BREANNE G GEORGE i is one of the many children who attend the Terrace Child Development Centre and is reaping the rewards of donations from Vesta Douglas. Breanne is wearing a Wet Vest, a specialized vest which is easy to put on children with disabilities and allows for maxi- mum bouyancy while it in the centre’s hydrotherapy pool. it was purchased with money donated by Vesta Douglas. TERRACE CHILD DEVELOPMENT CENTRE PHOTO a of giv IVI How one woman 'S quiet giving has made. an enormous impact c on our community By SARAH A. » ZIMMERMAN os F YOU ARE. some how, in some way involved in about any community organization ‘in Terrace, you’ve probably been touched by the generosity of . Vesta Douglas. The 95-year-old city free- man and long time volunteer has been quietly doling out thousands of dollars to com- munity groups in the past couple years. ‘You-may not realize it, but she’s probably affected you. ' From the Heritage Park Museum, to the Dare to ‘Dream Foundation, Ladies - Curling Club or the Elks and - ‘the Royal. Purple, Douglas has modestly divided up her and late husband Doug’ s -life’s savings and given it back to the community. She doesn’t want any -fanfare and will probably ‘be a: tad uncomfortable by. . having her kind works made . known, but it’s a story peo- ple here need to know now — not after it’s too late to say _ thank-you. Doug and Vesta Douglas moved to Terrace in 1950. She spent many years as a much-loved teacher and worked for some time as ‘ the principal at Uplands El- _ementary School.’ It didn’t take"her long to realize her passion was not in paper- work but in people, so she chose not to continue in ad- — ministration. Her teaching career “was ’ my breath of life,” she says, and for that reason many of her recent contributions have - gone to support children. People may wonder why _a person would spend their last years donating their Jlife’s savings to anyone out- side the family. For Douglas the reason is simple. ~.*Our family members are not impoverished,” she o- says. She and Doug never had children of their own | and while he was alive they discussed how they wanted ‘ to spend their savings. just | “Doug, my Doug, _ re- minded me ‘there are no pockets on caskets, so please spend what we have,” Douglas recalls. And so she has. A couple thousands dol- lars here, a few hundred dol- lars there, and Mrs. Douglas has — very discreetly — made contributions: to’ more than - 30 community groups ° ”in Terrace. “It’s simply giving back’ to what Ive already re- ceived from the city,” she says modestly. Helping her in her good works. are two very dear friends — Rod and Charlotte Cameron, who diligently re- cord every penny spent out of Douglas’ account. And it is they who serve as the bearers of her gifts. “We made a list and they just went from place to place and paid it,” she says; as though handing out cheques . all oyer,the city is a run, of, the mill’ endeavour. Many of those groups are near and dear to her heart. Groups such as the Terrace Beautification Society which she was a great supporter of and. volunteer even before she moved to Terraceview . Lodge two years ago. The Terrace Child Devel- opment Centre is another or- ganization. She is passion- ate about the work the centre does with disabled and able- bodied children alike. While many aging people wait until after they die to” make these types of contri- butions, Douglas is fortunate enough to see ‘exactly how. her money. is being spent.: Those on the receiving end can’t say enough about the importance of her gifts. The Child Development. Centre (CDC), for example, has been able to use her do- nations over the years to pur- chase specialized equipment it couldn't fit in the budget. “Some of the money she’s given us has: gone to mobility equipment for children and some of the money has gone to purchas- ing preschool equipment ” TERRACE PUBLIC Library children’s program coor- ’ dinators Melanie Wilke (back). and Jess Dafoe show ' some of the more than 100 children’s books they or- dered thanks to a contribution from Vesta Douglas. SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN PHOTO their actions prolong | labour. disputes... VESTA DOUGLAS knows she can't take her money with her when she passes on. She wants to see community groups thrive while she's living to see the results. and books and a little bit of *Vesta’s* money we haven’t Spent yet,” ‘says CDC ex- ecutive director Margot Van Kleeck, adding that money is earmarked to help subsi- -dize preschool fees for fami- lies who otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford it. * “T think the community is a much better place through