Project Hope celebrates first birthday
Shannon Jones has gone from crying all the way down the highway from Chilliwack to Hope when the family first moved here, to loving her adopted town.
“I love everything about it. I love the feeling, I love how the community comes together. The amount of volunteers in this community amazes me,” she said.
On March 1, she celebrated a year since the launch of Project Hope, a community organization started to bridge the gap between the children and youth in town and the opportunities available to them.
When Jones moved to Hope, she was having trouble finding information about things for her children to do. Getting the events to happen was the second challenge, as they would often be canceled due to low attendance.
“We wanted to kind of close the gap on that and bring everyone to one spot, which is why we started our Facebook page,” she said. The page not only broadcasts activities for everyone from babies to 18-year-olds, but also important information for parents such as school closures, school fundraisers and PAC meetings.
Over the summer, Jones organized tours of family-friendly spaces around Hope. She also hid pumpkins around town each week leading up to the Pumpkin Smash race and derby, and brought 200 more pumpkins to the event.
A ladies night at the Blue Moose Coffee House last Thursday raised $1,974 for the River Monsters Swim Club, a fitting way to wrap up the first year of Project Hope. The first Project Hope fundraiser was for the River Monsters swim meet in June 2017.
Jones said she hopes to run the ladies night, the first well-attended by 77 people, as a monthly event benefitting a different charity each time.
Another chance to play with Lego
The toy that makes you curse out loud when you accidentally step on it is making an appearance in Hope.
Lego, the brightly coloured building blocks that have never gone out of style for generations of kids and kids at heart, will be showcased at the second annual Lego Expo Saturday.
Held at Silver Creek Elementary School from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., kids and kids-at-heart get to experience the world of Lego with professionals from the Vancouver Lego Club.
Entering the room, visitors will see what a whole town made of Lego looks like, complete with skyscrapers, city streets, trees, flowers and a train running through it. The level of detail is impressive, organizer Shirley Corbeil says.
“There’s a whole bakery. There’s a whole jewelry store fully stocked with little jewelry, and the bakery is actually working. The lights in the little ovens come on,” she said.
Rambo also will be making an appearance in the Lego town, and bulk Lego is being brought in for those who get inspired to construct their own designs.
In addition to being a ton of fun, Corbeil said proceeds from the by-donation admission and a raffle will go to building a playground at the school.
The Silver Creek Elementary parent advisory committee heading up the playground project is $28,881 shy of its $120,000 goal to pay for and install a community playground at the school.
Female comics head to Hope
All genders are invited to a comedy show at the Silver Chalice Pub in Hope Friday, featuring a lineup of female comics headlined by Jane Stanton.
“Watching Jane Stanton on stage is like having a late-night conversation with your best friend, if your best friend is one of the funniest people you know,” organizer Yo Trieu wrote. “In her short time performing comedy, Jane has toured across Canada, won Vancouver’s funniest new female comic 2006 and has been featured on CBC Radio 1, XFM and the Can West Comedy Festival.”
The show will be hosted by writer, comedian and publicist Nic Enright-Morin.
Helena Paul, Angelica Senger and Oli Maughan will perform.
“We had one in September. It was packed, mostly ladies,” Trieu said. “Men are definitely allowed to come. They are welcome.”
