Author Archive
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10 Years and Counting
Can you believe it has already been 10 years since we started our donations bins initiative? In the past 10 years, we have expanded throughout the Lower Mainland with over 300 donation bins. For those who are unfamiliar with our white donation bins, these are our life lines. All clothing and donations collected through these bins are sold to our partner Value Village, and 100% of funds receive benefit our clients and families with the 50 programs and services we provide.
We can’t wait to commemorate our bin hosts, especially those who have been with us for the past 10 years! At DDA, we have a lot to be grateful for. Just like those MC Hammer Pants or the big permed hair, it’s always fun going down memory lane to reminisce the good old times. Take a stroll in our gallery and see how our donation bins have evolved over the years.
For a list of our donation bins across the Lower Mainland and how to donate to us, please visit our website here.
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Playhouse and Mickey Mouse!
By Zahra Parbatani
Playhouse Child Development had a fun filled picnic with past and present families in attendance. It was heart-warming to see kids who previously attended the center come and laugh, eat and chat with us. The weather was spectacular and we had blankets set up outside and the teachers created a party setting with balloons, streamers and bingo dabber tablecloths. We also had a misty sprinkler set up to cool us off from some of the spicy and yummy food.
The kids really enjoyed a surprise visit from Mickey Mouse!! She entertained the kids with balloons of various shapes and colors and she also did face painting with sparkly designs. One of our parents and a co-workers spouse did a terrific job with the BBQ and kept everyone coming for more buns and burgers.
We also had a visit from George Stitch who came on behalf of United Commercial Travelers. We are fortunate to be one of many recipients’ to receive some funds from this terrific organization. He enjoyed talking with the families and meeting the teachers.
We were so happy with the energy and excitement that happened this evening that we cannot stop talking about it!! We hope to jazz it even more next time.
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Sneak Peak of our new Donation Trucks
It’s been a few months in the making, and we’re excited to see the finish line!!
Here’s a sneak peak of our new donation trucks. Don’t forget to honk and wave when you see us on the road.
Enjoy!
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Congratulations to Sky Blue!
Each year, DDA awards a graduate from Point Grey Secondary School with the James Karliner Developmental Disabilities Award. The award is to honour the service of Ronda Karliner to the special needs community in Vancouver and Richmond and named after her son, James Karliner who was a student at Point Grey Secondary’s Lifeskills program.
I was honoured to present this year’s award to Sky Blue at her classroom graduation. Throughout her years at Point Grey, Sky demonstrated courage to overcome obstacles and shown strength of character. She was extremely excited to have won this award and look forward to use her grant towards theTLC Summer Program, a camp in which she was saving up for!
On behalf of DDA, we wish Sky the best of luck with her future endeavours and look forward to seeing her continue inspiring young adults with her admirable strength and determination to overcome challenges.
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Celebrate Earth Day on April 22nd
April 22nd marks the 21st annual Earth Day in Canada, the largest celebrated environmental event in the world. Nearly 6 million Canadians will be taking part in Earth Day with environmental conscious efforts to reduce, reuse, and recycle.
Since the environmental momvement in 1970 in the US, this historical event inspired the US Congress to pass clean air and water acts, and establish the Environmental Protection Agency to research and monitor environmental issues and enforce environmental laws. Canada joined the efforts in 1990 by recognizing this special day and as a result, inspired cities across Canada to host public events to promote including Victoria’s Earth Walk which attracts 5,000 participants each year, Edmonton’s Earth Day Festival at Hawrelak Park with 30,000 participants in attendance, and Oakville, Ontario’s Waterways Clean-up with 2,000 participants to the thousands of small, private events staged by schools, employee groups and community groups.
GET INVOLVED! Here are a few ideas you can incorporate in the workplace or at home:
1) Host a Clothing or Bottle Bin at your work! Encourage your colleagues to donate unwanted clothing, housewares and empty bottles. Kick it up a notch and run a contest amongst departments to see who can come up with the most donations! To host a bin, visit our website.
2) Rally up your friends and call your community’s parks board to clean up a site.
3) Attend or volunteer at one of the community events in your city. For event listings, please visit here.
4) Of course, we can’t forget the three golden (or should we say green) ”R”s: recycle, reuse, reduce
Earth Day is a reminder for us to preserve and respect the nature of our surroundings for our future by incorporating daily environmental practices in our lifestyles. An average person uses 650lbs of paper each year. By printing on double sided paper, and using the back for scrap paper, you can reduce your consumption by 325 lbs! If everyone in the city practices this, we would be saving 18,202.5 trees per year! Just a small change in your life can make a big difference.
Visit here for more information on Earth Day and what you can do to help!
Links & Resources
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