May 8th marks World Red Cross Day, which is celebrated internationally every year since 1948. This year, we commemorate World Red Cross Day by highlighting the local Red Cross Disaster Management Program and how it responds to community needs during times of crisis through direct services such as providing support, hygiene kits and blankets; family reunification service; critical information dissemination to the public through the TELUS Red Cross Call Centre; and coordination with all levels of government, local authorities, communities and other relief organizations to address outstanding client needs.
The Red Carpet Soiree is a festive evening of great food (prepared by Executive Chef Frank Pabst and Raw Bar Chef Yoshihiro Tabo), wine , silent auction prizes, and special exhibits in the wine room. Keira and I attended last year and had a ball.
Tickets for the event are available online for $100 and usually sell out each year. It just so happens that I have a pair to give away so if you would like to attend the Red Cross Red Carpet Soiree, please leave a comment on this post or publish the following on Twitter:
I entered to win 2 tickets to the @RedCarpetSoiree from @Miss604 http://ow.ly/1BpLs
Flight Centre Canada is hosting a search to find someone for what they call the Best Travel Job Ever.
Ever since Tourism Queensland in Australia hosted its popular search to find someone to fulfill their “Best Job Ever” as caretaker of an Island Reef it’s become a trend to host contests of this nature. The most luxurious, tantalizing, and globetrotting opportunities for some of the world’s major brands have presented themselves and they have all used social media to find and promote applicants.
In Vancouver we had several people make the final cut for the Island Reef job including Anny Chih. She didn’t end up winning but it looks like things have worked out for the best as she’s kept up a travel blog and continued to explore each continent on her own.
Working out the glitches that came with past contests of this nature the model has been fine-tuned over the years. It’s no longer about taking a year off to work for a tourism board. It’s more about getting a free trip and being armed with a video camera so that you can share your experience.
For the Best Travel Job Ever will be a Grand Prize Winner as well as a Fan Favourite winner who will each receive a trip to a secret exotic destination from Intrepid Travel & Air Canada, $2,000 cash from Flight Centre, an HD Flip video camera from Henry’s, a $500 shopping spree from Roots. Each of the six finalists also get prizes that include the video cameras, vacations in Europe or Asia, and also $500 to shop at Roots.
Videos with the most votes so far that have been produced by locals include: Fiona and SammyMac (see below).
I also enjoyed ChaseVlog’s entry since it’s a much-needed introduction to Mission, BC. I first learned about this contest when Flight Centre sponsored Vancouver Twestival but I have to give a hat tip to Eddy Vint who emailed me about his campaign.
Looking at the leaderboard there are about 3,000 votes for each of the top candidates so far and you have just over two weeks to throw your hat in the ring if you think you can muster a couple thousand votes. Otherwise, explore the site a bit and give your favourites a boost by voting for them.
The top 25 finalists as voted by the public will be announced May 3, 2010 and the selection process will continue until the grand prize winner is announced in August, 2010.
The Georgia Straight took some video at the event which you can view on YouTube. Thanks to the Province of BC for also sharing their video of the event on YouTube and including the cute introduction that has animations running through the streets of Vancouver.
Pixar Canada is now looking for animation talent to create short films at the new studio featuring some of its popular characters, such as Buzz Lightyear of Toy Story. The short films will experiment with Pixar’s well-known characters and introduce new ones. Some short films will also be produced for specialty TV…
…Pixar now has 1,000 employees in California. It is owned by Disney, which plans to expand the Vancouver branch rapidly.
…”The most important single thing we have to do in setting up our new studio here is hiring the right people,” Pixar Canada’s Darwin Peachy said. “And we have to hire quite a few of them because our goal is to have a team of 75 people by 2012.” [source: CBC]
Although Wall-E has found a new home on Water Street and it will be interesting to see the impact this has, within the local economy or film industry circles.
Delta Hotels launched the Good Neighbours Challenge today. It’s an initiative with two goals, the first is to raise $1 million to support charitable partners from coast to coast and the other is to donate 10,000 volunteer hours to support the communities in which Delta Hotels exist across Canada.
