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Aldergrove Your Hometown Community Newspaper for over 57 Years
| Thursday, February 4, 2016
Aldergrove Soccer Youths in Cup Play!
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Page 4: Local Hay Shortage Drives Cost Up
Page 14
‘Ice Angels’ Take on National Championships
Truck flies to Hwy. 1 crash By MONIQUE TAMMINGA Aldergrove Star
Alcohol and speed may be factors in a serious single-vehicle crash in which a pick up truck became airborne, landing in a ditch below in the westbound lanes of the freeway in Langley on Saturday night. Around 8:45 p.m., it’s believed a 53-year-old Abbotsford man was driving at a high rate of speed westbound on Townshipline Road when he failed to negotiate the curve, said Langley RCMP. That road curves to parallel the freeway, near 272 Street. The driver’s 2003 GMC Sierra pick up became airborne, landing in the ditch below the westbound lanes of the freeway. The cab of the truck actually separated due to the force of the impact. The lone occupant was airlifted to hospital with serious injuries, said police. It’s unknown how he is doing at this time. The pick up truck was seized for mechanical inspection. There were several witnesses to the crash, said police. Port Mann RCMP are following up on whether impaired charges will be recommended.
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Aldergrove Skating Club’s Synchronized skating team, the Novice Ice Angels have qualified to go to the National Championships this month (story page 5). The team is (front row) Hannah Lord, Courtney Watson, Emily Wildy, Lexus Lomas, Haleigha Bull, Cora-Lee Hagel, (back row) Alex Lord, Tarra Lomas, Rachel Lagasse, Kirsty O’Brien, Tia Flello, Ogechi Anumba and Ashley Borglund.
Aldergrove church kickstarts refugee fundraiser By TYLER OLSEN Aldergrove Star
It has been a wild week for the members of Abbotsford’s Interfaith Refugee Project set to welcome a Syrian refugee family to Canada Friday afternoon. On Monday, the group held a regular meeting to prepare for the expected arrival of refugees in late February at the very earliest. But that night, an unexpected call relayed the news that the young family would be arriving later this week.
The two dozen members of the group quickly sprung into action to have everything in place for the family, a 28-year-old man, a 26-year-old woman and their nine-month-old baby daughter. The three had been staying in a refugee camp in Jordan. The husband and wife had previously attended university in Iraq, and the man speaks at least some English. Beyond those details though, the group knows little of the incoming refugees, who will stay with a local family in the days after their arrival.
“We were in total shock because we thought we had at least a month,” said Donald Strangway, one of the members with the group. Nevertheless, the week has been exciting, he said, and a diverse swath of Abbotsford has laid the groundwork to ease the family’s transition into life in Canada. From Sikh groups to Muslim organizations and Christian churches, Strangway says help for the refugees has come from across faith and cultural lines.
“The project has caught fire – everybody is enthused,” he said. The group has raised just over $28,000 toward the $32,000 that will be required to fulfill the project’s 60 per cent of the family’s first-year costs under the blended visa office referral initiative, through which the sponsorship is taking place. (The government covers the other 40 per cent of the costs). A variety of help has come courtesy of Abbotsford Community Services, while a Syria-born pharma-
cist has offered to provide translating assistance. A presentation at a Sikh temple netted an impromptu donation exceeding $600, and the whole fundraising effort was kicked off when Aldergrove United Church offered $15,000 raised from the sale of their building. “The enthusiasm has just grown,” Strangway noted. He said members of the refugee group, which includes members of a variety of faiths, along
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