Vancouver Whitecaps FC announced today that they have made a significant contribution to its partners at Hope and Health and Kw’umut Lelum Child and Family Services to install the first two soccer pitches in a series of mini-pitches across Indigenous communities. The first two pitches will be built in partnership with the Penelakut Tribe and Snuneymuxw First Nation.
Two Soccer Mini-Pitches for Indigenous Communities
“Two of the biggest priorities at our club are to build stronger communities and grow the game across Canada,” said Axel Schuster, Whitecaps FC sporting director and chief executive officer. “For many years, participating in the annual Hope and Health community camps has been a very rewarding experience for our players and staff. With these new Mini-Pitches and our ongoing partnership with Hope and Health, we are very excited to continue supporting the development of Indigenous youth.”
The pitches will provide innovative, high quality and inspiring play environments to engage Indigenous children and youth in the beautiful game. At the same time, they will help develop soccer skills, along with activating a 5V5 Champions League across nations.
“2021 marks Hope and Health’s ten-year anniversary delivering our highly popular annual community camps and H3 community based multi-week programming in partnership with Whitecaps FC and multiple Indigenous communities,” said Deana Gill, Hope and Health executive director. “We’re very grateful to the Whitecaps for their commitment and significant financial contribution to this project and are very excited about this new league and mini-pitches. This offers the youth such an inspirational space to play within their own territory, and the high touch style of 5V5 will surely accelerate their technical development and above all us, levels up the fun factor.”
The first community of focus is Penelakut Tribe, a remote Indigenous community situated on Penelakut Island, accessible by ferry from Vancouver Island. The pitch will be ready for play on September 13, 2021.
It’s the return of the rain and almost the return to school but first, we have one more sunshine-filled weekend in August to enjoy! There’s a concert series on the farm in Abbotsford, a food and arts festival in North Van, a celebration of Indigenous youth with some epic local and national performers, and sunflower festivals in the valley. Find these events and more things to do in Vancouver this weekend listed below:
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by Rebecca BollwittDisclosure: Unpaid, Personal Opinion — Miss604 is an ambassador of the SPUD's Back to School Bundles Program Please review the Policy & Disclosure section for further information.
SPUD, Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley’s local, sustainable, organic grocery delivery service, is partnering with the Fuel Up School Lunch Program to support vulnerable families, provide healthy meals, and ensure that no child goes hungry.
Fuel Up School Lunch Program
Did you know that 1 in 6 Canadian children under the age of 18 are affected by household food insecurity? Canada has over one million kids that need help to fight off hunger—and you can make a difference.
The Fuel Up School Lunch Program prepares fresh lunches for elementary and middle schools in the New Westminster and Abbotsford School Districts, along with select institutions in Burnaby, Vancouver, and West Vancouver. Their programs support vulnerable children in schools so that they too receive hot lunch, subsidized without classmates noticing. This school lunch program launched in 2019 to achieve an important goal: to ensure that no child is hungry, and every child eats healthy.
They’ve created a fresh meal delivery solution that offers more people healthy, tasty, and warm food that is good quality, yet affordable—an essential necessity, especially during COVID-19.
So far, the program has served 60,000+ hot lunches and 35,000+ subsidized meals!
How the Program Works
A portion from each meal ordered supports a subsidy for a child who otherwise might not have a lunch to eat. School districts have the option to implement a subsidy program, offering partial or full coverage for student meal costs. These meals are individually packaged and are made in-house, fresh from scratch. Subsidized and unsubsidized meals are made and packaged the exact same to reduce any stigmatization that may happen.
How You Can help Fight Food Insecurity
Here are a few ways to show your support through SPUD:
Snacks with a long shelf life: granola bars, chips, popcorn, baked goods, crackers
Canned food
Dried Food
Soy beverage products (that can be stored in room temperature)
Donate to the Fuel Up School Lunch Program through one of SPUD’s donation buttons
For Miss604 Readers/Followers
Not a SPUD customer? Check out with promo code MISS604 and you’ll get $15 off your first order when you spend $50 or more. Already a SPUD customer? Use the same code for $5 off your next order over $50. Valid for all locations, August, 2021.
