Fred Lee’s Social Community: Journey to habit restoration celebrated at Collectively We Can gala

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CAN-DO: In 1993, a single restoration home known as Collectively We Can (TWC) opened its doorways on the Vancouver intersection of Kingsway and Moss Road and took in its first purchasers. Twenty-six years later, Collectively We Can Habit Restoration & Training Society is reportedly Canada’s premier therapy group for males battling alcohol and drug habit.

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With 27 residential therapy houses unfold throughout the province, TWC has helped over 25,000 British Columbians on their journey to restoration. With the added stress of the present overdose disaster gripping B.C. and the remainder of Canada, the demand for companies has by no means been larger.

The agency, led by government director Stacy Wilson — who’s in long-term restoration — and a tireless organizing committee whose members have all been touched in a roundabout way by habit, hosted its third annual Starry, Starry Evening Gala at Rocky Mountaineer Station. Greater than 400 visitors from public officers to business stakeholders and TWC alumni took within the charity merrymaker to assist increase consciousness about habit, dispel the stigma and help people searching for a brand new life in restoration.

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Between musical performances and a connoisseur dinner, attendees heard from people and households affected by habit. Following their tales of loss, therapeutic and hope, gala-goers opened their hearts in addition to their wallets. Mother and father Lynn and John Madigan and Ken and Joanne Mellquist led the cost with a present of $100,000. Tim McCafferty and Alanna Pollock shortly adopted with an announcement of $20,000. By night’s finish, the gala would internet $200,000 for scholarships and restoration packages, a brand new fundraising commonplace for the fledgling occasion.

The night time additionally noticed TWC champions acknowledged for his or her contributions and help. The esteemed group included Ryan Beedie, Jacquie Cohen, Brandt Louie, Manny Padda, Bob Rennie, Peter Legge and Tamara Vrooman.

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“I wish to thank everybody right here tonight for getting behind our motion and becoming a member of in our trigger,” mentioned Wilson. “Habit is just not a morality subject. Habit is a illness that I’ve personally seen untold numbers of individuals get better from, myself included.

“Collectively we will rebuild lives, heal households and strengthen communities.”

Moist your Whistler

FOOD AND DRINK FOR ALL: Cornucopia, Whistler’s every little thing food and drinks competition initially conceived to fill resort rooms through the fall shoulder season, continues to attract locals and guests up the Sea-to-Sky Freeway for the 11-day epicurean competition. Not your typical culinary celebration, this yr’s calendar of must-attend occasions was some of the various in current reminiscence. Everybody’s welcome was the theme behind this yr’s programming.

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With a reported 115 occasions on supply, this system actually mirrored this yr’s inclusive theme. Occasions ranged from the tried and true — corresponding to Crush, the competition’s flagship tasting and Poured Grand Tasting, the all-encompassing drink occasion — to the avant-garde, like pairing wine with junk meals and Sashay Fillet, the competition’s latest pilot described as RuPaul’s Drag Race meets Prime Chef Canada. All the time a celebration with a trigger, this yr’s charity recipient was the Whistler Public Library.

As common, competition dinners have been de rigueur of Cornucopia, and there was no scarcity of scrumptious menus to fulfill one’s palette and finances. From Fairmont Chateau Whistler’s Indigenous World Wine Dinner to Whistler Brewing and Black’s Pub’s Brew ‘n’ Bites and Araxi’s Tinhorn Creek Winemaker Dinner, all seats to those intimate meals have been shortly snapped up.

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Well-known for its lavish and generally outlandish competition events, this yr’s crimson carpet providing didn’t disappoint. The Andy Warhol-themed Manufacturing facility Occasion on the Audain Artwork Museum drew 350 revellers wearing interval ensembles of the popular culture period able to eat, drink and dance the night time away. Led by gallery government director Curtis Collins, the museum was reworked into an ephemeral area impressed by the enduring Warhol Manufacturing facility the place visitors imbibed on wine, beer and spirits and attractive canapes ready by acclaimed caterer The Lazy Connoisseur. DJs Gianz, Mat the Alien and Vinyl Richie had partygoers celebrating nicely previous midnight.

Cornucopia’s twenty third version would conclude with the ninth Bearfoot Bistro World Oyster Invitational competitors. Infamous occasion convener Andre Saint Jacques invited 20 of the perfect oyster shuckers from around the globe — Denmark, Germany, Eire, Japan, United States and Canada — to take part within the annual throwdown, which moved from the confines of his Barefoot Bistro Restaurant to the a lot bigger Whistler Conference Centre to accommodate the bigger crowds.

Competing for a winner’s purse of $5,000, Vancouver’s Mike Osborne of Harbour Oyster & Bar earned the winner’s trophy after shucking 30 oysters of varied sorts within the quickest time. A whole bunch took within the closing soiree, with internet proceeds going the Whistler Blackcomb Basis to help upgrades to the Whistler Well being Care Centre.

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