SHARE TRUCK
John Abou-Samra (in yellow) made a large donation of rice, granola bars and 361 cartons of fresh eggs for Share’s new food bank truck — bought by Walmart Canada, Food Banks Canada, the provincial government, the Royal Canadian Legion and Wesbild.
BIZ ALUMNI
Successful alumni from the Douglas College Self-Employment Program were congratulated by the college at an awards gala last month. Among the winners was Aristotel Dascal of Vinebyte Technologies in Port Moody.
HELPING HANDS AT ARMS
The Arms Pub in Port Coquitlam handed over proceeds from their 50/50 draws since December to Crossroads Hospice Society last month. The pub also gives the charity cash from its football pool.
JAIL BAIT
City councillors, police officers and business officials were thrown in the slammer at Coquitlam Centre mall Tuesday, raising $30,000 from their associates for “bail” for the annual Tour de Coast ride.
ARTIST GRANT
Place des Arts’ Casey McCarthy (left) and Joan McCauley (right) thanked Nicole Eich of Westminster Savings for the credit union’s $7,430 grant for its artist-in-residence program. “We are excited to once again be partnering with Westminster Savings to offer our artist-in-residence program to local school children,” McCauley said, in a news release. “Their generous support allows us to continue to offer free, quality arts programming which advances our goal of increasing accessibility to the arts.”
FLAMES OUT
A Vancouver firefighter from Port Moody has been fired from a reality TV food cooking competition. Michael Varga was the fourth home cook eliminated by MasterChef Canada judges Michael Bonacini, Claudio Aprile and Alvin Leung in the Season 5 episode. Varga was featured last month in The Tri-City News.
TOP BUILDERS
Three Tri-City builders nailed Ovation Awards at the 9th annual Greater Vancouver Home Builders’ Association (GVHVA) gala in Vancouver last month.
Troico Home Solutions Inc. of Coquitlam won two awards: Best Kitchen Renovation Under $75,000 for Contemporary Cool and Best Bathroom Renovation: Under $35,000 for Kanaka Creek Bliss. Jedan Brothers Contracting of Coquitlam took an accolade for Best Kitchen and Greatroom Renovation for Oneida. And Christophe Vaissade Designs of Port Coquitlam scooped two prizes with Forge Properties Inc. (White Rock) for Best Room New Construction for The Boardwalk Theatre and Best Special Feature: New or Renovated for The Comic Vault. “The Ovation Awards showcase a wide variety of homes and outstanding craftsmanship of Metro Vancouver’s residential construction industry. It is a symbol we are very proud to represent, which helps connect homeowners with award-winning professionals,” said GVHVA CEO Bob de Wit, in a news release.
Please send Spotlight press releases and photos to jcleugh@tricitynews.com.
