Vancouver Communauté Nouvelles

Last week I took a press trip. Not just any press trip, but a daytime visit to Victoria General Hospital (VGH) on Vancouver Island, B.C., to witness the unveiling of its volunteer baby cuddling program, designed in partnership with Huggies.

At Maplewood Conservation Area, the goldfinches fly and rest and flicker about their daily rounds, undeterred by the driving rain, oblivious to observation. Inside Corrigan Nature House, separated from the birds and rain by a sheet of glass, naturalist Kevin Bell recalls the dawn of his interest in the wild world.

SURREY — The city’s business community will celebrate Surrey’s “Top 25 Under 25” during an awards reception on Thursday, April 20. The seventh annual event celebrates “the incredible initiatives of Surrey’s youth 25 years old or younger.”

Homelessness in White Rock/Delta has increased by 142 per cent over the past three years, according to findings from the 2017 Metro Vancouver Homeless Count. The homeless count – which lumped White Rock and Delta numbers together – reported that there are 46 homeless people living in White Rock/Delta, a jump from 19 people noted in the 2014 homeless count.

“I was blindsided,” Owen said. “He had three lovely girls. He was about 40 and we had grown up together.” Owen, who ended up raising one of her friend’s three daughters, reached out to volunteer with the Vancouver Island Crisis Society, a Nanaimo-based non-profit organization that has been operating a 24-hour crisis help phone line for decades.

Victoria General Hospital wants to make sure its babies get plenty of hugs. The hospital has launched a program where volunteers will hold, rock, hug and sing to babies in the neonatal intensive care unit and the prenatal intensive care unit when their parents can't be there. Sarah Byam is one of the specially trained volunteers in the program.