Food blogger Emily Wight will be at the McGill library branch on Tuesday, Sept. 15 from 7 to 8 p.m. to talk about eating well on a restricted budget.
The event, Well Fed, Flat Broke, is named after her blog, which has been going strong for six years.
Wight’s blog is all about eating well without breaking the bank by eating whole foods in season, and avoiding expensive ingredients. To register for her workshop, call 604-299-8955. McGill is at 4595 Albert St.
HELP FINDING JOBS
The Burnaby Association for Community Inclusion has teamed up with B.C. Partners in Workforce Innovation for a pilot program that will help people with developmental disabilities find work.
The program started in June. It’s a partnership between government, businesses and some social service organizations like BACI, the Neil Squire Society and the Open Door Group and posAbilities.
The four groups have contracted a recruitment specialist to help people with disabilities, developmental or otherwise, find jobs with the participating businesses.
The workplaces include the Century Plaza Hotel, some London Drugs locations, Seaspan, the B.C. Construction Association, Absolute Spa, the Canucks Autism Network and more.
“The idea is to have a recruitment specialist working with them, closely, and understanding what’s available in terms of human resource possibilities, and for us in the sector to refer people to that recruitment specialist and hopefully place people with disabilities with these opportunities,” said Richard Faucher, executive director with BACI.
Faucher said people with job placements can get some support on the job, but the idea is to also help the employer build capacity to support the people with physical or developmental disabilities.
“It’s all about diversity. It’s a long-term commitment, and the other part is there’s a shortage in the workforce, so we think we have talent pool of folks that are ready to go,” he said.
So far places only a few people have been placed through BACI, but Faucher is hoping for a more as it’s a three year pilot project. The Ministry of Social Development and Social Innovation is funding the project.
NEIGHBOURHOOD GARDEN TOUR
The Heights Neighbourhood Association and Heights Garden Society are teaming up for their annual garden tour set for Sunday, Sept. 13. The self-guided Harvesting the Heights walking tour allows people to glean inspiration from other green thumbs while meeting their neighbours.
To join, pick up a map (by donation) on the first stop, at the Heights Community Garden, 3897 Pender St. The tour takes about two hours, or 1.5 hours if you’re cycling.
If you prefer doing the tour by bus, there will be one departing from the Heights Community Garden at 10 a.m., courtesy of Seton Villa, a nearby seniors’ complex. The tour includes food gardens, ornamental plots, a yarn bombing project at Seton Villa, a honey bee harvesting demo, and a koi pond with a feeding demonstration.
The tour wraps up with cookies and mingling at the final stop, from 12:30 p.m. onwards.
READING AWARDS
The summer reading awards ceremony for the Burnaby Public Library takes place this Saturday. The awards are an annual tradition where kids are publicly recognized for their summer reading efforts.
The event, which includes a pancake breakfast, runs from 8:30 to 11 a.m. There will be activities for kids from 9 to 10:45 a.m., and the medal ceremony is at 11 a.m.
The library is expecting 1,500 people, kids and parents, and there are about 830 medals to hand out.
CORRECTION
In the Aug. 26 issue of the NOW, in the Westcoast Seniors section, I listed the title of the book we featured incorrectly. It is called Aging Safely in Your Home, not “the home,” as I wrote. Apologies for the error.
