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January 3, 2017
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In January 2016, Kevin Wong was a 23-year-old criminology student who, inspired by cop movies, wanted to become a police officer. Ian Desrosier was a 41-year-old inmate at the Nanaimo Correctional Centre (NCC), nearing the end of his two-year sentence for breaking and entering. Both were nervous as...
December 19, 2016
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Victoria’s Red Barn Market, on the corner of Vanalman and Glanford Avenues, is a bustling place. Customers come and go, day in, day out, some grabbing a smoked-meat sandwich for lunch, others picking up a week’s worth of meat and fresh produce. Outside, where the fruit and veggies are neatly...
February 25, 2016
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As steam unspools from fresh cups of coffee on a polished wood countertop, dozens of young minds fumble in the background to find seats for both their ideas and their posteriors. The air is electric, and the warm glow of string lights reflecting off vintage brick walls is homey and inviting. “Every...
November 22, 2013
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Aboriginal students at four north Okanagan elementary schools are discovering the joy of reading, thanks to a successful after-school reading program called Coyote Café. Twice a week for 25 weeks, participants get a healthy snack and one-to-one reading support, plus take part in group reading,...
December 17, 2012
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You can be forgiven for thinking the Henderson Spirit Garden is an eerie place full of cobwebs, ghosts and apparitions. Actually, nothing could be further from the truth. The garden takes its name from the students’ council of a south Vancouver elementary school—the Henderson Spirit Team. The...
December 18, 2011
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“The instant I heard about the Thistle, I knew it was for me,” says the mischievous-looking woman with the dark curls. In fact, Leni Goggins wanted to be involved so badly that she moved from Vermont to Vancouver. “I tried out New York, but I thought, no, I really want to be part of the Thistle,”...
December 17, 2011
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Bernice Michaluk is on her way to the Surrey Food Bank. She has finished her courses for the day at Vancouver Career College where she is training to be a medical receptionist. She walks home to her tiny condo and checks on her kids (she has three boys: 19, 17 and 14 – “Never a dull moment”). Then...
December 18, 2010
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Her enthusiasm is still contagious. It radiates from her toddler photos. It’s there in her megawatt grin as she savours dim sum in Hong Kong, poses with Christmas reindeer and wise men in Bolivia and laps up ice cream on a sunny day outing with a pal. Emily Longworth lived with a rare gusto. She...
December 17, 2010
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University of British Columbia - Beaty What do the largest animal on earth, and one of the smallest (and oldest) have in common? Two things - they’re both blue, and they’re both at the new Beaty Biodiversity Museum at UBC. At more than 25m in length, the blue whale is the largest animal on earth...
December 18, 2009
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Nanaimo’s south end is a neighbourhood in transition, caught between the high-density development of downtown, the glitz of a waterfront conference centre that looks to the future and low-slung industrial buildings that look back into the city’s resource-based past. The Princess Royal Family Centre...
December 18, 2009
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The atmosphere verges on tribal. A group of 30-something men walk in a small circle swinging their babies gently as they sing softly, “Zoom, zoom, zoom, we’re going to the moon.” Then there’s a countdown: “Five, four, three, two, one – blast off!” The men lift the babies to the ceiling and there...
December 18, 2008
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It wasn’t an “eidetic” moment -- certainly no one was about to sound a “tocsin” -- but the crowd gathered at the new Trade and Convention Centre on a hot summer morning was “chary” about being called “dumbbell” or, even worse, “odic” “philhellenists”. This was the 4th annual One to One Corporate...
December 18, 2008
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"I used to really hate math,” beams grade five student Alice Le Bihan. “And now it just makes me really happy to find math on the board in the morning.” Alice is just one of dozens of kids whose perspective on math – and the world – has changed, thanks to the “Junior Undiscovered Math Prodigies”...
December 17, 2008
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Miner’s lettuce grows in shady places, explains Sharon, an anthropology student at Douglas College. “The leaf is like a cup with a little flower that comes right out of the middle,” she says, rounding her hand and tracing an imaginary stem with her fingers. She adds that because the plant is high...
December 17, 2008
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Marine Educational Services Association In 1978, Rod MacVicar received a $4,150 grant from Vancouver Foundation to buy a 25-foot aluminum boat. He named the boat the Medusa 2 and launched a marine education program for students. Thirty years later, his program and the boat are still running, and...
December 17, 2008
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Check Your Head A brainchild of the youth organization Check Your Head, the Sustainable Schools program teaches youth about sustainability and global issues with a focus on improving their schools. King George Secondary students installed solar panels on their roof and Lord Byng students built...
December 14, 2008
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"Is that art? Or is it mass production?" Instructor Val Batyi leads a group of students through the Artists for Kids Gallery in North Vancouver. They've just moved on from Ed Burtynsky's Oxford Tire Pile and are now considering Douglas Coupland's enigmatic six-foot-tall Toy Soldier. Hands fill the...
December 17, 2007
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Mount Pleasant Community Centre Daycare workers in Vancouver’s Mount Pleasant area were frustrated because they were struggling to help parents who were experiencing social, economic and health challenges. In response to their concerns, a special project was created to benefit kids by focusing on...
December 17, 2007
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Langley Children's Society Parents with special needs children are often overwhelmed and uncertain about the future. The Child Development Centre’s preschool program allows kids to participate in activities that build independence and encourages parents to join in. The preschool works with...
December 14, 2007
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ArtStarts in School Society Delta students take part in a gallery tour created by young artists in collaboration with professional artists. Through movement and dance, students see first hand the different meanings of art. Vancouver Foundation’s most recent grant supports the organization and its...
December 18, 2006
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There are many challenges that come with moving to a new country - culture shock, economic circumstances, stress and poverty. My Circle is a peer support program recognizing immigrant and refugee youth as teachers of their own experience. With help from Vancouver Foundation, My Circle provides...
December 18, 2006
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Autistic children often struggle in social situations and as a result they have trouble forming friendships with other kids. Integrated play groups is a de-mystifying program that brings together autistic children and their peers, promoting the understanding and acceptance of autism through...
December 17, 2006
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For someone who is just over 5 feet tall, Shirley Wong makes a big impression. Wong remembers the first word she learned in English. As a six-year-old, in Grade 1 at Vancouver's Lord Strathcona Elementary School in 1940, she spoke no English, only Chinese. One day when her teacher raised the flash...
December 17, 2006
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A dedicated philanthropist, Wosk has had a long involvement with Vancouver Foundation. He is a member of the Foundation's Education Advisory Committee and in 2005 established the Yosef Wosk Libraries, Museums and Archives Fund to honour the past, and inform the future. "Libraries, museums and...
December 14, 2006
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CBCI Program Meet Dr. Margaret McGregor while she does a routine health check with one of her patients. McGregor is one of the many health practitioners who has benefitted from the Community Based Clinician Investigator Program (CBCI) partly funded by the Vancouver Foundation. This program gives...