in whatever way she can at the Unique Boutique, a

specialty store operated by the Cythera Transition House Society.

According to the society, the neatly kept store on Lougheed Highway in Maple Ridge’s downtown offers the wants, while the Cythera Thrift Store in Haney Plaza offers the needs to people looking for a break.

The society helps battered and abused women escape their circumstances by offering a safe house, counselling and other help to get them out of abusive and what can be life-threatening situations.

The problems today haven’t changed much from decades ago. Women are still emotionally and physically battered.

Through education and knowledge, McCrindle believes the cycle of abuse can be broken.

“I’d like everybody to live a very happy and fulfilling life, not have to be stressed about things that are preventable.

“So that’s why I volunteer, and it’s a very little thing that I do.”

McCrindle is also on the Ridge Meadows Hospital Foundation board of directors and used to sit on the board of the transition house society, but now just helps out in the store for a few hours a week.

She retired in 2012 after working more than three decades in the Ridge Meadows Hospital laboratory. She’d like to continue in that work by helping diagnose possible futures for kids who’ve been treated for cancer.

She cites a saying she finds inspirational: “You make a living by what you get; you make a life by what you give.”

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The coach they call ‘Herm’ Story By Neil Corbett

After almost 20 years of inspiring girls to give their all on the basketball court, Don Herman is taking a much-deserved break.

He started with the Maple Ridge Ramblers in 1995, and has always given the girls a great sporting experience.

Herman gets his team into the provincial tournament most seasons, and managed to win the B.C. championship in 2007. He also has three Fraser Valley titles to his credit – including the past year’s team – and that’s an impressive feat in the most competitive region in the province.

Coaches often say that the toughest tournament outside of the B.C.’s is the Fraser Valley tournament.

The girls on his teams generally have a trophy to play for, and he makes the journey a fun one.

The image of the basketball coach is someone melting down on the sideline, neck veins bulging, face turning purple, as they give a player a spittle-sprayed tirade. By comparison, the kinder, gentler Herman’s approach is closer to a

kindergarten teacher helping a toddler tie her shoes. His gentlemanly on-court demeanour is appreciated by referees, opposing coaches and others around the game.

“I don’t think there’s a more well-liked coach in girls basketball,” Oak Bay Breakers coach Rob Kinnear said after his team defeated the Ramblers in the bronzemedal game at the provincial tournament to end their 2013 campaign. He called Herman “a legend.”

“We knew they would be prepared and they would be ready – any team coached

by Don Herman would,” Kinnear added.

Word has spread that Herman is leaving the senior girls coaching ranks next season, and people are reflecting on the mark he has made.

“He’s the best coach in the province, bar none – in terms of Xs and Os, and the way he is with the kids,” asserted his assistant, Sacha Page.

He is always positive, never points the finger of blame, and doesn’t use the referees as a scapegoat.

“He’s an example for the girls.”

His star player, Kolbie Orum, appreciates the dedication of the coach they call “Herm.”

“He’s a good guy, and he’s always there for you,” she said. “He’s gone through championships, and he’s experienced.”

Herman and Page will take on the Grade 8 team at Ridge next year. Coaching at a lower level brings less expectations, fewer nights given to games and practices, and game times that are right after school – meaning the coach can be home by dinner time most nights.

Will Herman miss senior ball?

“Huge.” he said. “It’s kind of what I do.”

“I’ve had the opportunity over the years to work with so many good people. The relationships last a lifetime.”

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A labour of love Story By Michael Hall

He’s built or repaired more than 60 trails over the years.

Dean Wilkes is a trailblazer and a trail builder.

An accomplished wrestler in high school, Wilkes found a new passion in mountain biking after graduating from Maple Ridge secondary in 1990.

He first cut his tires on the switchback and incline trails near Mike Lake in Golden Ears Provincial Park, and since has conquered Coastal Mountain trails from West Vancouver to Chilliwack.

His home turf is the BCIT woodlot in east Maple Ridge, riding across ladders and over logs and teeter-totters, dropping off jumps – six to 30 feet – and over wide gaps.

He has competed in races and stood on the podium more than once, although never on the top step.

And now, at 41, a father of two young girls, he’s fine with that.

He doesn’t ride so much to win anymore, but to escape, to feel the rush and lose himself in the moment, to give himself to the trail and master it.

