Each week at Global BC, we highlight our stories to bring a bright spot to your Friday and into the weekend.
Happy Holidays to everyone from Global BC!
Here are the five stories we wanted to share:
Early Christmas luncheon at Surrey Urban Mission spreads ‘holiday cheer’
Hundreds of people attended a Christmas luncheon at the Surrey Urban Mission in Whalley, B.C., on Tuesday — the first of what the shelter hopes will become an annual tradition and the inspiration for other similar gatherings.
Jack O’Halloran, CEO of the charity, said the team already has plans for a summer barbecue, with the need for food and shelter continuing to rise in the Metro Vancouver city.
B.C. farm’s ‘Ugly Potato Day’ feeds thousands as police called for traffic control
For more than 100 years, the Heppell family has been growing food on their Surrey, B.C., farm.
For the past 13 years, they have been hosting Ugly Potato Day for anyone who wants to come down and receive a few potatoes and squash that they cannot sell to the stores.
“An ugly potato can be defined as a potato that doesn’t meet the cosmetic standards of the stores or it has really different sizing,” farmer Tyler Heppell told Global News.
“Maybe it’s way too large or way too small, and we build up a big stock of it and we can’t move it fast enough through the stores.”
University of Northern B.C. to offer bachelor’s degree in Nisga’a language
A new bachelor of arts degree in Nisga’a language fluency will be offered starting next September at the University of Northern British Columbia.
A statement from the university says the four-year undergraduate degree is the first of its kind in northern B.C. and will give students an immersive education with about 70 per cent of the courses having a Nisga’a component.
The Nisga’a people, who live in the Nass Valley in the northwestern part of the province, were the first to sign a modern treaty in B.C. in a landmark agreement that came into effect in May 2000.
‘Wonderful feeling’: Beloved Filipino Christmas Market held in Vancouver
The much-anticipated Filipino Christmas market was busy with community members on Saturday.
It was held at St. Patrick’s Church on Main Street in Vancouver.
“Maligayang Pasko Vancouver, that is the name of this flagship project that we do every Christmas since we started in 2019,” said Arlene Magno, the Philippine consul general for Vancouver. “We are sharing how Filipinos celebrate Christmas in the Philippines, and we do it through our vendors, through caroling, and paról making. Paról are our Christmas lanterns.”
New surgeons lead renewal of cardiac care at B.C. Children’s Hospital
The addition of multiple new surgeons is leading the renewal of the cardiac care unit treating the province’s smallest, sickest babies.
Two years ago, the cardiac surgical program at B.C. Children’s Hospital was virtually on life support, amid a bitter human resources dispute and a lack of available doctors.
But staff and patients say the program’s pulse has stabilized, and is only getting stronger.
“They saved my baby’s life, so we are forever indebted in that regard,” Leanne Epp told Global News.
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