her generosity...not just her money, but she’s been very generous with her cheerful support in the community,” says Van Kleeck. , “T think she really exem- plifics that it takes a whole’ community to make a com- munity — everybody plays . their part.” It's acretrain heard over and over again from groups Douglas has’ helped. They are each and every one grate- ful for her support — but it’s - her spirit of giving back to the community that touches them most. This past summer Doug- las donated several thousand ~ dollars to the Heritage Park Museum. _Its money that will be used to help finance an archeology “excavation centre”, says museum cu- -rator. Cindy Hansen, add- ing the centre will simulate © an archeological dig and is geared to students in grades four through seven.’ “IT mainly chose the pro- gram because Vesta loves children and worked for many years in the school system,” Hansen says. “I’ve thanked her and expressed that to her but I don’t know . if she knows, really, the im- pact she’s made here and to - the community as a whole.” The Terrace Public Li- brary spent her money on purchasing more than 100 new books for the children’s SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN PHOTO tr a / ‘ aeautilicatien Hea Sociely: Watch | Us Growl! VOLUNTEERS, firefighters and students worked to- gether this past June to build a cement pad, lay bricks and install planters with benches at the entrance to the Skeena Valley Famers Market. The group effort epidomises the volunteer spirit of Vesta Douglas. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO collection in addition to pay- ing for new children’s pro- grams. Douglas has money ‘to the Terrace Fire Department’s _ professional and volunteer forces. The _ career crew is hoping the money will serve as the “Heart - it all comes from the heart, it’s a heart list and it’s been well received... "money is only worth something when it’s . in action,” - Douglas seed to purchase a special heat-sensing device that could help them locate peo- ple trapped in smoke filled buildings — a piece of equip- ment that could save a life. Douglas holds a special place in the hearts of all. the members of the depart- -Ment. Last year, not long after Vesta first moved to Terraceview Lodge, the fire department made a special trip to the seniors residence to pick her up in an ambu- lance and bring her to the donated © hall for its Canada Day pan- cake breakfast. They pro- vided the same service to Ryan passed away. The list of groups on the receiving end of her kind- _ hess goes on and on and on. Each and every one: has a story about the importance ‘of her gift and the real and tangible impact it’s had on ’ people in the community. For Mrs. Douglas it is the ultimate. way to spend her last years. “I’m happy to die poor .— my bills are paid, my cre- matorium bills are paid, I did not want to leave any debt,” she says. And with those worries out of her way, the rest, save for her living expenses, is going straight back to. the community she spent her life giving to. “Heart — it was all from the heart, it’s a heart list and it’s been well received,” she says. “Money is only worth - something - -when it’s in ac- . tion.” Perhaps we could all learn from the teacher that has touched so many. her when music teacher Jim - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, October 12, 2005 - A5 a CORRESPONDENCE FOR THE TERRACE STANDARD The Mail Bag Hats off to Ev Dear Sir: Everytime I pick up The Terrace Standard, | hope that Ev Bishop will have a column in that week. Her thoughts and insights always inspire and delight. Reading her column, | often laugh one moment and cry the next. Ms. Bishop is truly the shining star of this newspaper - _and possesses a rare. gift. Thanks for sharing your heart and soul with all of us readers Ev. Susan Brouwer, Terrace, B. Cc. Give me a job. oe Dear Sir: | 1am writing to you with a request. How does one ¢ be- come a guest columnist for Thé Terrace Standard? - Task this question as I noticed our recent. ex-MLA, Roger ‘Harris, has become quite a “regular guest colum- nist” (is this term not perhaps an oxymoron?) in our local paper. I find it odd that he has not been granted” “regular - columnist” status as he appears more often than any other : “guest columnist.” Now, Lassume that like most other media venues, your paper has a single party bias, but could you not advertise for other people with political biases the same job? Is this a silly question to ask? I] know many people, themselves also not ‘politicians, albeit interested in party politics, who would welcome .the opportunity to get some Terrace Standard