“And it’s, like, that much fun.”

In pursuit of heightening that feeling, he took to building his own trails and improving others – cutting away branches and other obstructions, adding burms and

jumps and other apparatus.

But then building trails took on a new meaning.

About eight years ago, Wilkes joined the Fraser Valley Mountain Bikers Association, a non-profit society that receives provincial grants to maintain and develop area trails. It also puts on a series of races, to help fund trail improvements.

Wilkes is on the executive board of the association and is director for the Maple Ridge area, helping maintain positive relationships with land owners and maintain trail standards.

He still rides religiously, especially in the warmer, drier months. He heads out early in the morning, before his continued on page 21

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family wakes and never without his backpack, and sometimes returns with breakfast.

All the essentials for trail building are in his pack – saw, work gloves, flagging tape.

If a tree has fallen across a trail, he’ll cut it up and clear the path.

When extreme weather washed out an access road in Golden Ears park several years ago, he built a loop around it, reconnecting to a favourite biking trail.

Over the years at the woodlot, he’s built cedar-plank ladders and bridges – using only deadfall, never cutting down a live tree – and big jumps.

The labour put into building trails is “crazy,” Wilkes said.

He works on trails mostly in the fall and winter, spending as many as 16 hours a week, usually on weekends, sometimes with friends. That’s when they bring out the heavy tools, such as chain saws, which they won’t use in summer, fearing a spark could start a fire.

A well-groomed 10-foot section of trail can take one person hours to build, but just seconds to ride, Wilkes said But the feeling of riding his own trail?

“It’s absolutely amazing.”

He’s built or repaired more than 60 trails over the years.

He does it now for others, to show and share with them his love of riding, so maybe they too will care as much about the trails as he does. So maybe one day they will carry on his passion.

He’s most proud of the one he built at the woodlot and continues to tweak – “snakes and ladders.”

It’s a “really good intermediate trail.”

Wilkes doesn’t take on the big jumps as much anymore. He’s broken enough bones, torn enough ligaments and has enough scars already.

He enjoys technical riding, “fast and flowy” trails. “The harder the better.”

He rides for joy.

He builds because he cares, and because he fears that if he doesn’t, who else will?

Many others help build and maintain trails around the region, but not all stick with it.

Wilkes sometimes takes his daughters, six and eight years old, with him to help when building trails. They have their own pick axes. He calls them his “trail fairies.”

He’s doing his bit to foster the next generation of trail builders, passing on what he knows, as a friend once did for him.

Wilkes couldn’t stand to see a trail ruined, or worse, “disappear.”

But he won’t let that happen.

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Kiwanis is a global organization of volunteers dedicated to changing the world one child and one community at a time. “Serving the children of the world” Our fundraising efforts include a Gaming Grant, our famous ‘Hanging Floral Basket’ sales each spring, Christmas Fruit Cake and Poinsettia Sales, and our Concession Trailer, which can be found at many community events. There is a lot of fun and camaraderie involved in being with a group of like minded people.

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All good kids Story By Tim Fitzgerald

The satisfaction of her work comes from knowing she’s helped make a difference in her community.

All too often the public perception is that justice is never served – that victims are forced to suffer the consequences while perpetrators get off with a slap on the wrist.

But for the Ridge Meadows Youth Diversion program, the goal is to ensure responsibility is the cornerstone of justice.

Ranjit Kingra, coordinator for the Ridge Meadows Youth Diversion program, says the satisfaction of her work comes from knowing she’s helped make a difference in her community.

Each year about 100 youth from Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows are referred to the Youth Diversion program on recommendations from the RCMP and Crown Counsel. The goal is to keep first-time offenders and youth who commit less serious crimes out of the criminal justice system. The program, which started in 1997, was the first of its kind in B.C. and Kingra said more than 2,000 youth have been through the program since its inception. Even better, 80 per cent of the youth who come through the program do not end up back in court for similar offences.

Kingra said the types of offences vary, with almost half coming from shoplifting. In addition, public mischief and assault cases make up a lot of cases.

Kingra said regardless of the offence, the goal has to be

to make the youth understand the consequences of their actions. She said not until they take ownership of their crimes can they truly make amends.

“It can have a really lasting impact when a youth has to face the victim of their offence and hear the harms that have been caused by their actions,” she emphasized.

That accountability plays a huge role in rehabilitation.

Kingra said before that can happen, an offender referred to the Youth Diversion program must go through a series of programs with herself and other mentors so they are prepared to truly accept their actions. She said that may not be the case in the traditional justice system.

“They go to court, a lawyer does all their speaking for them and they move on. Sometimes they don’t even have to appear in court, their lawyer is there for them,” said Kingra.

But if they do, it makes all the difference. Kingra said without accountability, there can be no resolution to the process. The Youth Diversion approach forces participants to review their offence so they are made aware of the impact their crime had on the victim and the community.

She said the goal is to ensure no one is caught off guard when the two sides finally meet.

“It’s still not an easy step for them. We never put youth in that situation until we feel they are ready for it, just as we would not ask a victim of the offence to be thrown into the same circumstance.”

She said by bringing her own life experiences and compassion to her work, she’s able to connect to the youth who need her help the most.

In her eight years working with the program, she said she never gets tired of seeing when that light goes off, when a youth involved in a crime comes to the realization of the mistake they’ve made.

“I’d like to take all the credit,” laughs Kingra, “but we have

Thanks to all of you for making Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows vibrant communities to live in Our constituency office is here to assist you with: • • • •

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Our Community. Our People. July 2013

so many people dedicated to this program. It takes the whole community to make this happen.”

She said quite often, it’s just knowing someone in the community cares that might be something missing from their own lives. Kingra recalls a former drug-addicted client coming back to say thank-you after turning her life around. It was the type of gratification that makes all the hard work worth it, she said.

“We don’t judge them. It’s that simple. We see all the people who come through these doors as good people who, unfortunately, have made poor decisions,” said Kingra. “They’re all good kids.”

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It was the beauty of B.C.’s natural spaces that brought David Boag to B.C. some 27 years ago.

He has made that natural beauty his career as the district’s director of parks and facilities, and it is also a huge part of his personal life.

Boag is from East Kilbride, Scotland, which is near Glasgow, the largest city in the nation.

His career began with an apprenticeship with the Glasgow parks department. He worked in the Glasgow Botanic Gardens and went to college one day each week.

He did everything from maintaining bowling greens and working in tree nurseries to repairing lawnmowers. He was there almost nine years.

Boag first came to B.C. on his honeymoon in 1982, then returned for Expo in 1986. The next year, he and his wife emigrated.

“When we came here, we were fortunate enough to be routed around to the park areas,” he said. “The scenery is absolutely fantastic. We loved the idea of coming here.”

He lived in Vancouver and many of its suburb municipalities before eventually settling in Maple Ridge.

From the man who was twisting wrenches to tune a lawnmower engine, he is now a key administrator, involved

in developing business plans, operating budgets and parks master plans for the district.

In his 14 years as the department head, he has seen some big, expensive projects, from synthetic fields at high schools, to this summer’s $750,000 retrofit of the Hammond Baseball Stadium.

But it is the many small parks and projects that will make a significant difference in people’s lives, says Boag.

He likes for neighbours to have a place to gather in their little corner of the community. The so-called tot lots are small parks where people can take their children to play, and off-leash areas for dogs also provide an opportunity for people to meet in their neighbourhood.

Boag was asked to get involved with the RCMP as an auxiliary constable, and he took that on for six years, doing numerous ride-alongs, traffic stops, traffic control for events and other police work.

“It was really quite interesting work, and those guys do a terrific job.”

If his career has taken him out of the gardens and into an office, Boag’s leisure time gives him time to smell the roses, and he takes it – whether jumping on his BMW touring motorcycle, or loading up the RV for a trip.

“There’s lots of interesting places to go and see.”

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The only thing Madison Sands enjoys as much as hockey is a good run.

Fitting, as it is her legs that have taken her to great heights with a hockey stick in her hands – moreso, her speed.

Last year, Madison earned a scholarship to play hockey at Mount Royal University in Calgary, Alta.

And last month, she won gold as part of the Canadian women’s ball hockey team at the world championships in St. John’s, Nfld.

Canada defeated Slovakia 2-0 in the final.

Madison, 19, is back at home now for the summer, preparing for a second season of university hockey – weight training with a group of other hockey players, coaching track with her old club, rollerblading, and running.

In some ways, she’s come full circle.

Her parents first put Madison into dance when she was three years old. But that wasn’t for her.

They put her in speed skating when she was six, but she kept leaving the track at Planet Ice and walking to the adjacent rink, to watch hockey, like her older brother played.

“Speed skating was just doing big circles,” Madison said.

And she hated wearing the tight-fitting outfit.

She also played soccer, like her older sister Erin. Madison played sweeper and was a metro-level player.

But what she loved was hockey, especially the games in the driveway with her dad Mike, brother Mike and Erin.

So, when she was eight, Madison’s parents bought her some gear and signed her up for hockey.

Prior to that, they had encouraged her to take part in the school district cross country race. They knew she could run, but didn’t know how fast she was until that first race in Grade 1. She won easily.

She also won it every other year she was in elementary school, as well as the 400m and 800m events in the district track and field championships.

So her parents signed her up for track in spring. She ran the 800 and 1,500m.

She never lost a race.

But the thought of competing, of not losing, would keep Madison up at night, the day before a meet. She didn’t enjoy that part of track and in high school gave it up.

She also stopped playing soccer after

Grade 9, instead choosing to focus solely on hockey.

Madison’s initial choice to play hockey was a timely one. As a member of the Meadow Ridge Barracudas female association, she was coached by Todd Langston, Greg Cockerill and Dennie Bergeron.

Madison especially credits Langston and Cockerill for teaching her how to play the game and always encouraging her, for giving her plenty of ice time to develop.

She also made some great friends, including Kirsten Langston, who to this day is her best friend.

The team was always competitive. But to be more so, in bantam the ‘Cudas went with only six forwards and two defensemen.

The team made the provincials that year, Madison’s sixth and last with the local association.

She had been an affiliate that year with the Fraser Valley Phantom of the female major midget league. The Phantom finished last that season.

Madison joined them full-time the following season, when she was in Grade 10. It was an adjustment for her. Players were bigger and stronger. Madison, 5’3’’, couldn’t just skate through everyone all the time. She had to learn how to play her position more.

It was a greater commitment, too – three practices a week, and two games, plus dry land training. The team travelled, to Prince George and Kamloops for games, to Ottawa and Saskatchewan for tournaments.

But she learned a lot – to see the ice, take what the opponent gave her, make a good first past – and she improved.

The team improved the next season, too, finishing in the middle of the pack.

By her Grade 12 season, her final of major midget, the Phantom was strong. An old friend from the Barracudas, Payge Pena, had joined Madison and the Phantom won the provincial championship.

It was during that season that scholarship letters started arriving at home for Madison. Scouts would sometimes wait outside the dressing room. In all, she received 12 offers, including two from U.S. schools. She chose Mount Royal, because it was relatively close to home.

Her father has Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig’s disease. continued on page 25

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Once diagnosed with ALS, the average person lives three to five more years. The family has come to grips with that, but Madison still didn’t want to be too far away.

It was one of the reasons Madison was a bit reluctant when the coach of team Canada first called, asking her to play at the world ball hockey championships.

She had been playing in a women’s league in Vancouver since Grade 10, to maintain her fitness in place of track. The coach knew she could run.

Madison decided to join the national team. Her mother and father flew out to watch her play. Her dad held up a sign, reading “Quick Sands #24.”

It was a great experience, and Madison is glad she went.

Now she’s looking forward to her second season at Mount Royal.

The first season was difficult – every day, classes, then training, more classes, then hockey, then homework, then bed, then more of the same.

“I kind of felt like a robot, just going through the motions,” Madison said.

And everything was different – new place to sleep, different friends, classes, teachers.

“It was a lot.”

And the team struggled, going 7-18-2 in the Western Conference of Canadian Interuniversity Sport.

But now she is back home, preparing for a second season with the Cougars, spending time with family and friends.

Besides helping coach the Golden Ears track club, she’s doing spinning classes with her mom Nadine and sister.

She’s also lifting weights, but isn’t yet a fan of dead lifts.

She would much rather just go for a run.

A long one.

Dr. Doug Bing

As your MLA for Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows, I am setting up a new constituency office to assist you. I look forward to being your: • Community resource to assist with provincial government-related issues • Link to information on government programs • Representative voice for our communities in Victoria An announcement for our official opening will be made soon. Until then, you can contact me at doug.bing.mla@leg.bc.ca Our Community. Our People. July 2013

25

Fighting for Alouette River Story By Phil Melnychuk

As Geoff Clayton describes it, saving the salmon and crusading for environmental causes is not all Bambi and sunshine.

