The Big Sisters of BC Lower Mainland are $4,500 richer thanks to the City of Richmond. The non-profit organization, which matches volunteer female mentors with young girls across the Lower Mainland, received the much-needed boost to help the organization match some of the five Richmond girls currently on their waitlist with a supportive mentor.
Big Sisters of BC Lower Mainland works to improve the confidence, self-esteem, and wellbeing of girls (between the ages of seven and 17), through its one-to-one mentoring relationships. If you are interested in the program in Richmond, visit www.bigsisters.bc.ca, call Big Sisters of BC Lower Mainland at 604-873-4525 ext. 300 or info@bigsisters. bc.ca.
ICBC IMPROVES NO. 3 RD.
If you've driven by No. 3 Road from Cambie to Browngate Road, most likely you've noticed the pedestrian safety improvements. This is one of many road improvements ICBC has undertaken in Richmond.
"The recent improvements including pedestrian caution signs, new crosswalks, and overhead signs marking crosswalks are great examples of how partnerships help make our communities safer," said Linda Reid, Richmond East MLA.
In 1989, ICBC launched the road improvement program, and since then, has invested more than $100 million in projects across B.C. The most recent evaluation of its program found that two years following a project's implementation, there is on average, a 20 per cent reduction in severe crashes and a 12 per cent reduction in property damage crashes.
ESL WRITERS READ TO PUBLIC
Last Wednesday, the City of Richmond's first Writer-in-Residence program with author Caroline Adderson, finished with the participant ESL writers reading from their newly published chapbook (a pocketsize booklet), called New Voices: Fiction and Memoir in a Second Language at the Brighouse Library.
"Having attended three, threehour writing workshops, the ESL writers, ranging in age from 20something to senior, overcame their fears of public speaking and impressed the audience with their stories," said library communications officer Shelley Civkin.
The aspiring writers came from five different countries: China, Peru, Hong Kong, France and the Philippines, and their stories reflected their different cultural experiences. The stories will be available on the library's website by mid-April and the chapbook will be available for borrowing from the library.
PLAN YOUR CULTURE DAY
Although the third annual Culture Days doesn't happen until Sept. 28, members of Richmond's arts and culture community are invited to start planning their participation now by registering at www.culturedays.ca.
Last year, of the nearly 800 communities from across Canada who participated, Richmond ranked in the top 10 for the total number of events over the weekend. And among Regional/Belt cities, Richmond was in the top five in Canada. Richmond had 33 registered events that ranged from open artist studio tours to wine tasting.
Culture Days is a country-wide celebration of arts and culture that offers free interactive activities to the public, presented by local volunteer artists, designers, curators, chefs, artisans and others.
Anyone planning to offer an activity for this year's Culture Days must register online at www.culturedays.ca before April 30. For more information about Culture Days 2012, visit www.culturedays.ca, or call Liesl Jauk, manager of Cultural Development, at 604-204-8672 or ljauk@ richmond.ca.
