july 31, 2013

32
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

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Section Z of the July 31, 2013 edition of the Maple Ridge News

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: 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

Page 2: July 31, 2013

2 Our Community. Our People. July 2013

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Page 3: July 31, 2013

Our Community. Our People. July 2013 3

‘Welcome to downtown Maple Ridge’

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

Story By Michael Hall

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 � lters with tongs and � lling a garbage bag with them.

She could probably � ll 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 nota-bly, at all the stores and shops.

She’s responsible for sharing with them all the programs the BIA offers – from facade improvements and graf-� ti removal to mural projects and vehicle security checks, coupon and map books, to shop local e� orts, 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 gra� ti (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 gra� ti 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 over� owing dump-ster, 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 com-munity 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 co� ee cups and plastic lids.

Bradley � nds 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

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Page 4: July 31, 2013

4 Our Community. Our People. July 2013

The peace of� cerFleugel’s path as a Mountie has been somewhat unique.

Story By Monisha Martins

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-infest-ed neighbourhoods.

“I didn’t even have a ride-along before I joined,” says Fleugel, who is currently at the helm of the R idge Meadows RCMP detachment as the acting o� cer

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

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 � rst choice as a detach-ment 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 o� ered 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 � rst regional duty o� cers in the Lower Mainland.

His stint as a regional duty o� cer 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 � nally transferred to Ridge Meadows – his � rst 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 homi-cide of a suspected drug dealer as an example of why Ridge Meadows is unique to police.

RCMP arrested two men immediately after the shooting

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 pas-sionate 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 o� cers 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 o� cers from all over the Commonwealth, as well as Afghanistan and Mongolia.

Instead of di� erences, Fleugel was surprised by the commonalities police o� cers 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 o� cers from the Commonwealth.

“We are really peace o� cers and that’s the way a police o� cer is de� ned in the Criminal Code. Being a peace o� -cer says a lot about our function,” said Fleugel, who clocks 22 years as a RCMP o� cer this year.

It’s that philosophy that guides his outlook as an o� cer 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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Page 5: July 31, 2013

Our Community. Our People. July 2013 5

Lanzarotta: Principal and ‘Call Me Maybe’ dad

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

Story By Neil Corbett

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 � rst in the public eye on the reality television talent contest Canadian Idol, on which she was in conten-tion to win it all, and � nished 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 di� erent 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 � eld of recre-

ation 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 certi� cates, 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 � ve 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

education sta� in schools across the district. They work for students who are of First Nations, Métis and Inuit ancestry, providing academic support, social and emo-tional 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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Page 6: July 31, 2013

6 Our Community. Our People. July 2013

Cheryl Finnie sits in her quiet o� ce on the top � oor 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 o� ce door. After a cheery “hello” and pleasant chit chat, he asks her

for his medication, which is locked up in a � ling cabinet.As Finnie walks towards the cabinet, she passes a hand-

made note that is tacked to a cork board along her o� ce wall.It is decorated with pink hearts and orange stars. The colourful lettering reads “Angels here on earth” and

is addressed to the sta� 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 lock-ing 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, � rst volunteer-ing 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 chil-dren – formula to diapers – for newborns, backpacks and school supplies for others.

Finnie is the � rst person someone in need sees when they � rst walk in the door. Her job is to book them a bed, get them a shower and a meal, take down their informa-tion and � nd 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.

Story By Colleen Flanagan

Paying it forward

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.

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 � rst 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 � nds 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.

Page 7: July 31, 2013

Our Community. Our People. July 2013 7

Now open for Lunch.

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Thai Chicken Curry Soup ~6Coconut milk, curry, chicken, rice, garlic, shallot

Daily Salad ~6Daily seasonal salad

Caesar Salad ~8Romaine lettuce, rosemary garlic croutons, parmesan cheese, signature caesar dressing

Niro Salad ~9Smoked bacon, apple maple compote, caramelized onion, hazelnut brittle, roasted garlic dressing

Asian Sautee Prawn Salad ~14Prawns, artisan lettuce, tomato, warm garlic ginger soy dressing, toasted cashew, scallions

Chicken Cobb Salad ~13Chicken breast, blue cheese, bacon, apple, crispy onion, roasted garlic dressing

Duck Con� t Salad ~14Artisan lettuce, duck leg, truf� e oil, fried egg, roasted garlic dressing