Sometimes you annoy and anger people, such as when it comes to protecting streamside areas at the expense of riverfront lots. Or when you antagonize big companies and government by making them accountable for their environmental performance.

Clayton is used to it, after carrying the torch for 20 years as one of the founding members of the Alouette River Management Society.

“If you think everybody loves you, think again,” a relative once told him, “because that’s not the story I hear.”

Still, Clayton has soldiered on, bringing an irrepressible enthusiasm and compassion to his cause of preserving the Alouette River.

Anytime a major issue threatened the North or South Alouette River, such as illegal withdrawal of water, siltation that killed salmon eggs, development crowding stream areas, or the river itself drying up, Clayton was there.

The south and north used to be one river for longer

stretches, but following the construction of the B.C. Hydro dam in 1925, homes were built in the floodplain and the river split into two.

The years are catching up to Clayton.

At 77, he may retire and leave Maple Ridge, and the Alouette may no longer have its chief defender.

He trusts his work will not have been in vain.

“I hope I’ve left a legacy here that will be followed by others. I’m hoping other people will move in and follow in my shoes.

“Young people have to see the vision or you’re going to lose it.”

Clayton, former Maple Ridge mayor Gordy Robson and Haney Horsemen Association leader Bill Archibald were part of the small group that formed ARMS in 1993. Robson pushed to form the group after residents grew concerned about the state of the Alouette after B.C. Hydro’s dam at the south end of Alouette Lake dried up the downstream flow.

“The river was a trickle, it was a creek,” Clayton recalls.

The water was so low and so warm that riverfront residents would dig pits in the river and create hot tubs.

But three years after ARMS came into being, it made its signal accomplishment. The group negotiated its first water-use plan with B.C. Hydro in 1996, guaranteeing minimum flows (increasing the average flow four-fold) and, thus, ensuring fish survival. The NDP government of the day issued a directive to B.C. Hydro.

“It was an absolute change in direction,” Clayton said.

In a turn of irony, while Clayton loves to take on B.C. Hydro, he’s also taking on his former employer, after serving 25 years as a power engineer with the corporation, working at the Burrard thermal plant. But he pulls no punches against his former boss, at one time praising it for helping with the hatchery and project expenses, then blasting it for 19th-Century thinking.

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Our Community. Our People. July 2013

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Talk to Clayton and his undying concern and care and passion for the river is evident. He figures that all came from his childhood when he saw the Coquitlam River treated like an open sewer.

Year after year, that compassion is conveyed to the public, governments and the media. A senior official in Hydro once asked him in exasperation, how he manages to get the continuous media coverage.

“No. 1, treat the press with respect,” he says.

He tries to ensure he provides accurate information to the media when it calls, as well as follow-up contact information. Maintaining credibility takes effort, though, because it takes just minutes to lose it with hyperbole or exaggeration.

There is one lingering project that Clayton will pursue to his last breath, whether he’s still living in Maple Ridge or in his retirement destination of Parksville.

He wants the fishway completed, a $3-million project that will run parallel to the dam to connect the South Alouette River to the Alouette reservoir, re-establishing natural fish migration routes, destroyed when B.C. Hydro built the dam in 1925.

Although the fishway has yet to be built, (it’s a nobrainer, he says, because the dam is only 11 metres high, an easy span) ARMS and the B.C. Corrections has already accomplished one step by rebuilding sockeye stocks in the lake, then releasing fry over the dam’s spillway so they can migrate to the Pacific Ocean. Three years later when the sockeye return, ARMS physically trucks them over the dam where they can spawn and complete their life cycle.

Building a fishway would re-establish that link and allow coho, sockeye and trout back into the lake, restoring a precious natural connection and fulfill a life’s work.

“I will not disengage.”

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Making community connections Story By Colleen Flanagan

Yvonne Desabrais sure has given a lot to Maple Ridge for a person who never chose to live here.

D esabrais was born in Claresholm, Alberta and grew up in Calgary. But after a family court order instructed her and her two children to live within an hour of Mission in 2000, Desabrais made Maple Ridge her home.

