A Special Year for Events – MERGED
The New Year has begun and 2019 was marked by some very special events we had the privilege of hosting and being part of. It started off with a snowy day in Vancouver’s historic Chinatown where The Salvation Army marched along with a group of volunteers and our 1950s Emergency Disaster Services vehicle ‘Huey’ at the Spring Festival Parade celebrating the Chinese New Year. UBC then became the host grounds for The Salvation Army’s Congress and Commissioning Weekend in June. And the year ended with the classic sounds of the Naden Band Christmas Concert in Victoria where all proceeds benefited The Salvation Army.
Here’s a look back at some of our favourite moments from 2019’s special Christmas events.
Lieutenant Governor Rings in the Start of the Kettle Campaign
Victoria hosted the 2nd Annual Hope in the City Luncheon at the Victoria Conference Hall on November 19th and keynote speaker, the Honourable Janet Austin, not only shared a great speech with the crowd but rang a kettle bell while making the first donation of the 2019 Kettle Campaign for Victoria.
The Stars Came Out
Getting the Kettle Campaign started in the Lower Mainland was the 7th Annual Celebrity Kettle Kick-Off held on a beautiful afternoon on November 28th. We were blessed to have some of our favorite personalities join us and help collect donations. The event included appearances by 94.5 Virgin Radio’s Amy Beeman, CTV News’ Scott Roberts and Mi-Jung Lee, 3x Canadian National Yo-Yo Champion Harrison Lee (who dazzled on-lookers with a wide array of his award-winning tricks). And, of course, our very own Sally Ann was there to offer hugs, high-fives, and photos with all her fans.
Arlene Dickinson Shares a Personal Story
When we first announced that star of Dragons’ Den, Arlene Dickinson, would be our keynote speaker at this year’s Hope in the City Breakfast we thought she would share some stories and tips on how to make it as a success entrepreneur, or maybe even share some fun tales from the set of the popular CBC show. What the crowd got was much more powerful. Arlene opened up about the difficult time her family had while growing up in Canada after moving from South Africa where she was born. Hearing from a self-made multi-millionaire, and one of the top female business owners in the country about the time her family had to make the tough decision to sell her mother’s family-made diamond ring in order to purchase a car just to complete their trip to Edmonton after having theirs break down was very eye-opening for everyone in attendance.
Toys! Toys! Toys!
Always a fun event, this year’s Toy Mountain saw the pile of donations continue to grow over two days in Surrey’s Guildford Town Centre. In total close to 10,000 toys and another $82,300 were collected at this special event. We know so many low income families were now able to celebrate Christmas with some gifts for their children where it otherwise would have been very difficult.
Watch this special report from CTV News
Thanks to all who helped by volunteering or supporting these special events. We can’t wait to see you all again at our 2020 events!