Chicken Caesar Salad ~12 ~Prawn +1Grilled chicken breast, chopped romaine, rosemary garlic croutons, parmesan

STARTERSMac & Cheese ~7Creamy cheddar sauce, macaroni, parmesan cheese, baked in oven

Spinach & Artichoke Dip ~10Oven baked creamy spinach, parmesan, artichoke, mozzarella, served with tortilla chips

Pulled Pork Poutine ~9BBQ sauce, chopped green onion, mozzarella

Calamari ~11

Lightly dredged & fried crispy calamari spirals with fresh tomato & basil salsa

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Sweet Potato Fries ~6Served with citrus aioli, parmesan cheese& green onions

SANDWICHES(all sandwiches served with side salad or fries)(ugprade to caesar salad, sweet potato fries, or soup ~ +2)

Roasted Turkey Club ~12~ gravy +2Turkey breast, bacon, lettuce, tomato, brie cheese served on multigrain bread

Grilled Vegetable ~9Balsamic infused seasonal grilled vegetables & swiss cheese on multigrain bread

Pulled Pork ~12Slowly cooked pork, house made bbq sauce, coleslaw on kaiser bun

Philly Cheese Steak ~12Sauteed red pepper, ionion, mushrroms, swiis cheese, chilli aoili on a hoagie bun.

Grilled Sirloin Steak ~13Tomato, lettuce, sauteed onions, swiss cheese on a hoagie bun.

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Vegetarian ~8

~ add chicken +4Artichoke heart, roasted pepper, onions, tomato & balsamic drizzle

BBQ Pork ~12Pulled pork, bbq sauce, mozzarella, crack black pepper, scallions

Garlic Shrimp ~12Baby shrimp, tomato sauce, roasted pepper, sea salt & italian herbs

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Concerto Prime Rib Burger ~10Vegetarian Burger ~9Mushroom & Swiss Burger ~12Hawaiian Burger ~12Southern Style Crispy Chicken Burger ~10Grilled Chicken Burger ~10Salmon Burger ~10Bacon & Cheddar Burger ~12

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Linguine Bolognaise ~11Canadian ground beef in rich tomato ragout, basil & parmesan cheese

Southern Style Fried Butter Milk Chicken gravy ~13 ~ chicken breast +2Boneless chicken leg, sweet potato hash, fried egg & sausage

Chilli Sambuca Prawn Linguine ~18 Vegetarian ~ 13Sambuca, prawn, shrimp, garlic, chilli � akes, grape tomato & parsley

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Page 8: July 31, 2013

8 Our Community. Our People. July 2013

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 Sta� Excellence Award from the provincial non-pro� t society.

York � rst 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 � rst female to be awarded a perfect score of 10 in the Olympics. York’s hamster loved to run in its tread-mill. She used to take Nadia out of her cage and snuggle with her. When Nadia passed away, York made a co� n 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

Story By Michael Hall

SPCA manager a singing sensationWhen not with the choir, she sings to the animals at the shelter – Handel or Beethoven.

up in a bathing suit. “He was not really impressed.”York � rst started volunteering with the Richmond SPCA

while studying music at UBC. She � rst 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 o� ce job in downtown Vancouver.

She still found time to volunteer at the SPCA, � lling 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 posi-tions and understanding the stress and pressures of each one.

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

She most recently performed as a soloist with the Paci� c 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 self-care, 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.”

Page 9: July 31, 2013

Our Community. Our People. July 2013 9

Story By Colleen Flanagan

Graf� ti as art, and pineapples

Kupskay’s colourful, intricate murals adorn skateparks, snowboard shops, trampoline facilities and walls

The human voice will actually stimulate animals into self-care, 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.”

The � rst 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 gra� ti 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

from the age of three. He attended Fairview elemen-tary, 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 gra� ti art.

For his thesis, Kupskay took 100 photos of legal and ille-gal gra� ti 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 gra� ti 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 Paci� c Legal Education Association, PLEA, in the Tri-Cities 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 � nd 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.

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 di� cult 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 pine-apple 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.

7

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Page 10: July 31, 2013

10 Our Community. Our People. July 2013

Story By Colleen Flanagan

A picture to last a lifetime

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

A mother along with her three high-school-aged daugh-ters 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 graduat-ing 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 � nished portrait of her daugh-ters, 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-pro� t organization that has grown to include 3,883 photographers and 8,315 volunteers worldwide.

