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Treefest, swap meet and much more HOMELESSNESS
Homeless numbers up & shelter is on the way Many homeless camps dismantled Diane StranDberg Tri-CiTy News
Homeless numbers have been creeping up in the TriCities despite efforts of outreach workers to find homes for people. And the result this summer was that dozens of homeless camps were taken down by the city of Port Coquitlam alone. But the operator of a new homeless shelter and transition housing slated to open in Coquitlam in mid-December said there will be room for many of those homeless people as well as programs to help them get housing. “Those that are priority
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INSIdE: See Partington Creek plans [page 4] • Vito Lecce’s big garden [page 18]
FOX35
FRIDAY, SEPT. 18, 2015 Your community. Your stories.
TRI-CITY
NEWS
The 35th annual Terry Fox Run takes place on Sunday. For details on the four Tri-Cities Fox Runs, see page 3
— those at the most risk of absolute homelessness and are already in the temporary shelter that is shutting down — would be the ones we would take in first,” said Sean Spear, associate director with RainCity Housing, which is building 30 shelter beds and 30 transitional beds for longer stays at 3030 Gordon Ave. in Coquitlam. Rob Thiessen, managing director of the Hope For Freedom Society, which provides outreach services to local homeless people, speculates some of the increase in homelessness could be due to people hoping to get into the new homeless shelter that is still under construction. see SOME HOMELESS, page 8
SOMETHING FISHY
Moody creeks are in the pink Diane StranDberg Tri-CiTy News
An old friend has returned to Port Moody after a long absence. Dozens of pink salmon have been making their way into Noons and Mossom creeks recently, encouraged by rains that replenished local waterways that had dried up over the summer. “It’s good news. It’s a cause for celebration,” said Ruth Foster, a Mossom Creek
hatchery co-founder, who said the recent run of several dozen pairs was the largest in two decades. In 2013, the last time pinks were in the creek, hatchery volunteers saw just four pink salmon. The news is particularly good because Mossom volunteers were at Tenderfoot Creek Hatchery in Squamish this week to collect pink eggs in the hopes of reintroducing the species to the creek. see ‘3RD SPECIES’, page 9
JANIS WARREN/THE TRI-CITY NEWS
On Sunday, Kirsten Fox, Donna White, Florence Vandebeek and Lauren Jernigan will be at the Terry Fox Foundation’s BC and Yukon office in Port Coquitlam to celebrate each Fox Run site as organizers call in to share successes. “It’s a day better than Christmas,” said White, the charity’s provincial director (wearing a red Terry’s Team T-shirt as a cancer survivor). For the 35th anniversary year, the Shaughnessy Street office will co-ordinate with 113 run sites and support all of the events taking place in schools, communities, daycares and seniors’ centres, and numerous special events. Last year, the BC/Yukon office raised about $1.5 million from non-school activities in Fox’s name.
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