Skip to content

Year in Review: Community Highlights 2015 October to December

From a hitchhiking study to planning on bringing Syrian refugee families here to awards received, year-end was a busy time for locals.

October

While governments and groups discuss solutions to hitchhikers going missing or being murdered, University of Northern BC professor Dr. Jacqueline Holler is doing a study to see what hitchhikers have to say about their experiences.

◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆

The City of Terrace is the lucky recipient of a 70th Anniversary Dutch-Canadian Friendship Tulip Garden, one of 140 being distributed across Canada in celebration of the first gift of 100,000 Dutch tulip bulbs sent to Canadians in 1945 as a symbol of appreciation for the role Canadian soldiers played in the liberation of the Netherlands and the hospitality Canada provided to the Dutch Royal Family in Ottawa during the Second World War. Our garden, consisting of 700 red and white tulip bulbs, will be symbolically linked to a 70th Anniversary Dutch-Canadian Friendship Tulip Garden to be planted this fall in our nation’s capital and showcased during the 2016 Canadian Tulip Festival.

◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆

After 20 years of feeding local residents in need, Ron and Delphine Dame look for some help with their Seventh-day Adventist-associated Bread of Life soup kitchen. The biggest immediate need is with the pickup of bread products and other foodstuffs provided by Safeway, moving the often-heavy boxes for storage and then distribution.

November

Terrace Public Library children’s librarian Jess Dafoe is working with Laura Bloomhagen, education coordinator at the Kitselas First Nation education centre, on a pilot program to make reading and access to books a lot easier in Gitaus. That includes signing up Gitaus residents for library cards so they don’t have to come to Terrace to do it, and having shelves of books to borrow.

◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆

Celebrating a record 66 years of marriage is former Terrace mayor Dave Maroney and wife Jean, married on Oct. 12th 1949 in St. Anthony Church in Fredericton, New Brunswick.

◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆

A group planning to bring at least one family of Syrian refugees to Terrace moves closer to its goal. The group Terrace Sponsors Syrian Refugee Families said it is ready to accept a family or individual before the end of the year.

◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆

Families with teens receiving Christmas hampers from the Salvation Army get a little extra in the form of 500 pool passes after Salvation Army Captain Jim VanderHeyden asked city council for them, saying teens were the most difficult people to buy gifts for.

December

John Jensen’s achievements were recognized when he is given a lifetime membership in the Kitimat-Terrace and District Labour Council.

◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆

Patrick Hamer, a cadet with the local 747 Royal Canadian Air Cadet squadron, receives a silver medal at the Duke of Edinburgh’s Awards ceremony in Victoria after a year of challenging exploits in four categories. The ceremony is attended by BC Lieutenant-Governor Judith Guichon.

◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆

A community spaghetti dinner Dec. 12 at Knox United Church continues local efforts to raise money to bring in at least one Syrian refugee family.

◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆

The winner of this year’s Miss Chinese Vancouver pageant is local Jennifer Ling Coosemans.

◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆

Northwest Community College offers therapy dogs to visit with students to relieve stress during Final Exam Week.