Variety – the Children’s Charity and Global BC are thrilled to announce that this year’s Variety Show of Hearts raised $6,936,621 to support children with special needs!
54th Annual Show of Hearts Telethon. Photo by John Biehler. (Archive Photo)
Variety Show of Hearts Raises Over $6.9 Million
During the first two days of the three-day event on Thursday, February 24 & Friday, February 25, Global News viewers were introduced to just some of the amazing kids who were helped by Variety in 2021. The inspiring stories continued on Global BC’s broadcast of the 56th Annual Variety Show of Hearts Telethon which aired on Saturday, February 26 from 1:00pm to 5:30pm.
“I’m once again left speechless by the unbelievable generosity of our donors and supporters,” said Cally Wesson, Variety BC CEO. “Realizing how challenging the past two years has been for all of us, it’s extremely heartwarming to see that British Columbians will still band together during the toughest of times to ensure that we’ll always be here for BC’s kids. It’s absolutely overwhelming.”
Global BC’s Chris Gailus, Sophie Lui, Kristi Gordon, Neetu Garcha, Paul Haysom and Jay Janower returned as Telethon hosts along with 980 CKNW’s Jody Vance who was joined by Show of Hearts favourites Howard Blank, Alvin Law & Marco Pasqua and Variety Youth Champions Esabella Strickland and Janelle Milne. Making their Show of Hearts debut were actor & parent advocate, Bethel Lee and local singer-songwriter, Seven Taviss.
Viewers also got to see their donor dollars in action when they were treated to updates on the kids who they met during Global BC’s Variety Week. Saturday’s telecast also featured performances by musical guests David Foster, Katharine McPhee, Colin James, Serena Ryder and William Prince along with Penticton’s spoken word poet, Shane Koyczan and Canadian violinist, Adrian Anantawan.
Donations to the Variety Show of Hearts Telethon can still be made by calling toll-free at 310-KIDS and also online or by texting “KIDS” to 45678 to make an automatic $20 contribution.
Miss604 is the proud sponsor of the #ShowOfHearts Social Lounge since 2016
March is the final month of TransLink’s Tap in to Win Sweepstakes, where registered Compass Card users can enter to win a $10,000 travel voucher. Each trip they take on transit counts as an entry.
TransLink’s Tap in to Win Sweepstakes
All customers have to do to participate is enter their Compass Card number on the Tap In to Win website, and then use transit. The campaign launched in November, 2021 and has awarded prizes including a range of travel and transportation-related items (stays at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver, JW Marriott Parq Vancouver, a RadRunner eBike, a Compass Card loaded with fare for a year, and more!
TransLink launched the sweepstakes to thank customers, help boost economic recovery in the region and rebuild transit ridership. Ridership was 56% of pre-pandemic levels in October, and it has been over 60% so far in February.
“While we hope this contest encourages people to come back to transit, this is also our way of saying thank you to our customers,” says TransLink CEO Kevin Quinn. “We are continually grateful to our customers for how they have stuck with us through the challenges of the last 18 months. We also want to welcome new customers and encourage people to once again choose transit, knowing that it is a safe, efficient, and greener way of moving around our region.”
Tap in to Win closes March 31, 2022 at 11:59pm. View full contest rules and regulations, along with the March, 2022 prizes on the campaign website.
This month Miss604 is proud to sponsor Workout for Women’s Day (March 1-8), the Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre Herstory in Focus Gala (March 10), Spring Break at Burnaby Village Museum (March 15-25) and the and Portobello West Spring Market (March 19-20). Find these activities and more March events happening around Metro Vancouver listed below:
Global Pandemic,by fine art photographer Michelle Leone Huisman, is a statement on two pandemics we are currently facing: COVID-19 and a second more insidious accumulation of waste produced in response. It will be on display at the Dal Schindell Gallery this month.
Michelle Leone Huisman – Global Pandemic Art Exhibition
When: March 2 to April 10, 2022
Where: Dal Schindell Gallery(5800 University Blvd, Vancouver)
Admission: There is no charge to attend the exhibition
In the fall of 2020, the world used 129 billion disposable plastic masks every month, or three million masks per minute (source: World Economic Forum).Pairing the darker side of these two pandemics with playful childhood themes, Global Pandemic hopes to illuminate the collective consciousness that links the health of our planet with thewell-beingof our children, while remembering the folklore produced in previous times of societal distress.
“Over the past year, I have (safely) collected only some of the masks that I have seen on the streets and sidewalks. They are everywhere! Some are probably ones that people have lost, though I suspect many of them are ones that people have just thrown into the street. While discovering more children’s masks on the streets and sidewalks in the spring of 2021, inspiration struck. I found myself contemplating the hopeful, the playful, and rejuvenating side of springtime contrasting against the scourge of this pandemic waste – discarded children’s masks nestled amongst a patch of daisies, a bunch of buttercups, a bed of grass.” – Michelle Leone Huisman
Michelle Leone Huisman is a fine art photographer, mother of two, and community advocate. She is a graduate of Ryerson University Bachelor of Photo Arts (Stills) with honours (1995/96), and Emily Carr University of Art + Design Photographic Arts (2009-2010). After graduating from Ryerson she traveled to Nepal, Laos, Thailand , and all over Europe. These travels helped shape her artistic vision and added to her drive to support her community. In 2021 Michelle toured her photographic exhibition An Unexpected Collection, featuringphotographs of wooden spoons broken during the banging of pots for the 7PM cheer for first responders.
The photographs of Global Pandemic (and An Unexpected Collection) are printed using a 19th Century technique called tri-colour bichromate gum over palladium. This process produces work that will stand the test of time (this technique is reputed to maintain its quality for more than 500 years). The enduring quality of the print ensures they can be passed down to generations to come. The paper is hand-brushed with a specific chemistry of palladium and ferric oxalate and set to dry in low light conditions. Fixing the negative to the dried substrate, it is then exposed with the image to UV light in a burner. The metal-halide screen exposure system vacuums the print and negative together to create a very close contact during exposure that is important for highly detailed artwork. The paper is then put into three different stop baths of at least ten minutes each. This hand-painted application process is then repeated for each pigment layer over the palladium (yellow, magenta, then cyan) and can be repeated a virtually unlimited number of times to create the desired effect. No two images are alike despite starting with the same negative. Each one-of-a-kind image can take up to five days or more to process.
An Artist Reception will take place on March 3rd at 6:00pm and an Artist Talk on April 7th at 6:00pm.
If you follow me on Twitter or Instagram you’ll see how excited I have been to experience the Winter Arts Hub in front of the art gallery. This is a part of Winter Arts Fest (presented by the Vancouver Mural Festival) and it features several AR art installations all around Downtown Vancouver, along with the free entertainment and performances at the hub – and it ends on Sunday! I love that there is so much to do around the city right now, with even more on the horizon. For now, you can find this and many more things to do around Metro Vancouver this weekend listed below:
