Leadership material Gentner talked about as replacement for James
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MP gives fish inquiry a failing grade
Weighty question Healthwise looks at sun’s impacts
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YOUR SOURCE FOR LOCAL SPORTS, NEWS, WEATHER AND ENTERTAINMENT! WWW.DELTA-OPTIMIST.COM The Voice of Delta since 1922 WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2010
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Cold snap presses shelter into action for first time BY
JESSICA KERR
jkerr@delta-optimist.com
PHOTO BY
Wawryks a popular choice
Sundance proprietors, who are always quick to lend a hand, named Citizens of the Year BY
JESSICA KERR
jkerr@delta-optimist.com
To say Al and Phyllis Wawryk were surprised to be named recipients of the Citizen of the Year award at the Delta Chamber of Commerce’s Hats Off to Excellence gala is an understatement. “My wife and I were actually stunned,” Al Wawryk said a few days after the Friday night banquet. “We were absolutely flabbergasted.” The couple received a standing ovation and Phyllis was moved
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to tears as she and her husband lar, that has benefited from the accepted the award. Sundance is B.C. Guide Dog The Wawryks own and operate Services, which has raised more the Sundance pub, banquet hall than $40,000 through weekly and motel and quietly go about meat draws since 2003. helping many More Hats Off winners on Page 29 in the community while Photos at www.delta-optimist.com running their The couple also quietly helps East Ladner business, which is in out the less fortunate or those its 33rd year. who have fallen on hard times. The Sundance is often the site They often provide free temporary of fundraisers for local chariaccommodations for people who ties and organizations and last might not have anywhere else to year alone $100,000 was raised go or those who have fallen victhrough various activities. tim to a disaster. One local group, in particu-
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CHUNG CHOW
Phyllis Wawryk was overcome with emotion when Delta Optimist publisher Lori Chalmers presented her and husband Al with the Citizen of the Year award at the Delta Chamber of Commerce’s Hats Off to Excellence gala last Friday at the Coast Tsawwassen Inn.
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When many were displaced by the Evergreen Lane apartment fire last summer, the Wawryks sprung into action to ensure there was hot food and coffee available as well as rooms for those in need. The other finalists for Citizen of the Year were Bev Day and Peter Guichon. Day was nominated for her many years of work with Orphaned Wildlife Rehabilitation Society, while Guichon, a fourth generation Ladner farmer who runs the largest soil-based operation in B.C., was recognized for his overarching support of local charities.
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With the recent blast of cold weather, South Delta’s emergency shelter opened its doors for the first time last weekend. Debbie Mitchell, who has helped organize the local effort at Ladner United Church to house the homeless during inclement weather, said the shelter was advised to open last Friday night. Initially, she said, the shelter was told to stay open until Wednesday morning but with the cold weather sticking around for a few more days the shelter has been advised to stay open until Friday morning. It officially opened Nov. 1, but last weekend was the first time the shelter was told to be ready to accept those in need. Mitchell said no one came on Friday or Saturday nights, but on Sunday one man took advantage of the facility. She said it was hard to put him back out into the cold early Monday morning, but the shelter only has enough volunteers to operate from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. The local shelter is one of many emergency facilities open to the homeless during extreme weather conditions from November to March. On nights where an extreme weather alert is issued, as was the case in the last few days, the church will convert its nursery into an overnight shelter for those with nowhere else to sleep. Anyone interested in volunteering with the local shelter is asked to contact Ladner United Church at 604-946-6254 or by e-mail at ladner.united@dccnet.com.