However, instead of dwelling in the past or being overwhelmed by her present situation, she concentrated on the future and threw herself into the community.

The first organization that Desabrais volunteered with was Christmas Haven, an annual Christmas dinner for people with little or no support in the community.

Then, when she realized that she needed the services of the Friends In Need Food Bank, she started volunteering there too.

“I created a life by getting involved in the community

and channeling all of that anger and frustration of being stuck in the system and being taken away from my family and supports [in Alberta] and just putting it into getting to know this community,” explained Desabrais.

Through the Friends in Need Food Bank, Desabrais initiated a program with the Alouette Correctional Centre for Women, where she would transport female prisoners from jail to the food bank and also to the women’s centre, when it existed, to volunteer.

“I thoroughly enjoyed it. Met a lot of wonderful women.

Wonderful women,” said Desabrais of the experience.

The connections in the community have been a huge help for Desabrais. She is on disability with post traumatic stress disorder, and some days are hard.

“There are certain people in the community I can go and surround myself with and they just kind of ease that anxiety and stress,” said Desabrais.

“I believe it is super important to connect with your community, especially when you are alone like I was. Tap into those professionals, because without them I don’t know what I would have done. They were all I had at times.”

Desabrais remembers times that she would go to the food bank and hours would pass like minutes because she was involved and just enjoying what she was doing.

Now Desabrais is co-chair of the Port Haney Neighbourhood Change Initiative, a group that she has been involved with for the past three years. It is a community organization working towards improving the Port Haney community, from Lougheed Highway south to the Fraser River and from 227th Street west to the Haney Bypass, fostering a holistic and safe environment for everyone.

Desabrais got involved when she heard that the group was looking for people who wanted something better for the community, respectful of everyone, and not people

with specific agendas.

Having lived in Port Haney since she moved to Maple Ridge, even in the notorious Northumberland complex, Desabrais wanted to contribute and voice her concerns.

One of the biggest problems that Desabrais would like to see improved in the Port Haney neighbourhood is the way mental health issues are tackled. She would like to see more resources for people with mental illnesses.

“Mental health issues are often self medicated. That’s how they get confused with the drug addicts. Then, of course, our prisons are filling up with mental health [patients].They don’t belong there,” she explained.

Desabrais is also the vice-chair of the Fraser River AllNations Aboriginal Society, which formed in the summer of 2011 and is trying to find a gathering place for the district’s First Nations people that is local.

Since 2006 she has been a volunteer with School District 42’s Aboriginal Education Department’s Advisory Committee. That same year she joined the Aboriginal Achievement Awards Planning Committee. They held their sixth annual award ceremony this past May. Now that her youngest daughter is graduating from high school, Desabrais is deciding on her future.

“I’m still figuring myself out because I feel like I’m climbing out of a pit,” Desabrais said of the past 13 years.

Despite the negativity that brought Desabrais to this community, she has since discovered the beauty of Maple Ridge.

“One thing I can honestly say that stands out really, really strongly for me is, and I saw this in the work I’ve done at the food bank, is how giving this community is when there is a need. When you share that need and others share in the passion about that need, it’s filled as quickly as possible,” said Desabrais, adding that it’s been one of the knots on the rope that she’s clung to and helped her over the years.

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Getting kids into sport is reward enough Story By Phil Melnychuk

There are a few cases that, you can tell, hit home with Bryan Hutton.

Such as when a family couldn’t afford a swimsuit and a towel, let alone a pool pass, so their son could learn to swim.

That’s where the Jumpstart program came in and took care of all three items.

Last Hutton has heard, the youth is still swimming.

“It’s probably the best story that I have. He’s actually become a very good swimmer.”

Then there was the case, a couple years ago, of three little ones from a broken family, who’d never had a vacation in their life.

Jumpstart jumped in and paid for their camping gear, then for a few weeks at a Salvation Army summer camp.

The kids had the time of their lives.

“That’s why we love to do these things.”

Those things are why Hutton will talk a lot about Canadian Tire’s Jumpstart program, though he’s not as keen to talk about himself.

“I fly under the radar,” he says.

He’d rather just work behind the scenes and get things done.

Hutton owns Maple Ridge’s Canadian Tire store, is a former director and secretary on the Ridge Meadows Hospital Foundation board and is an active member of the Rotary Club of Haney.