Last year, 80,928 portraits were given out at 408 loca-tions 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 busi-nesses 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 photog-rapher. 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 � rst 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 organiza-

tion 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 � rmly 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 some-thing 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 gen-erally 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 profes-sional 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 o� at Golden Ears United Church at Dewdney Trunk Road and 223rd Street.

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

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Page 11: July 31, 2013

Our Community. Our People. July 2013 11

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 accom-plished metal worker, inventor and botanist. While working for the logging company Abernethy and Lougheed, he was also charged with touring Winston Churchill around the log-ging 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 back-ground 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 sig-natures 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

Story By Colleen Flanagan

Keeper of our historyBefore she retires Patenaude would like to finish what she started which is making information more accessible to the public.

continued on page 12

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Page 12: July 31, 2013

12 Our Community. Our People. July 2013

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 o� ce,” she laughed. Someone from the parks department wanted to put in new

linoleum � ooring. “How would you ever move stu� up here enough to put a new � oor down? I mean, where would it go? Where do you move � ve � ling cabinets?”

Patenaude’s o� ce is on the second � oor of the 100-year-old

house. The rooms are small and the hallways even narrower.“I’m afraid [the � ling 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 � oor 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 � nish 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 � les,” said Patenaude.

Thirty eight thousand individual items have already been digitized from two � ling 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 view-ing 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.”

continued from page 11

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Page 13: July 31, 2013

Our Community. Our People. July 2013 13

Story By Neil Corbett

A family supporting families

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 � nancially 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 non-emergency situations. The mother of two would always be a� ected by young cancer patients, and often the parents would “open up” about their situation to her as she drove.

“We just can’t a� ord this,” was a common refrain for par-ents 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 � ve-year battle.Then, last year, her 16-year-old son Reid was a� ected

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 o� the couch and running,” summa-rized 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 o� 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 � ne too.”

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Page 14: July 31, 2013

14 Our Community. Our People. July 2013

Story By Phil Melnychuk

Making everyone feel better in a tough situation

She is the � rst 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 � rst 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. Doubt� re accent.

As a volunteer for the past seven years, she greets regu-lars who stop by for weekly or monthly help with food supplies. She’s also the one people see when they’re show-ing up for the � rst 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 deter-mined to somehow send him one from Canada to Central America.

So after asking around, she learned that if she disas-sembled 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 stu� s can make a di� erence.

“We � nd 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.

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 di� erent than the rest of us.”

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Page 15: July 31, 2013

Our Community. Our People. July 2013 15

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, � ying 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 � ies through the air, scores a goal, then celebrates by ripping at his chest like Clark Kent about to pull o� 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 � eld lacrosse scorer, with 62 goals and 15 assists in his senior season, for 77 points in 16 games, and was a � nalist 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 su� ered 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 � ips a backhand pass to an open team-mate, 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 � nish 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 game-winning, buzzer-beater remarked: “The guy’s a machine.”

Story By Neil Corbett

Maple Ridge’s caped crusaderHe � ies 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.

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Page 16: July 31, 2013

16 Our Community. Our People. July 2013 Our Community. Our People. July 2013 17

Your fireplace specialist... Warm Hearth

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Page 17: July 31, 2013

16 Our Community. Our People. July 2013 Our Community. Our People. July 2013 17

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Page 18: July 31, 2013

18 Our Community. Our People. July 2013

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 deci-

sions and you could be on the street.“You get involved with drugs, or lose your job or whatev-

er, and life the way you knew it comes to screaming halt.”That’s why McCrindle spends four hours a week help-

ing in whatever way she can at the Unique Boutique, a

Story By Neil CorbettStory By Phil Melnychuk

The coach they call ‘Herm’

A life by what you give

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 o� ers the wants, while the Cythera Thrift Store in Haney Plaza o� ers the needs to people looking for a break.

The society helps battered and abused women escape their circumstances by o� ering 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 ful� lling 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 � nds inspirational: “You make a living by what you get; you make a life by

what you give.”

“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.”

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Page 19: July 31, 2013

Our Community. Our People. July 2013 19

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 tour-nament 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 jour-ney 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, gen-tler 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 bronze-medal 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 re� ecting 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 � nger of blame, and doesn’t use the refer-ees 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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Page 20: July 31, 2013

20 Our Community. Our People. July 2013

Story By Michael Hall

A labour of love

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 o� 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 � ne 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 build-

ing 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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Page 21: July 31, 2013

Our Community. Our People. July 2013 21

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, recon-necting 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 gen-eration 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.

continued from page 20

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Page 22: July 31, 2013

22 Our Community. Our People. July 2013

Story By Tim Fitzgerald

All good kids

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 su� er the consequences while perpetrators get o� 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 di� erence 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 � rst-time o� enders and youth who commit less serious crimes out of the criminal justice system. The program, which started in 1997, was the � rst 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 o� ences.

Kingra said the types of o� ences 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 o� ence, 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 o� ence 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 o� ender 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 di� erence. Kingra said without accountability, there can be no resolution to the process. The Youth Diversion approach forces participants to review their o� ence 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 o� guard when the two sides � nally 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 o� ence to be thrown into the same circumstance.”

She said by bringing her own life experiences and com-passion 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 o� , 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

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 grati� cation 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.”

Thanks to all of you for making Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows vibrant communities to live in

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Page 23: July 31, 2013

Our Community. Our People. July 2013 23

Story By Neil Corbett

Planted in Maple RidgeA key administrator, involved in developing business plans, operating budgets and parks master plans for the district.

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 bowl-ing greens and working in tree nurseries to repairing lawnmowers. He was there almost nine years.

Boag first came to B.C. on his honey-moon 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 � elds at high schools, to this summer’s $750,000 retrofit of the Hammond Baseball Stadium.

But it is the many small parks and proj-ects that will make a signi� cant di� erence in people’s lives, says Boag.

He likes for neighbours to have a place to gather in their little corner of the com-munity. The so-called tot lots are small parks where people can take their children to play, and o� -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, tra� c stops, tra� c control for events and other police work.

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

If his career has taken him out of the gardens and into an o� ce, 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.

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Page 24: July 31, 2013

24 Our Community. Our People. July 2013

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, espe-cially the games in the driveway with her dad Mike, brother Mike and Erin.

So, when she was eight, Madison’s par-ents 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 associa-tion, 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 fin-ished last that season.

Madison joined them full-time the fol-lowing 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 trav-elled, 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 scholar-ship 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.

Story By Michael Hall

Hockey legs will travel

Last month, she won gold as part of the Canadian women’s ball hockey team at the world championships.

continued on page 25

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Page 25: July 31, 2013

Our Community. Our People. July 2013 25

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 associa-tion, 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 a� liate that year with the Fraser Valley Phantom of the female major midget league. The Phantom fin-ished last that season.

Madison joined them full-time the fol-lowing 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 trav-elled, 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 � rst past – and she improved.

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

By her Grade 12 season, her � nal 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 scholar-ship letters started arriving at home for Madison. Scouts would sometimes wait outside the dressing room. In all, she received 12 o� ers, 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.

Story By Michael Hall

Hockey legs will travel

Once diagnosed with ALS, the average person lives three to � ve 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 � rst 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 � tness in place of track. The coach knew she could run.

Madison decided to join the national team. Her mother and father � ew 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 � rst season was di� cult – 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 di� erent – new place to sleep, di� erent 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.

Last month, she won gold as part of the Canadian women’s ball hockey team at the world championships.

continued from page 24

continued on page 25

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Page 26: July 31, 2013

26 Our Community. Our People. July 2013

Story By Phil Melnychuk

Fighting for Alouette River

As Geoff Clayton describes it, saving the salmon and crusad-ing 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 � oodplain 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 � ow.

“The river was a trickle, it was a creek,” Clayton recalls.The water was so low and so warm that riverfront resi-

dents 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 � rst water-use plan with B.C. Hydro in 1996, guaranteeing minimum � ows (increasing the average � ow four-fold) and, thus, ensuring � sh 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 serv-ing 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.

Talk to Clayton and his undying concern and care and passion for the river is evident. He � gures 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 o� cial 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 e� ort, 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 � shway 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 � sh migration routes, destroyed when B.C. Hydro built the dam in 1925.

Although the fishway has yet to be built, (it’s a no-brainer, 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 Paci� c 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 � shway would re-establish that link and allow coho, sockeye and trout back into the lake, restoring a pre-cious natural connection and ful� ll a life’s work.

“I will not disengage.”

Story By Colleen Flanagan

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Page 27: July 31, 2013

Our Community. Our People. July 2013 27

Story By Colleen Flanagan

Making community connections

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

Desabrais 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 over-

whelmed by her present situation, she concentrated on the future and threw herself into the community.

