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Giving for Thanksgiving in Vancouver 2008

Comments 5 by Rebecca Bollwitt
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Thanksgiving is usually a time of reflection on my blog; memories of heading to my Oma and Opa’s house for a big turkey dinner, raking the leaves in the front yard and then riding the BMX straight through the pile. Eating so much at supper time as Oma tells you to keep going, “you’re too skinny!” meanwhile you just know the next time she sees you she’ll comment on how she thinks you’ve gained weight.

There’s a lot going on around town this weekend and while memories like these make me smile, I’m also reminded of those who probably won’t be able to enjoy a warm meal come Monday (or any day next week). Here are a few events and details about how you can help out this season:


Photo credit: Sean Orr on Flickr
  • John Chow, our local, infamous, million dollar blogger, is encouraging his readers to donate to the Union Gospel Mission. He’s even offering to match every donation up to $1,000. “All readers making donations will be recognized in a blog post this Friday. If you have a website or blog, I will link to it. If you think about it, this is a pretty inexpensive way to get a link on this blog.”
  • The UGM also had a radiothon with JRfm yesterday and even though country ain’t my thing, the listeners of that station raised enough to supply 7,416 meals. “Our goal is to raise enough to server 10,600 meals: about 3000 of those meals will be served this Monday for Thanksgiving, and the rest will be served to Vancouver’s hungriest people throughout the fall season.” Donations are still being accepted and the cost of a UGM turkey dinner is only $2.59 (less than a Grande Mocha at Starbucks)
  • On Monday there is also the Turkey Trot 10km on Granville Island, benefiting the Greater Vancouver Food Bank. “As always it is one of the best deals going for a 10k run as your sign up includes a PUMA long sleeve tech top, personalized bib and great music and prizes.” [604HomesBlog]
  • I would also like to note that the Surrey Food Bank operates separately from the GVFBS and that donations and contributions are also being accepted in preparation for the season ahead. “1 in 4 children in Surrey live below the poverty line and 45% of our clients are children and babies.” [AboutSFB]

    • October 12-19 is also Homelessness Awareness Week in Vancouver, which will incorporate the United Nation’s observation of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty on October 17th.

    Update: A few hours after writing this post I received a reminder from the Blog Action Day team (and a few other bloggers as well). October 15th is “Blog Action Day” which is, “an annual nonprofit event that aims to unite the world’s bloggers, podcasters and videocasters, to post about the same issue on the same day. Our aim is to raise awareness and trigger a global discussion.” This year’s theme is poverty.

    Although their website is fantastic, you can’t easily search the list of participating bloggers, and sifting through the 350 pages of listings might be a bit daunting. As such, I’ll try to have some coverage up here – highlighting some regional bloggers that are spreading awareness about these issues on Blog Action Day.

    I have also signed up for a Change.org profile, that connects bloggers with non-profits for fundraising and look forward to trying out the service in the future.

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    5 Comments  —  Comments Are Closed

    1. Sis604Friday, October 10th, 2008 — 3:24pm PDT

      I was just telling the boys about riding the leaves the other day. Thanksgiving is such a great reminder to all of us that we are SO blessed, it’s a great time to remind the kids how much we have to be thankful for. I am especially thankful that our family will be getting together for a wonderful meal and to celebrate Oma’s 87th birthday (even though she is adamant she has no more birthdays she has already baked a cake).

    2. RaulSaturday, October 11th, 2008 — 11:41am PDT

      Beth Snow and I are also signed up with Blog Action Day ’08 🙂 (those are the ones I’ve noticed in the last few days – there might be some more). Good for you for highlighting this issue (and Homeless Action Week!)

    3. colleenSunday, October 12th, 2008 — 7:38pm PDT

      I’m signed up to do blog action day on BuzzNetworker and I’ll be putting something more personal up on blog.missmanifesto.com. 🙂 the other two sites – drinks after dark and my newest (!!) Spa Beautifully aren’t exactly appropriate. 🙂

    4. Patrick LokTuesday, October 14th, 2008 — 11:01am PDT

      Thank you for your linking to our website Rebecca. Yours and others’ attention to this cause is extremely important – especially with the federal and municipal elections.

      Just a small correction, this year we have changed the official name of the initiative to Homelessness Action Week (formerly Homelessness Awareness Week).

      We’re also ‘tagging’ streets all over BC and the Yukon with our Green Graffiti campaign, which you can watch here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctysEhkBHCA

    5. Wednesday Morning Conservative Link Fest » Vancouver Blog Miss 604 by Rebecca BollwittWednesday, October 15th, 2008 — 8:33am PDT

      […] mentioned last week, today is Blog Action Day. Here are 30 Simple Ways to Battle Poverty with Technology, although it […]

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