Dear Editor,
We are sorry to hear that the Richmond News has to come to the end of the printed newspaper era.
Patrick and Christian are sad that they didn't reach their goal of beating Shane Dargan; he is our neighbour and when he moved to our complex, he told the boys that he and his brothers were paper boys for over 10 years at the Richmond News, so Christian and Patrick wanted to break his record.
Sadly, they only worked for six years and five months (I wonder if they got the second place).
A least they have quite a story to tell to their children and grandchildren, just like their dad telling them stories about covering for his friends, collecting the monthly subscription and being chased by dogs.
Definitely, it has been a great working experience.
They developed so many executive functions skills; time and money management are some of them.
Patrick and Christian started delivering the Richmond News when it was printed twice a week in June 2017, then went weekly until the transition from paper printed to an electric format and they will work until the last delivery on Nov. 30.
And worked over the pandemic, big milestones!
I remember when Christian and Patrick came home holding a lettuce that one of the customers gave them from his vegetable garden, they were so grateful and told me that that was the perks of their job.
They were in the newspaper a few times, the first time when we were lining up to get into the Steveston Community Centre to get into the preschool program.
We spent two nights before the registration, we got the sport pro-Patrick in the program "Two's times" for toddlers and "Salmon bellies" for three-year-olds in 2009.
Then, Patrick's hockey team won the Seafair championship, and he was featured in the Steveston streets cleanup in 2014.
Christian was featured posing for the Richmond Therapeutic Riding Association Program in 2017.
In 2019, we appeared on the front page protesting for Pink Shirt Day because both boys were badly bullied at school.
That was the reason why we ended up homeschooling our children - Christian stayed and Patrick went back to the regular school after two years of being homeschooled.
Christian and Patrick are very grateful for the opportunity to be part of the Richmond News staff.
Here are some of the pictures from the happy years they had delivered the papers.
My heart is sad as a mother it was very good to see the brother bonding when they were delivering the newspaper, chatting and laughing away while they were walking to drop off the papers to our neighbours, under the sun, under the rain, under the snow and through the wind, always happy to accomplish the task.
All the best to all everybody and good luck with the new system we are sure is going to be a successful new digital era.
Warm regards to all the staff from the Richmond News.
All the best,
The Higgs Torres family
Richmond