Delta will also host over 450 community events across Canada throughout the challenge starting today.
Delta employees clean-up at Minoru Park
Tuesday April 20, 2010, 3:00pm – 5:00pm
Employees from the Delta Vancouver Airport Hotel will do a clean up at Minoru Park
Canada Line breakfast for Habitat for Humanity
Wednesday April 21, 2010, 7:00am – 9:00am
Employees from the Delta Vancouver Airport Hotel will hand out Salt Spring coffee and muffins to commuters in exchange for donation to Habitat for Humanity. They’ll be at the Richmond Brighouse Canada Line station.
Delta employees plant food crop for Richmond Food Bank
Thursday April 22, 2010, 2:00pm – 4:00pm
Employees from the Delta Vancouver Airport Hotel will work with the Richmond Sharing Project
Family Movie Night
Friday April 30, 2010, 6:00pm – 8:00pm
With a donation of a non-perishable food item for the local food bank your family can enjoy a kid-friendly movie, popcorn, treats and beverages at the Delta in Burnaby
Many more Good Neighbours events will be hosted from Victoria to St John’s Newfoundland until the end of the year. You can follow them on Twitter @DeltaHotelsLtd for updates over the next few months.
According to a survey conducted by Delta in March of 2010, 94% of Canadians consider themselves to be a good neighbour
In partnership with the Good Neighbours program, Delta Hotels is offering a special prize for Miss604.com readers where you can enter to win a two-night stay at any Delta Hotel or Resort in Canada*.
To enter, please leave a comment on this post about any community in which you can find a Delta.
There are close to 50 locations, from the Delta Victoria Ocean Pointe to the Delta Prince Edward in Charlottetown so there’s plenty to choose from. You can write about the city, the neighbourhood, a restaurant that you like in the area or about friends and family in that town – anything goes.
I’ll draw two winners at random from the comments on April 30th at 12:00pm.
I know my readers are very active in your community and that they have personally helped me throughout the year with fundraising, either through Twestival or my annual Blogathon. Hopefully through all of these contests I can express my thanks for your readership.
Update The two winners of the Delta stays (2 nights a piece) are Alexandra H and Norman. Thanks to everyone who took part!
Fine print: Two winners will be drawn and they will each have the same prize, a two-night stay at any Delta Hotel or Resort in Canada. Their reservation will be subject to availability* and the offer will be valid until December 31, 2010. The prize does not include transportation to the hotel destination/city.
Vancouver Fire Captain Gabe Roder says if we have another hot and dry summer–like we did last year– then it’s only common sense to have cigarette smoking ban in place. He says it’s a health hazard, a matter of safety and it will be a great way to protect our parks. “We’re in favour of a ban of any type of incendiary type products, fires, barbecues in parks. Those sorts of things don’t go well with the heat and the dryness.” [source: News1130]
The update on the vote came from @News1130Radio on Twitter.
The park board gathered public feedback when it conducted an online survey on the matter last fall. Of 608 participants who chose to do the survey, presented as a pop-up on the park board’s website, 75 per cent favoured making beaches no-smoking areas.
Forty-nine per cent indicated they would use the city’s parks more often if a smoking restriction existed and 81 per cent favoured establishing playing fields as no-smoking areas. Smoking bans are in place in a number of other municipalities, including North Vancouver, West Vancouver, Whistler, White Rock and Kelowna. [source: Vancouver Sun]
Since March 2008 there have been strict no-smoking policies in public spaces, restaurants, patios, and even within 3 metres of a building’s entrance or air vent. The new ban will take effect this September.
[poll id=”51″]
Update January, 2012 – A new smoking ban is in effect for Metro Vancouver Parks as well: “Smokers who light up in any of Metro Vancouver’s regional parks and greenways could soon be hit with a $75 fine. A smoking ban came into effect on New Year’s Day (January 1), and enforcement will begin in February. The no-smoking bylaw, approved by regional directors on September 23, 2011, allows puffing on cigarettes only in signed, designated smoking areas.” – Georgia Straight.