The � rst 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 initi-ated 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 com-munity, 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 com-munity 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 speci� c 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 � lling up with mental health [patients].They don’t belong there,” she explained.

Desabrais is also the vice-chair of the Fraser River All-Nations Aboriginal Society, which formed in the summer of 2011 and is trying to � nd a gathering place for the dis-trict’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 � guring myself out because I feel like I’m climb-ing 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 � lled 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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Page 28: July 31, 2013

28 Our Community. Our People. July 2013

Story By Phil Melnychuk

Getting kids into sport is reward enough

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

Such as when a family couldn’t a� ord 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 vaca-tion 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 � y 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 a� ord to do it.”

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

The program is administered by the sta� 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 � rst 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 � ve times that, allowing 189 kids to have fun.

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

All of the money raised in Maple Ridge stays in Maple Ridge to help out local kids.

“Any money collected goes to the kids. There are abso-lutely zero administration costs.

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

Hutton said it is getting more di� cult 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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Page 29: July 31, 2013

Our Community. Our People. July 2013 29

Story By Tim Fitzgerald

Baird: Celebrating her community

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 sta� , 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 along-side and help them form teams and connect with com-munity resources,” noted Baird, who started working with parks and rec in 1998. “It’s so rewarding to be able to sup-port their vision so their events can run as smoothly and e� ciently 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 play-ing at community events. She knows exactly how impor-tant those opportunities are to artists and the community.

As a teenager growing up in Tsawwassen, she was an

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  pre-pare my lesson plans at a little co� ee 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 ser-vices sta� .

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 sta� , volunteers, and members of the RCMP and local � re 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 life-style and it’s always gratifying and inspiring.”

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

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Page 30: July 31, 2013

30 Our Community. Our People. July 2013

Story By Phil Melnychuk

Korean Air Force veteran ensuring people remember

One missile from the north landing in South Korea would be enough – to crash the economy and put prop-erty 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 doc-tors, 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 e� orts 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 Meadows-Maple 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 bran-

dishes 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,

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, out-door 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 O� ce. Next year, he’ll present one to the Vancouver Giants and send another to Don Cherry.

Next month, during celebrations marking the 60th anni-versary 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 o� a surging Chinese army in the Kapyong, until reinforce-ments arrived, keeping South Korea from falling into com-munist 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 com-mittee, to keep up the cenotaph that he also helped create � ve years ago in Burnaby’s Central Park.

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

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Our Community. Our People. July 2013 31

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International Education School District 42

[email protected] [email protected]

fax: 604-465-3596

T 604-466-6555 F 604-463-543720575 Thorne Avenue, Maple Ridge, BC V2X 9A6

Accredited Career Vocational Training

Workplace Certification

General Interest & Personal Development

Learning options for Adults & Youth (16+)

High School Graduation & Upgrading

K-12 for International Students

Short Term Cultural Programs

International Teacher Training

Homestay Coordination

We’re ready for you!

Check our websites for more information on Fall 2014 courses and programs.

[email protected] http://ce.sd42.ca

[email protected] www.rmcollege.ca

International Education School District 42

[email protected] [email protected]

fax: 604-465-3596

T 604-466-6555 F 604-463-543720575 Thorne Avenue, Maple Ridge, BC V2X 9A6

Accredited Career Vocational Training

Workplace Certification

General Interest & Personal Development

Learning options for Adults & Youth (16+)

High School Graduation & Upgrading

K-12 for International Students

Short Term Cultural Programs

International Teacher Training

Homestay Coordination

We’re ready for you!

Check our websites for more information on Fall 2014 courses and programs.

[email protected] http://ce.sd42.ca

[email protected] www.rmcollege.ca

International Education School District 42

[email protected] [email protected]

fax: 604-465-3596

T 604-466-6555 F 604-463-543720575 Thorne Avenue, Maple Ridge, BC V2X 9A6

Accredited Career Vocational Training

Workplace Certification

General Interest & Personal Development

Learning options for Adults & Youth (16+)

High School Graduation & Upgrading

K-12 for International Students

Short Term Cultural Programs

International Teacher Training

Homestay Coordination

2013

We’re ready for you!

Check our websites for more information on Fall 2014 courses and programs.

