Orangutan researcher Birute Galdikas will be at Simon Fraser University next week for a free screening of Born to be Wild, a documentary about orphaned oran-gutans and elephants.
The event is on Thursday, Nov. 8 in SFU's IRMACS Centre in the applied sciences building.
Galdikas, a well-known primatologist, is a professor in SFU's archaeology department and president of Orangutan Foundation International.
Janie Dubman and members of Orangutan Foundation International are organizing the event. Dubman was featured in the NOW last December for her work saving orphaned orangutans. Doors open at 6 p.m., and the family-friendly film starts at 6: 30 p.m. Admission is free.
Invasive species
The City of Burnaby and a local MP need some help cleaning up Eagle Creek Ravine Park this Saturday. Kennedy Stewart, MP for Burnaby Douglas, and the city are organizing the event for Saturday, Nov. 3, starting at 9: 45 a.m. Volunteers will remove English ivy, an invasive species that can choke native plants.
Participants can meet in Charles Rummel Park, and the event goes on rain or shine.
Help homeless
The Burnaby Teachers' Association is collecting items for the homeless this winter. The association is looking for socks, toques, gloves, scarves, cash donations and toiletries as part of its annual "Sock it to Poverty" campaign. The items go to the Burnaby Task Force on Homelessness. Donations can be dropped off at any Burnaby school, adult education centre or at the Burnaby Teachers' Association office at #115, 3993 Henning Dr., from 8: 30 a.m. to 4: 30 p.m.
Help for children
Parents interested in the provincial government's supported child development program should consider attending an information meeting next Thursday. The session will feature representatives from the Ministry of Children and Family Development and the Vancouver and Burnaby supported child development programs. The free program helps families with kids, up to 19 years old, who may need extra care because of a disability or disorder. It is paid for by the Ministry of Children and Family Development, but contracted out to local groups to deliver, and in Burnaby, the B.C. Centre For Ability runs the program. The information session is on Thursday, Nov. 8 at the Burnaby Association for Community Living, at 2702 Norland Ave., from 5: 30 to 7: 30 p.m. Email [email protected] to attend. Child care will be provided.
The meeting is in response to a ministry review of the program started in November 2010. Burnaby mom Wendy Seet was an instrumental figure in pushing the ministry to review the program.
She was advocating for daycare support for her young daughter with Down syndrome and complaining of long wait-lists.
