Lions Clubs say thanks

Lions Clubs say thanks with new spring styles
Here and Now column by Dan Hilborn, Burnaby Now assistant editor
Published April 2, 2003

Don't tell anyone, but the presidents of five local Lions Clubs are going to be strutting their stuff on stage at the Second Annual Easter Parade of Fashions taking place April 10 at Metrotown Centre mall, now a part of the Metropolis shopping complex.
"One of the fellows has asked me to order him a hula skirt and coconut shell bra, so it could be pretty interesting," said fashion show organizer Myrna Young.
The free fashion show is the local Lions Clubs' way of saying thank you to the residents and merchants of Burnaby for their generous donations to their many worthwhile fundraising drives over the past year. (And if they really mean it, we may still be spared the coconuts.)
Some of the dignitaries who are scheduled to participate in the event, as escorts for the real models, are: Patrick Henry of the Burnaby Lougheed Lions; Kirk Dickson of the Burnaby North Lions; Don Bliss of Burnaby Host Lions; Barbara Govett of Vancouver Champlain Heights Lions; Ted Tyler of the Vancouver Renfrew Lions; past district governor Gordon Roger and past zone chairs Neale Bacon and Morgan Wilkes.
The fashion show takes place from 7 to 8 p.m., Thursday, April 10 at the Metrotown Mall centre court.

BUILDING FOR HUMANITY

Work on the second phase of the Habitat for Humanity housing project in Burnaby is well underway, thanks in part to a $40,000 donation from a long list of corporate sponsors.
The donation was made by MCAP Mortgage Corp. and its partners, Invis, GE Mortgage Insurance Canada and the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.
"There is no more satisfying feeling than seeing a young family move into their own home for the first time," said Joe Santos, regional vice-president of MCAP.
The Burnaby project, located near Government Road and Cariboo Avenue, is already home to five townhouse units, with a total of 27 units planned for the property by the time the project is finished in 2007. Volunteers and families who plan to live in the complex are currently working on the next four units.
Habitat for Humanity was founded in 1976 by former U.S. president and 2002 Nobel Peace Prize winner Jimmy Carter, to make affordable housing available to more families. Since its inception, the nonprofit agency has assisted in the construction or renovation of more than 100,000 homes, sheltering more than 500,000 people in over 2,000 communities around the world.
Units are built as volunteers, labourers and donations come in. To contribute to the cause, contact the Habitat for Humanity Society of Greater Vancouver at 604-681-5618, or by e-mail at habitat@vancouver.net.

SOUTH'S 50-YEAR REUNION

Do your remember wearing bobby socks and heading to the old Oak Theatre?
If so, you may be one of the few 1953 graduates of Burnaby South High School who may still be unaware that your classmates are holding a reunion in about two months.
The class that graduated 50 years ago is now scattered around the world, but a whole lot of them are coming home to take part in the big event, planned for June 11 at the Best Western Coquitlam Inn and Convention Centre.
Reunion organizer Bernie McCormak says his classmates include a Hollywood writer and producer, a rocket scientist, world-class athlete, professional artists and even a few people who actually had to work for a living. (Oh, don't be so serious, Bernie!)
A total of 176 students graduated that year, and about 50 of them are still unaccounted for. Students who would have graduated that year, but who left school early for whatever reason, are also invited.
For more information or to help track down your missing classmates, contact Mary White (nee Whitehouse) at 604-886-8179 or Bernie at 604-461-2050.

GRAD'S DREAM COMES TRUE

Keith Behrman, a graduate of the Simon Fraser University School of Contemporary Arts, is on Cloud 9 this week after his feature film Flower & Garnet opened on the big screen.
The movie, which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival last summer, was the winner of the Claude Jutra award for the best directorial debut at the Genies (Canada's equivalent of the Oscars).
Flower & Garnet is a story of family relationships revolving around an uncaring widower (played by Callum Keith Rennie), his son and a young, pregnant daughter.
Produced at a cost of about $2 million, Flower & Garnet was a huge success on the Canadian film festival circuit last year, and was rated one of the country's top 10 best films of the year by critics in Toronto.
At the 2002 Vancouver International Film Festival, Behrman won the $5,000 Telefilm Canada Directing Award as the top emerging Western Canadian film director, and lead actress Jane McGregor won the Women in Film and Video Artistic Merit Award.
"Every once in a while, a movie comes along that pulls you in with silence - then proceeds to blow your mind with little more than a whisper. Flower & Garnet is one of those movies," says Katherine Monk, film critic for the Vancouver Sun and one of the judges at last year's VIFF.