[email protected] http://ce.sd42.ca

[email protected] www.rmcollege.ca

International Education School District 42

[email protected] [email protected]

fax: 604-465-3596

T 604-466-6555 F 604-463-543720575 Thorne Avenue, Maple Ridge, BC V2X 9A6

Accredited Career Vocational Training

Workplace Certification

General Interest & Personal Development

Learning options for Adults & Youth (16+)

High School Graduation & Upgrading

K-12 for International Students

Short Term Cultural Programs

International Teacher Training

Homestay Coordination

We’re ready for you!

Check our websites for more information on Fall 2014 courses and programs.

[email protected] http://ce.sd42.ca

[email protected] www.rmcollege.ca

International Education School District 42

[email protected] [email protected]

fax: 604-465-3596

T 604-466-6555 F 604-463-543720575 Thorne Avenue, Maple Ridge, BC V2X 9A6

Accredited Career Vocational Training

Workplace Certification

General Interest & Personal Development

Learning options for Adults & Youth (16+)

High School Graduation & Upgrading

K-12 for International Students

Short Term Cultural Programs

International Teacher Training

Homestay Coordination

We’re ready for you!

Check our websites for more information on Fall 2014 courses and programs.

[email protected] http://ce.sd42.ca

[email protected] www.rmcollege.ca

International Education School District 42

[email protected] [email protected]

fax: 604-465-3596

T 604-466-6555 F 604-463-543720575 Thorne Avenue, Maple Ridge, BC V2X 9A6

Accredited Career Vocational Training

Workplace Certification

General Interest & Personal Development

Learning options for Adults & Youth (16+)

High School Graduation & Upgrading

K-12 for International Students

Short Term Cultural Programs

International Teacher Training

Homestay Coordination

2013

We’re ready for you!

Check our websites for more information on Fall 2014 courses and programs.

[email protected] http://ce.sd42.ca

[email protected] www.rmcollege.ca

International Education School District 42

[email protected] [email protected]

fax: 604-465-3596

T 604-466-6555 F 604-463-543720575 Thorne Avenue, Maple Ridge, BC V2X 9A6

Accredited Career Vocational Training

Workplace Certification

General Interest & Personal Development

Learning options for Adults & Youth (16+)

High School Graduation & Upgrading

K-12 for International Students

Short Term Cultural Programs

International Teacher Training

Homestay Coordination

We’re ready for you!

Check our websites for more information on Fall 2014 courses and programs.

[email protected] http://ce.sd42.ca

[email protected] www.rmcollege.ca

International Education School District 42

[email protected] [email protected]

fax: 604-465-3596

T 604-466-6555 F 604-463-543720575 Thorne Avenue, Maple Ridge, BC V2X 9A6

Accredited Career Vocational Training

Workplace Certification

General Interest & Personal Development

Learning options for Adults & Youth (16+)

High School Graduation & Upgrading

K-12 for International Students

Short Term Cultural Programs

International Teacher Training

Homestay Coordination

We’re ready for you!

T 604-466-6555 F 604-463-543720575 Thorne Avenue, Maple Ridge, BC V2X 9A6

We’re ready for you!

Check our websites for more information on Fall 2014 courses and programs.

[email protected] http://ce.sd42.ca

[email protected] www.rmcollege.ca

International Education School District 42

[email protected] [email protected]

fax: 604-465-3596

T 604-466-6555 F 604-463-543720575 Thorne Avenue, Maple Ridge, BC V2X 9A6

Accredited Career Vocational Training

Workplace Certification

General Interest & Personal Development

Learning options for Adults & Youth (16+)

High School Graduation & Upgrading

K-12 for International Students

Short Term Cultural Programs

International Teacher Training

Homestay Coordination

2013

We’re ready for you!

Check our websites for more information on Fall 2014 courses and programs.

[email protected] http://ce.sd42.ca

[email protected] www.rmcollege.ca

International Education School District 42

[email protected] [email protected]

fax: 604-465-3596

T 604-466-6555 F 604-463-543720575 Thorne Avenue, Maple Ridge, BC V2X 9A6

Accredited Career Vocational Training

Workplace Certification

General Interest & Personal Development

Learning options for Adults & Youth (16+)

High School Graduation & Upgrading

K-12 for International Students

Short Term Cultural Programs

International Teacher Training

Homestay Coordination

We’re ready for you!

Check our websites for more information on Fall 2014 courses and programs.

