Allen’s Headshave For Cancer and Dee’s Story

Many throughout Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows will remember Darlene for her countless years involved with local Girl Guides. Others will remember her as Dee from her 16 years at Home Hardware answering home improvement questions.

In September 2002 Dee was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. This was almost one year to the day after her own mother passed away from pancreatic cancer after a 20 year long battle.

Each day Dee would travel from her home in Pitt Meadows to the Cancer Centre in Surrey for chemotherapy treatment. This was a grueling ordeal for her considering the cancer had made her highly susceptible to motion sickness and nausea, combined with the already well known effects of chemotherapy. Because of this Dee could not drive herself and had to depend on family, friends, and volunteers. On occasion she would miss treatments, due to either being unable to arrange transportion or unable to bear the discomfort of travel.

Read full post on Allen’s Blog…

Earth Day 2012 celebrations in Pitt Meadows and Maple Ridge

Repost from Maple Ridge/Pitt Meadows Cyclist:

We’ve been awfully quiet lately. First it was cold and rainy, so I thought I’d take a break, and then we got some great sunny biking weather, so guess what I was doing!?

Anyway, I’m happy to tell you that we’ll be once again involved with the Earth Day events in both Pitt Meadows and Maple Ridge.

Earth Day in Pitt Meadows will be celebrated on Thursday April 19, in Hoffman Park, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. We’ll have an information booth there, so drop by for a chat, some colouring sheets and word searches for the kids, or a free bike map. If you haven’t seen a velomobile before, we’ll have one on display. We’re also offering free bike parking.

We’ll be at the Earth Day celebrations in Maple Ridge in Memorial Peace Park on Sat. April 21, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. This year’s event is going to be a blast! Ridge Meadows Recycling Society is celebrating its 40th anniversary, and they’re blowing out all stops! Do check out the link to see all the awesome activities that are being planned for this day.

Together with RMRS, the VACC is organizing a free bike give-away. We have been asking people to donate any unwanted/unused bikes that are gathering dust in a corner of the garage for this purpose. We are selecting bikes for this that will only need minor repairs, if any. We already have a number of mostly adults’ and some kids’ bikes. If you have a bike that you would like to get rid of, you can drop it off at the Recycling Depot on River Road. If you’re not able to drop it off, send me an e-mail at jchow23708@yahoo.ca, and we can arrange to have it picked up.

We’ll have 2 draws: one at 10:00 (10:30) and one at 12:00 (12:30). Come check out the bikes and try them out. We will provide some helmets, but bring your own if you wish. 3 Winners of both the morning and the afternoon draws will get the chance to learn how to do some minor repairs on their ‘new’ bikes under the watchful eye of Dustin, a qualified bike mechanic (courtesy of Maple Ridge Cycle) or one of our own volunteers.

We will also have our Translink bus bike rack at this event, so don’t miss this opportunity to practice this simple, but for some possibly intimidating, skill. Steve’s velomobile will be there too, so if you didn’t have a chance to admire it in Pitt Meadows, you’ll have another opportunity. Finally, we will have free guarded bicycle parking.

Hope to see you, and your bike, on April 19 or 21!

A Celebration of Cranes on April 22nd

In March and April, migrating birds are winging their way home. Celebrations across the world recognize this by showcasing the world’s cranes. Cranes have always inspired writers and artists and Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows are no exception.

Annette LeBox will launch her upcoming young adult novel, Circle of Cranes, on April 22 at 2pm at St. Andrew’s Church, 22165 Dewdney Trunk Road, Maple Ridge, BC. This free event is called A Celebration of Cranes and will include an author reading, accompanied by a dance performance of Susan Mitchell’s Maple Ridge Dance Circle. The Glee Club of Bergthorson Academy of Musical Arts, Pam Carr and Iris Del Castillo will star in this production.

A Celebration of Cranes is sponsored by Bean Around Books, Fitness Unlimited and Ron Antalek. This event is free to the public.

Annette will also be the guest speaker at Golden Ears Writers April Lobby night on April 17th. She will be speaking and taking questions about writing for children and young adults.

Check out Annette’s web site at http://annettelebox.com/


Maple Ridge Times Article: Cranes inspire tale anchored in magic