The two-year anniversary for Connections Coffee House is approaching in September, and the non-profit, volunteer-run coffee shop appears to be growing.
Connections now has a group of 40 volunteers who take shifts working in the café.
They all get proper barista training, and I can say from personal experience, the coffee at Connections is fabulous (they use JJ Bean coffee) and ridiculously cheap (mochas for $2, for example, and slushees for $1). Connections is a very interesting case study in building community because it's so much more than a coffee shop.
Volunteers clean up garbage in the neighbourhood, they take coffee to seniors who live nearby, and they support their customers by celebrating their successes or helping them out when times are tough. People often start as customers and end up volunteering.
Local resident Brenda Mitchell came up with the idea to create a café where neighbourhood folks could gather and connect. She approached her church with the idea, and Brentwood Park Alliance agreed to financially back the project.
Sue From has been volunteering in the café since the beginning and regularly sends me updates on what they are up to.
The next event is a sidewalk sale on Aug. 10 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. The café also puts out a weekly newsletter for the surrounding community. There will be a special event for the anniversary, but the details haven't been announced yet.
For more info, go to connectionscoffee.ca. Connections Coffee House is in the Brentwood area, at 5063 Anola Dr. Chinese-Canadian sought for film Pyramid Productions is working on a documentary for OMNI television, and they are looking for a Chinese-Canadian woman with family that worked on the Canadian railroad.
Furthermore, they want a fifth-or sixth-generation Chinese-Canadian in her early 20s or 30s, who is available for filming until October.
There will be roughly 15 to 20 days of shooting, and the woman must be able to travel for some of the filming days.
Anyone who fits the bill should contact Sheila Rae, executive vice-president at Pyramid Productions, at 403-234-8566 or [email protected].
TEDxSFU on Burnaby's SFU campus is set to host a series of TEDx talks this fall, and organizers are inviting people to apply in order to attend.
That's right, you must fill in an online application form, which includes answering a number of job-interview type questions, to help reviewers determine whether you're worthy enough to be in the audience.
Applicants don't have to be connected to SFU in any way; the call is open to the general public, but according to the event's website, "ideal TEDxSFU attendees are passionate, curious, and open-minded."
TEDx is an independently organized spinoff of the popular TED Talks series, where people with "ideas worth spreading" give brief presentations on stage covering a subject of their choice, which could be anything from neuroscience to video games or the human condition.
This year's TEDxSFU series, dubbed "Make it Yours," takes place on Sept. 21 at SFU's Burnaby campus, but the audience application deadline is Aug. 16.
For more information or to apply, go to www.tedxsfu.com.