[email protected] http://ce.sd42.ca

[email protected] www.rmcollege.ca

International Education School District 42

[email protected] [email protected]

fax: 604-465-3596

T 604-466-6555 F 604-463-543720575 Thorne Avenue, Maple Ridge, BC V2X 9A6

Accredited Career Vocational Training

Workplace Certification

General Interest & Personal Development

Learning options for Adults & Youth (16+)

High School Graduation & Upgrading

K-12 for International Students

Short Term Cultural Programs

International Teacher Training

Homestay Coordination

We’re ready for you!

Check our websites for more information on Fall 2014 courses and programs.

[email protected] http://ce.sd42.ca

[email protected] www.rmcollege.ca

International Education School District 42

[email protected] [email protected]

fax: 604-465-3596

T 604-466-6555 F 604-463-543720575 Thorne Avenue, Maple Ridge, BC V2X 9A6

Accredited Career Vocational Training

Workplace Certification

General Interest & Personal Development

Learning options for Adults & Youth (16+)

High School Graduation & Upgrading

K-12 for International Students

Short Term Cultural Programs

International Teacher Training

Homestay Coordination

2013

We’re ready for you!

Check our websites for more information on Fall 2014 courses and programs.

[email protected] http://ce.sd42.ca

[email protected] www.rmcollege.ca

International Education School District 42

[email protected] [email protected]

fax: 604-465-3596

T 604-466-6555 F 604-463-543720575 Thorne Avenue, Maple Ridge, BC V2X 9A6

Accredited Career Vocational Training

Workplace Certification

General Interest & Personal Development

Learning options for Adults & Youth (16+)

High School Graduation & Upgrading

K-12 for International Students

Short Term Cultural Programs

International Teacher Training

Homestay Coordination

We’re ready for you!

Check our websites for more information on Fall 2014 courses and programs.

[email protected] http://ce.sd42.ca

[email protected] www.rmcollege.ca

International Education School District 42

[email protected] [email protected]

fax: 604-465-3596

T 604-466-6555 F 604-463-543720575 Thorne Avenue, Maple Ridge, BC V2X 9A6

Accredited Career Vocational Training

Workplace Certification

General Interest & Personal Development

Learning options for Adults & Youth (16+)

High School Graduation & Upgrading

K-12 for International Students

Short Term Cultural Programs

International Teacher Training

Homestay Coordination

Connected Learning Community Online School

http://clc.sd42.ca

We’re ready for you!

Check our websites for more information on Fall 2014 courses and programs.

[email protected] http://ce.sd42.ca

[email protected] www.rmcollege.ca

International Education School District 42

[email protected] [email protected]

fax: 604-465-3596

T 604-466-6555 F 604-463-543720575 Thorne Avenue, Maple Ridge, BC V2X 9A6

Accredited Career Vocational Training

Workplace Certification

General Interest & Personal Development

Learning options for Adults & Youth (16+)

High School Graduation & Upgrading

K-12 for International Students

Short Term Cultural Programs

International Teacher Training

Homestay Coordination

2013

We’re ready for you!

Check our websites for more information on Fall 2014 courses and programs.

[email protected] http://ce.sd42.ca

[email protected] www.rmcollege.ca

International Education School District 42

[email protected] [email protected]

fax: 604-465-3596

T 604-466-6555 F 604-463-543720575 Thorne Avenue, Maple Ridge, BC V2X 9A6

Accredited Career Vocational Training

Workplace Certification

General Interest & Personal Development

Learning options for Adults & Youth (16+)

High School Graduation & Upgrading

K-12 for International Students

Short Term Cultural Programs

International Teacher Training

Homestay Coordination

We’re ready for you!

Check our websites for more information on Fall 2014 courses and programs.

[email protected] http://ce.sd42.ca

[email protected] www.rmcollege.ca

International Education School District 42

[email protected] [email protected]

fax: 604-465-3596

T 604-466-6555 F 604-463-543720575 Thorne Avenue, Maple Ridge, BC V2X 9A6

Accredited Career Vocational Training

Workplace Certification

General Interest & Personal Development

Learning options for Adults & Youth (16+)

High School Graduation & Upgrading

K-12 for International Students

Short Term Cultural Programs

International Teacher Training

Homestay Coordination

Page 32: July 31, 2013

Celebrating 100 Years Of Community! Helping You Is What We Do!T M

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.

B r o o k s i d e R e a l t y

[email protected].

11933 224th St., Maple Ridge604.467.5000

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!

• 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

www.brooksiderealty.ca

Charities we support