Portland Pet Food Company (“PPFC”) is expanding their food and treats to the Canadian market this summer. Founder Katie McCarron was born in BC, and started up her business when her older dog lost her appetite. McCarron is excited to offer the food and treats on her home “turf” and has partnered with BC-based non-profit Thank Dog I Am Out, donating a percentage of upcoming Canadian sales to the organization as they help local dogs misplaced due to wildfires.
Portland Pet Food Company Founder Katie McCarron
Portland Pet Food Company
In 2014, Rosie, Katie’s 14-year-old Poodle, lost her appetite and her health declined. Determined to find something healthy that Rosie would love, Katie began cooking meals for her at home. She used locally-sourced, natural ingredients, and Rosie loved it. She regained her appetite and stayed strong for two and a half more years, living to 16 ½ years old. Just like that, Portland Pet Food Company was born.
Today, PPFC helps dogs thrive with the same nutritious meals and treats that were formulated in McCarron’s kitchen years ago, with the same focus on fresh, local ingredients and sustainability.
Portland Pet Food is fresh, human-grade, never-frozen and made with ingredients sourced from farms across North America. Although it is especially popular with older dogs, those of all ages love the mixers, toppers and treats. The farm-to-bowl food options come in shelf-stable pouches that are easy to serve and take along with you wherever you and your pup may go.
PPFC’s hard-working team of bakers and staff work to ensure dogs around the world can enjoy premium, nutritious meals and treats.
Thank DOG I am Out President Susan Susan Patterson (Wings of Rescue 2017)
For their launch in Canada, PPFC is donating 5% of net profits from sales of the whole Pet Valu/Tisol family of stores from September through December to Thank DOG I Am Out Rescue Society. This registered non-profit society based in Vancouver is dedicated to the rescue and re-homing of dogs who are at risk of being euthanized, surrendered, abused, or neglected.
Enter to Win
I have a prize pack filled with Portland Pet Food Company and Thank DOG I Am Out swag to give away, valued at $380) that includes:
Food and treat prize pack from Portland Pet Food Company
Gift card to the winner’s favourite BC dog-friendly patio ($120)
Click & paste the text below on Twitter for a bonus entry
[clickToTweet tweet=”RT to enter to win @PortlandPetFood @thankdogiamout prize package (value $380) http://ow.ly/Qisq50FYVLi” quote=” Click to enter via Twitter” theme=”style6″]
I will draw one winner at random from all entries at 9:00pm on Thursday, September 2, 2021. UPDATE the winner is Jen!
The artist who painted a giant 42-foot tall mural in Downtown Vancouver will be selling a limited edition print of her work this weekend – for one day only – in support of YWCA Metro Vancouver. Ola Volo’s Wall for Women, was unveiled back in March at the corner of Burrard and Melville and has become synonymous with women’s rights, the fight against domestic abuse.
Limited Edition Ola Volo Print Supports YWCA
Due to the immense popularity of this mural and an innate desire to raise funds for women in need, Art Rapture, Ola Volo, Rethink Canada and the YWCA Metro Vancouver have joined forces to produce a high quality limited edition print for collectors around the world.
The Wall for Women was a permanent gift to the community that depicts the strength of women and shines light on the “shadow pandemic” of intimate partner violence. During the COVID-19 pandemic, domestic violence against self-identifying women has increased as much as 20-30% in parts of the country and kills a woman every six days.
“Coming onto this project, I thought a lot about what it takes to leave a domestic violence situation. It made me think of a powerful, brave queen who grants herself love and opportunities to thrive. Crown held high, she’s looking forward to the future, protecting the fragile bird companion on her shoulder, and rising above the snake that’s trying to hold her down.
I wanted the woman in this artwork to claim her confidence and her power back by taking up space. She isn’t small or fading into the background. She’s front and centre, and commands the attention she deserves – even in the busy streets of downtown Vancouver.” – Ola Volo
The “YWCA for Women” print will be available to collectors around the world via a one hour time release. The edition will be limited to the number of units sold during 60 minutes. When the 60 minute mark is reached, the number of units sold will determine the edition size. From there, they will move to production and Ola Volo will sign and number each print before shipping out to collectors. Once the edition is determined, the “YWCA for Women” artwork will never be created again as a print, and the edition size will retain integrity for all collectors.
Details of the print:
20″ x 24″
Full colour, digitally printed, signed by Ola Volo
Sales will be open for one hour only on Saturday, August 28, 2021, from 11:00am to 12:00pm
