Trafalgar/Pro Patria Branch No. 292 of the Royal Canadian Legion has just announced the results of their poppy campaign from last year.
The branch, which covers Victoria, Oak Bay and Saanich, collected $90,000 in donations from their 2014 campaign.
“We like to remind people that 100 per cent of the money they donate goes directly to fund programs for veterans,” said Donna May, chairwoman for the annual campaign for the branch.
She point out that there is no administrative costs as everyone involved, including her, are volunteers.
“Ninety-nine per cent of the money also stays on Vancouver Island,” she added.
Recipients of the funds include The Lodge at Broadmead, Legion Manor, Cockrell House and other organizations that offer veterans’ programs. For the past five years, a portion of the money has also gone to the University of British Columbia toward research into the causes and effects of post-traumatic stress disorder.
May stresses the money raised by the branch represents efforts in Victoria, Oak Bay and Saanich only. Other Legion branches cover other areas independently and disburse their funds to their local communities.
The 2015 Poppy Campaign will kick off Oct. 30 with the raising of a flag at Victoria City Hall. It runs until Remembrance Day, Nov. 11.
In a few weeks, up to 100 volunteers will be stuffing envelopes with the distinctive poppies. Another 200 or so will take shifts manning collection points in malls and other public spaces.
The campaign is a major source of funding for the Remembrance Program, which ensures returning veterans and their dependents are cared for and treated with respect.
“Please remind people that we don’t sell the poppies — they are only available by donation.”
The Trafalgar/Pro Patria branch is located at 411 Gorge Rd. For more information, to volunteer or to donate, call 250-386-2533 or go to rcl292.ca.
Fundraiser aims to aid cancer-stricken toddler
A Sooke family with an toddler diagnosed with cancer are looking for support as they scramble to stay at his side during this difficult time.
On Aug. 6, two-year old Jordan Robinson was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia, a type of cancer in which the bone marrow makes a large number of abnormal blood cells.
Once diagnosed Jordan and his mother, Regan Currie, were immediately airlifted to the B.C. Children’s Hospital in Vancouver. He started receiving chemotherapy two days later, and will be spending the next 10 months at the hospital.
His father, Jeffrey Robinson, has taken time off from work to be by their side.
Friends and family have held a series of events will be held every week at various locations in Sooke to raise money for the family.
There has been an outpouring of support from the Sooke community, with 39 people raising more than $4,000 in just four days on gofundme.com.
“We’re hoping to have a good outcome,” said Chrystal Cole, one of the organizers for the events.
People wishing to support Jordan and his family can visit the Baby Jordans fundraiser on Facebook.
Donation funds walkway at Swan Lake sanctuary
The Victoria Natural History Society has recently donated $75,000 for the first phase of replacing the boardwalk at the Swan Lake Christmas Hill Nature Sanctuary.
Up to 65,000 visitors to the sanctuary, including many bird lovers, use the boardwalk.
The first phase, which costs $320,000, sees a new aluminum and fibreglass boardwalk replacing a wooden structure built in 1991 that had come to the end of its serviceable life. The new section of the boardwalk now consists of six fabricated floats.
Apart from the donation by the Victoria Natural History Society, the District of Saanich has contributed $15,000 toward the project.
The North Wharf (also known as the Founders Wharf), was replaced about five years ago.
This summer, the north end of the boardwalk had been temporarily closed for the first phase of the project. Work began in mid-July with a re-opening expected in October.
Due to the environmentally sensitive nature of the work, federal regulations required that the work had to be done in the summer. Visitors have still been able to enjoy the southern section of the lake during the ongoing work.
The second phase, which includes replacing the boardwalk that spans the lake, will require raising another $800,000.
A fundraising campaign, Bridges to Nature, is underway to raise money to replace the remaining portion of the boardwalk. For more information, go to swanlake.bc.ca.
Take a tour of a fruitful community garden
The John Howard Society, Island Health and the Victoria Integrated Court are hosting a special harvest celebration of Feeding Ourselves and Others at their community garden on Tuesday.
People can take a tour of Serenity Farm with one of our participants or volunteers, as well as sample and buy some of the organic produce grown in the unique community initiative.
Created in 2012, the garden covers almost 15,000 square feet in the Blenkinsop Valley. The once experimental project for disadvantaged Victoria residents has almost tripled the number of initial participants to almost 40 today.
At the farm, people with mental-health or addiction challenges are able to grow food for themselves, find peace and increased stability, learn useful skills, sell produce to the community and donate the surplus to Our Place.
The therapeutic garden is funded through support by the United Way, VanCity Credit Union, the Vancouver Foundation, Horne Coupar Barristers and Solicitors, and 1% for the Planet. Other contributors include local businesses and individuals, which include 15 volunteer garden mentors.
The event runs from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. at Seven Oaks Tertiary Care Facility, 4575 Blenkinsop Rd. RSVP by Monday to project co-ordinator David Stott at [email protected].
Open house highlights Disaster Aid Canada
Disaster Aid Canada is hosting its first open house to showcase their humanitarian initiatives around the world on Thursday.
The non-profit agency, a project conceived by the Rotary Club 13 years ago, is usually the go-to organization for local charities and service groups in times of disaster.
The agency has sent aid packages to the Ukraine, Vanuatu, Croatia, Pakistan, Sudan, Haiti, Guatemala, Zimbabwe and Pakistan.
The operation works out of a small, nondescript office and warehouse in Esquimalt, which will be a beehive of activity on Thursday. Visitors will be able to meet people who make dresses for girls around the world, or learn about Soap for Hope, a program which collects used soap from hotels and repackages them into hygiene kits.
The group receives shampoo, body wash and even unclaimed lost-and-found items, keeping the items out of landfills in the process.
“We sent kits to a hospital in Ghana,” said Anne McIntyre, executive director of the organization. “The head of the hospital informs me that he believes the kits are in part responsible for the fact that nobody in his community has contracted Ebola.”
Currently, the group is putting together school backpacks for indigenous youth in Mexico.
Apart from demonstrations, people can purchase lunch from two food trucks, with proceeds donated back to the not-for-profit organization.
The open house is from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the office/warehouse, 426 William St. For more information, go to disasteraidcanada.ca.
Fundraiser finds the art in second-hand items
Local artists, furniture refinishes and designers turned 30 plain old chairs into $2,600 as part of an awareness campaign and fundraiser for the new downtown Habitat for Humanity ReStore.
In the Take a Seat … for Habitat campaign, the participants were given six weeks to up-cycle identical wooden chairs found gathering dust in the basement of the ReStore.
Instead of just offering them for sale as-is, Yolanda Meijer, executive director of Habitat Victoria, got the idea to have a bit of fun and promote the sometimes offbeat items that turn up at the store.
“We wanted to make the public — and artists — aware of what could be found in the inventory,” said Meijer. “How they could elevate everyday items into beautiful objects.”
She had previously worked at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria and saw a treasure trove in the various donated objects that ended up on shelves on a daily basis.
Not only was the auction a success, but the store saw a change in the demographic of visitors. While some were there looking for good deals on new or used construction materials, others were keeping an eye out items that could be turned into something entirely different.
“It was an incredibly successful campaign.”
The money raised will go toward a current build project at 4000 Cedar Hill Cross Rd.
The new 8,200-square-foot store is located at 3311H Oak St. For more information, go to habitatvictoria.com.
RBC Foundation pitches in for search-and-rescue refit
The Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue Station 34 Mill Bay recently received a $1,500 cheque from the Royal Bank of Canada Foundation.
The donation goes toward the cost of a $50,000 refit for the station’s vessel, the Hayes Responder III, a 26-foot Titan 249 T-Top, scheduled for 2017.
Station 34 provides marine search and rescue services to Goldstream Marina in the south, to Crofton, Osbourne Bay area in the north, including Cowichan Bay and Moresby island to the east.
The boat house and lift are located in the Brentwood College School docks in Mill Bay. For more information, go to rcmsar.com/rescue-stations/ central-region/mill-bay.
