"Keeping Connected offers bus trips and supported walking groups, as well as exercise classes, discussion sessions and just plain socializing - there are opportunities for seniors of all abilities to remain involved in their community, stay connected to others and to life." Joni Vajda, June, 2012
"WOULD you like to write about some good news for a change?" was the opening salvo from Joni Vajda, outreach and fitness co-ordinator at West Vancouver Seniors' Centre when she called me last month.
Now hold on a minute. For a columnist weaned on the BBC comedy of Joan Harben's depressed laundry-woman, Mona Lott - "it's bein' so cheerful as keeps me going" - Vajda's upbeat question demanded a cautious approach.
But good news it was, for seniors and seniors-in-waiting alike.
"We've just heard the graduating class at West Vancouver Secondary School has chosen our Keeping Connected program as one of the projects they'd like to support with some funds," Vajda explained.
In fact, it turned out, the seniors' outreach program was just one of two worthy charitable causes the young philanthropists have given to. Vajda's tip, and a little curiosity, helped uncover the story behind both.
Regardless of fitness level, age or cognitive ability, the centre's Keeping Connected program enhances the lives of about 200 West Vancouver seniors where it counts the most: maintaining their social involvement in the community many of them have called home for a lifetime.
One participant, the gregarious, soon-to-be-98year old Thomas Harrison, attested to its benefits: "I joined about three years ago," he told me recently. "If it were not for the program, it would be difficult to get out and about as much as I do."
Despite being legally blind, this former viceprincipal of North Vancouver High School - who also taught at Delbrook and Carson Graham - joins friends on outings, belongs to the Men's Club and participates in the Meet and Munch group to discuss current events.
So current was Harrison, he had no hesitation saying that, although he could see there might be some benefits to the Enbridge pipeline proposal, "It would have to be done right if we want to avoid environmental damage; they don't have a good record."
After learning about the grad committee's work, Harrison quoted former colleague, Jimmy Inkster, who had remarked: "Of all the students we teach, most of them are fine people; but we only hear about the four per cent who cause trouble."
"I'm glad to hear you're writing about the good ones," was the accolade Harrison bestowed as he was called away to dinner.
With the memory of Harrison's enthusiasm in my back pocket, and with Vajda as intrigued as I was, the coordinator and I met with grad committee students Tiffany Lee and Jessi Bak to hear more about how the idea had been born.
Fresh from their graduation ceremonies but still unsure about their career plans, the two will be entering post-secondary courses in the sciences - Lee at Queen's University and Bak at Dalhousie.
Before leaving, they and 10 other students on the committee decided that "although this was one of the toughest years of schooling to experience, we would work very hard to make it memorable in every way," Bak explained.
That meant working on fundraising events like boat cruises and selling grad-wear.
Their dedication netted a total of $10,000 - which included an impressive contribution of $4,500 from ticket-sales for the dry grad event.
Some of the money will offset the cost of a school mascot. Of the remainder, $2,000 will go to Keeping Connected, and $3,000 to another cause that appeared entirely unrelated: the West Vancouver-based HEAL Canada Society, to support one of its educational and healthcare initiatives in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The decision by graduating students to leave a mascot behind as a parting gift was easy to understand, but the apparent discrepancy between a seniors' program in British Columbia and humanitarian work in a poverty-stricken African community made me curious enough to learn more. The divide, it turns out, is not as great as one might suppose. Contacted for her reaction to the $3,000 donation, HEAL Canada director Deborah Woodley said the money will be used specifically to support the Tungaane Learning and Development Centre in Goma, DRC.
The centre "offers education to children during their convalescence or stay at the HEAL Africa hospital due to personal illness or illness of a caregiver," she explained.
In Swahili, Tungaane means unity, but for a child growing up in eastern Congo, the word represents opportunity and change.
"Ultimately," Woodley said, "it means hope for those children and their families." So where is the connection between extremely vulnerable African children and seniors living in West Vancouver?
The clue can be found amid the HEAL Canada information: "Maybe because our senses have been heightened during our visits to the war-torn area, we become more aware of the poverty, vulnerability and marginalization that exists within our own communities."
And therein lies the moral of this tale.
HEAL has realized the importance of directing charitable efforts to both local and global causes. It is a principle that shaped the hard - and compassionate - work of more than just a few of Harrison's "good ones."
The idea will not be lost on those of us who, seniors or otherwise, are grateful for their efforts.
