Municipal: Pitt Mayor John Becker building a team. 3
Transit: Chamber backs proposed tax. 9
Sports: Tourney time for RMMHA. 12 Fr i d ay, J a n u a r y 2, 2015 ¡ mapleridgenews.com ¡ est. 1978 ¡ (office) 604-467-1122 ¡
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Haven has Christmas meaning 17th annual event attracts 289 people By Neil Corbett ncorbett@mapleridgenews.com
Maple Ridge’s annual Christmas Haven gave some holiday cheer to 289 people on Christmas Eve, and for some it would have otherwise been one of the loneliest nights of the year. Alyson Cuthbertson, in her second year as chair of the Haven, said it is a credit to the community that it puts on a charity event on such a festive night. Held at The Act, and in its 17th year, the Christmas Haven offers local entertainment, a traditional turkey dinner prepared by the Caring Place, a visit from Santa and everyone gets a gift. “Look around at our neighbouring communities, and you can go a long way before funding a community that puts on an event on Christmas Eve,� she said. See Haven , 5
Colleen Flanagan/THE NEWS
Near you Celia Pink, manager of Hollywood 3 Cinema in Pitt Meadows, puts up letters for the release of The Interview. Story on page 5.
Kettle campaign comes up short Donations to Salvation Army down 10 per cent B y P h i l M e l nychuk pmelnychuk@mapleridgenews.com
THE NEWS/files
The local Kettle campaign collected about $4,000 less this year.
Despite the valiant volunteers who rang the bells and begged for coins for Christmas, the Salvation Army’s Christmas Kettle Campaign came up wanting this year. “We ended up with $82,000 – so $10,000 short of our goal,� said Darrell Pilgrim, executive-direc-
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tor of the Salvation Army’s Caring Place. That’s about $4,000 less than last year’s total. The Army’s Christmas kettle campaign pays for the entire meal program for the next year at the Caring Place. Every day of the year, the Caring Place serves lunch and dinner, more than 10,000 individual meals in a month. According to the Army, 93 per cent of the people who eat there live in Maple Ridge or Pitt Mead-
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ows. But with less cash for groceries, there will be fewer free meals in 2015. “We’ll probably have to do less meals. That’s probably what’s going to have to happen.� Details of the cutbacks will be dealt with in the new year, Pilgrim said, adding the Caring Place has never had to deal with missing a fundraising goal. He’s guessing economic conditions and how people are feeling about their finances are the rea-
sons behind the reduced kettle collections and didn’t think that a backlash from people angry with the Caring Place and homeless people in the downtown was the reason for the reduction in donations. “I honestly don’t think so. I don’t think that has a lot to do with it.� Many people don’t even know the issues and only 30 per cent bothered to vote in the November civic elections, he pointed out. See Kettles, 4 With windshield replacement,
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