Burnaby is turning 125 years old on Sept. 22 and everyone’s invited to participate in the festivities this weekend.
City staff are hosting family-friendly parties at facilities throughout the community, including Bonsor, Confederation, Edmonds, Kensington, Willingdon, Cameron, Burnaby Village Museum and Eileen Dailly.
There will be a dance with a DJ, an outdoor barbecue, live entertainment, face painting, crafts, games, birthday cake and more.
To mark the milestone, the city is offering drop-in activities for $1.25 from Sept. 22 to 24 – everything from yoga and swimming to skating and fitness classes.
For the full schedule, visit tinyurl.com/BBY125.
Gone to Ghana
Two Burnaby residents recently returned from Ghana.
Robert Edwards and Cindy Cook were in Africa from Sept. 8 to 18 as World Vision volunteers, discovering the impact of World Vision programs first-hand.
The group visited projects in Jirapa and West Gonja, where the got to know some of the local children who are in need of sponsors.
“Volunteers are essential to World Vision, as they are to community groups, hospitals, shelters, churches, and other not-for-profit organizations,” reads a press release. “They teach, they lead, they support, they sacrifice, they inspire … and they make it possible for entire sectors, like international development, to thrive.”
World Vision started working in Ghana in 1979. The organization’s goal for 2021 is to be contributing to “the sustained well-being of 4.5 million vulnerable children, their families and communities.”
Prostate awareness
The City of Burnaby has proclaimed this September as Prostate Cancer Awareness Month.
The proclamation was made during the Sept. 11 council meeting. Mayor Derek Corrigan urged men 50 years and older to get checked out.
“I know it’s an unpleasant thing to go through, and I know most men aren’t very attentive to looking after that issue, but I want to urge everyone it’s so curable if it’s found early, but it can be so deadly if you don’t catch it.”
One in seven Canadian men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime, according to Prostate Cancer Canada. This year alone, 21,300 men will be given the diagnosis and 4,100 will die.
The death rate has been declining significantly by an average of 3.3 per cent per year since 2001, largely because of improved testing and better treatment options.