space to talk about shings that are of interest to their particular political ' party. Lg Iam sure I.could help provide you ‘with the names of 7 people both willing and able to view such opinions that - would be of interest to : The Conservative Party of Canada (and BC), The Christian Heritage Party, The New Demo- | : cratic Party, The Green Party and yes, even the Marijuana Party. Again, I ask, am I silly to think that your paper might ° be interested in being an equal opportunity employer? Perhaps even I could become a guest columnist? I am not a politician, nor have I ever been one, but I bet I could offer some entertaining and enlightening views on things - as I see them happening in our region. I can get a cur-' riculum vitae ready anytime: 1 anxiously look forward to ‘your reply. Greer Kaiser, Terrace BC What's i in a word, anyway? Dear Sir: By tuning in to CBC you will learn that they were 2 suf- fering “labour difficulties”, an affliction that 1 thought only «, concerned childbirth, the reality is of course that the em- ployees were.locked out and have just returned to work. _ The Telus lockout is caused by simple greed by a cor- poration that considers profits of $250 million per: year. insufficient. Meanwhile Telus is also staying away from the L word while trying to circumvent B.C. labour laws prohibiting the use of “replacement workers” by calling them “contract workers”. The term replacement workers has always intrigued me. If someone steals my car is he a replacement driver? Réplacement..workers:..are’ scabs. who; steal jobs. arid, iby Teg uke tae ary Ihave conte to'the realization that what is ‘going on'is a concerted effort by big business, supported by the media, to sanitize the language by doing away with words that would remind people that there are two classes of peo- — ple and that the majority of them are part of the working, | class. ° Moreover many workers believe that they will only do their crappy job temporarily until they get their own business or win the lottery. Words like workers, employ- ee, boss, scab, unemployment insurance, are replaced, we now have instead associates or team members instead of employees, (Wal-Mart and Associates sounds like: “a-tegal ; firm, does it not?) Oy ‘Thousands of people work part-time for minimum wages. They are now associates still making minimum wages. Most do not qualify: for unemployment, sorry - employment insurance. Of course, as an associate and team player you would not dream of j joining a union or contact W.C.B on a safety issue. If you say yes sir long enough, you may even become “assistant to the assistant manager in charge of broccoli. In the world of associates titles are distributed much more _ freely than pay raises. So let’s call a spade a spade. There are e bosses and work- ers. There are lockouts and strikes and unemployment. There are also scabs. Jack London, the writer, had this to say about scabs. “Scabs are lower then a snakes belly, — there is nothing lower than a scab.” Amen to that, Broth-- o er, John Jensen, Terrace, B.C. ear 6 - Get it straight 0 Hans ‘Wagner’ s recent guest column on the i issue of _ Alcan power sales misses the point entirely. It is not Mayor Rick Woznéy who is taking on Alcan, but a unanimous council backed by a considerable and growing segment of the public, all of whom are fighting to get Alcan to honour the terms-of its agreement with British Columbians. This is about the people who own a public resource (you and I) getting a fair benefit from it. The concern is not job losses from new technology. Kit- imat has always supported investment in new technology. It is about shuttingsdown aluminum production to allow power sales. During the 2001 California energy crisis, Al- can unilaterally cut production in Kitimat by 50 per cent to export power to the United States. The smelter current- ly operates at about 87 percent. We all know about new technologies and, like it or not, have to accept their effects. But the water resource will support a doubling of aluminum Production. That is what this is about. The court did not rule on the district’s case against Al- can. It said they did not have legal standing to argue the, case as the district is not party to the agreement. In short, the case has not yet been heard. Mr. Wagner should get his facts straight. Bob Corless, Councillor, District of F Kitimat About the Mail Bag The Terrace Standard .welcomes letters. Our address is 3210 Clinton St., Terrace, B.C. V8G 5R2. You can fax us. at 250-638-8432 or e-mail. us at newsroom @ terracestandard.com. No attachments, please. Name, address and phone number required for verification.