Vancouver Startup Gives Back to Community Through Crowdfunding
Weeve users are asked to “give smarter” by allowing their dollars to go directly into community projects in need of funding. Beta-launch partners include Seva Canada, YouthCo, SharkTruth, and BC Children’s Hospital Foundation. Through Weeve, BC Children’s Hospital Foundation’s “Campaign for BC Children” is aiming to raise $5000 to help build a new hospital.
Chapbooking with The KidSafe Writers’ Room
Last night Michelle Burtnyk-Horn, Alex Grant and I took in a fantastically edutaining (education + entertainment = awesome) literary wrap-up for the KidSafe Writers’ Room readers and writers from Queen Alexandra Elementary School. The very awesome Sarah Maitland hosted an evening of storytelling starring several young readers, writers and performers from Vancouver elementary schools.
Main Street’s Coffee Block
In Vancouver it isn’t uncommon to see a coffee shop juxtaposed to a coffee shop juxtaposed to a coffee shop across the street from a coffee shop, especially in my neighbourhood, Mount Pleasant.
And yesterday things in my community just got a bit darker, frothier and sweeter, as Forty Ninth Parallel Coffee Roasters opened their newest location at the corner of 13th – wait… Thirteenth – and Main.
The Tiffin Project
One of my favourite food-related tools is my tiffin, which I purchased a few years ago with some tasty Indian food at Granville Island. The tiffin reflects both my and Michelle’s passion for using – ahem – reusable containers when we get takeout from restaurants. Speaking of which, styrofoam is one of my least favourite things.
Joel Plaskett’s Microcosm of Community
Joel Plaskett can rock with the best of ’em (“Lightning Bolt”), he can make you tear-up with a love song (“I’m Yours”), he can make you dance with a catchy pop song (“Through & Through & Through”), and he can make you laugh with some of the most creative lyrics this side of K’Naan (“North Star” or “Come on Teacher” or “Extraordinare” or “Fashionable People”). Oh, and he’s got some sentimental gems that get to the heart of community (“I Love This Town”).
Our Future Community Project Charts a New Future for the VSB
Last night the Vancouver School Board released a massive report titled Vancouver School Board Sectoral Review: Our Schools, Our Programs, Our Future. The report presented dozens of important recommendations that if eventually adopted by the VSB, could have a profound impact…
Grow What You Eat!
Grow what you eat on Friday, March 2nd from 7 – 11pm at Nelson the Seagull, 315 Carall Street, Gastown. Victory Gardens, an urban farming business from Vancouver BC, is pleased to announce the launch of their first growing season…
Sea Planes: #Awesome Community Builders
Seaplanes are boats that fly. How cool is that?! On that basis alone I’m going to make it a goal for 2012 to fly in one. Heck, I might even get behind the controls, or at least get to sit…
Lessons in Culinary Community Building
Picture a long festive table decked with candles and lined with a dozen smiling faces. Surely, all the ingredients for sharing of food, laughter and good conversation? Well, not so much. As I sat down excited to spend the evening…
How to Shelter Everyone – Lessons from First United Church
Nothing spoils Christmas like thought of dozens of people sleeping outside in cold, wet Vancouver weather. It’s been an ongoing struggle for years and isn’t likely to change anytime soon. In 2008, shortly after the municipal election and right before…