But the Jumpstart program is at the top of his list.

The program, through fundraising such as selling red sponge rubber balls for $2 or donating a portion from bicycle helmet sales, pays for costs such as registration fees and sports equipment. Without such help, many kids would sit on the sidelines and possibly get into trouble.

The glass containers where people put their Canadian Tire dollars is used for other community programs.

“What we’re trying to do is get kids involved in sports who may not normally be able to afford to do it.”

Getting involved in any kind of activity, whether it be baseball or swimming, can be enough to turn a young life around.

The program is administered by the staff at the District of Maple Ridge’s Greg Moore Youth Centre, so Hutton never learns the names of the recipients.

But he hears some of the stories, which is enough to keep him focused on the program.

During its first year in Maple Ridge in 2005, the program raised just under $4,000 and helped 48 kids get involved in one sport or another.

In 2012, the amount of money raised was five times that, allowing 189 kids to have fun.

“That is only Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows,” Hutton pointed out.

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“Any money collected goes to the kids. There are absolutely zero administration costs.

“There’s no other charity that can say they have zero administration costs.”

Hutton said it is getting more difficult to get kids into sports and to get parents involved as volunteers.

“We need the community to support us. The $2 they give goes a long way.”

While the program is open to all sports, hockey and soccer are probably the most popular, and hockey, with its ice time fees and equipment costs, the most expensive.

“We’d use up our funds pretty quickly,” if it was spent all on hockey.

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Baird: Celebrating her community Story By Tim Fitzgerald

“Her love of music also inspired her to start her own event, the Maple Ridge Jazz and Blues Festival.”

Kathryn Baird knows there is one ingredient above all others needed to run a successful event: passion.

Passion for her community and a passion for the people she works with.

Baird is the recreation coordinator for special events and volunteers with Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows Parks and Leisure Services. While it may be her name that appears on the end of press releases or her face in front of a camera while promoting events, she said it’s the staff, volunteers, and the people of Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows who make her job successful.

“What I enjoy about my job is the people I work alongside and help them form teams and connect with community resources,” noted Baird, who started working with parks and rec in 1998. “It’s so rewarding to be able to support their vision so their events can run as smoothly and efficiently as possible.”

For Baird, that passion for creating events in the

community is rooted in her life-long love of music. While her job title may be long and sound formal, she knows deep down she’s a musician at heart. It’s what drives her to succeed. She was once that artist on the bandstand playing at community events. She knows exactly how important those opportunities are to artists and the community.

As a teenager growing up in Tsawwassen, she was an

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accomplished piano player who studied at the Royal Conservatory of Music. From there, it was the process of getting an education at the University of British Columbia, while teaching piano lessons on the side.

In 1990, she moved to an acreage in Whonnock. Her husband and his family owned the Maple Ridge Hotel and needed help to manage the pub. That, combined with teaching piano from her home and at Carillon Music, laid the foundations for what would later become her career.

“During breaks between lessons at Carillon, I would prepare my lesson plans at a little coffee shop on 224th,” explained Baird. “I met so many local artists and musicians, including a group of women with young children like myself. We formed an all-female band called Earthbeat.”

They composed original folk-style music, and played Earth Day. Baird also became involved as a volunteer, helping with local events like Canada Day celebrations.

Her love of music also inspired her to start her own event, the Maple Ridge Jazz and Blues Festival.

It was her connections through volunteering that put her in touch with members of the parks and leisure services staff.

All while she was busy planning and organizing events, she kept up her education. In 2005, she completed her bachelor’s degree, majoring in business studies at SFU. She said there are so many municipal staff, volunteers, and members of the RCMP and local fire departments who work behind the scenes to support events in many unassuming but important ways that she can’t help but be motivated by how everything comes together.

“I’ve always encouraged people to get involved in their community and connect with others who are like-minded,” she said. “It makes for a rich, creative and interesting lifestyle and it’s always gratifying and inspiring.”

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Korean Air Force veteran ensuring people remember Story By Phil Melnychuk

One missile from the north landing in South Korea would be enough – to crash the economy and put property prices into the tank.

People in South Korea think the Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea wouldn’t invade the south because they consider themselves one people.

Chang Uy Hong knows better, and says both Koreans and Canadians should remember what happened during the Korean War when the south was almost overrun and narrowly escaped being absorbed into what is now the

world’s remaining Stalinist, Orwellian nightmare of a nation, with poverty, prison camps and famine.

Hong, who came to Canada in 1988, ran a print shop on Maple Ridge’s main street for years.

He has raised three daughters, two of whom are family doctors, while the other is in information technology in the U.S. During his spare time, the veteran of the Republic of Korea Air Force put his efforts into helping the local branch of the Korea Veterans Association, the group of Canadian Forces veterans who served during the Korean War from 1950 to 1953.

There used to be 42 members in the Pitt MeadowsMaple Ridge branch of the KVA. Now, only 11 remain.

“I’m here – and I’m thinking [what] if the Canadian people didn’t help my country?

“Where am I today?” he asked.

“In every country, people forget the war. If you forget the war, you make a new war.”

The battle is still relevant today as North Korea brandishes its military might and possible nuclear armaments.

So Hong’s mission for the last several years has been to ensure people don’t forget.

A few years ago, he contacted Canadian veterans of the Korean War and asked them to send in any old photos they had taken during the war.

He got an avalanche of photos that showed the tense times of the 1950s, when the U.N., mostly U.S. troops,

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confronted the Chinese-backed North Koreans in a battle of ideologies.

With dozens from which to choose, Hong selected the best photos, copied them and printed them on eight huge banners, about 10 metres long each, that he’s displayed in Maple Ridge, Pitt Meadows, Vancouver and Seattle as a visual reminder of those days.

Next year, he’ll take those banners and display them in South Korean cities before they go on permanent display in the Korean War Museum. That institute is interested not only because of the depictions of war, but because they showed the dress, culture and society of those times, he says.

One of the most famous photos shows a makeshift, outdoor hockey rink set up in Korea during the middle of the Korean War. Canadians are taking a break from the war, playing their favourite sport.

That photo strikes a chord. It’s on display in both Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows municipal halls as well as in the Prime Minister’s Office. Next year, he’ll present one to the Vancouver Giants and send another to Don Cherry.

Next month, during celebrations marking the 60th anniversary of the end of the Korean War, he’ll present Premier Christy Clark with a towel from the mayor Kapyong in South Korea.

The name is meaningless to most but marks the location of the battle where Canadian and Australian troops held off a surging Chinese army in the Kapyong, until reinforcements arrived, keeping South Korea from falling into communist hands.

Hong is now well into retirement, but will keep on telling the story of the war.

He’s creating a Korean War Cenotaph maintenance committee, to keep up the cenotaph that he also helped create five years ago in Burnaby’s Central Park.

He’s dedicated to the cause, and says, “I’ll never stop.”

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2013 2013 on Fall 2014 courses and programs. on Fall 2014 courses and programs.

20575 Thorne Avenue, Maple Ridge, BC V2X 9A6 9A6 20575 Thorne Avenue, Maple Ridge, BC V2X on Fall courses and Ridge, programs. on Fall 2014 courses and programs.

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20575Thorne ThorneAvenue, Avenue,Maple Maple Ridge, Ridge,BC BCV2X V2X 9A6 9A6 20575 20575 Thorne Avenue, Maple Ridge, BC V2X 9A6 Our Community. Our People. July 2013 31

Celebrating 100 Years Of Community!

Helping You Is What We Do!

TM

Past, Present And Future The Signs Are Here

Buying? Selling? Relocating? Investing?

Our people are here for you. Give us a call, we can guide you throught the process.

Charities we support The Royal Lepage Shelter Foundation in Canada’s largest public foundation dedicated exclusively to funding women’s shelters and violence prevention and education programs.

We help more than 30,000 women and children each year. Let’s put abuse out of commission!

Brookside • • • • •

Shelter Foundation MR Caribbean Festival MR Secondary School Dry Grad Thomas Haney School Dry Grad MR Search & Rescue

• Samuel Robertson • Tech School Dry Grad • Westview Secondary School Dry Grad • Pitt Meadows Secondary School Dry Grad

• MR Pitt Meadows Agricultural Assoc.

• Meadowridge Rotary • Real Estate Board of GV: Community Events

Realty

604.467.5000

11933 224th St., Maple Ridge brookside@royallepage.ca.

www.brooksiderealty.ca