JENNIFER LANG

TERRACE STANDARD

OMMUNI

The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, September 3, 2003 - BI

~,

‘

ine 638-7283 ff

Around Town
A great bottle drive

YOU DID IT, Terrace. You helped raise nearly
$5,000 in one day for fire victims in B.C.’s
southern interior.

Local Canada Post employees organized a
bottle drive Aug. 23, making the rounds in
' postal trucks, picking donations up from the
curb, The response was overwhelming.

“| know that our community is: hurting,”
Canada Post employee Rosealee Dilley said,
adding the community really got behind the
campaign. “They gave from their hearts. They
gave what they could — with joy.”

Even residents who hadn’t heard about the

. day-long bottle drive were eager to make a do-
_fation once they realized why the postal truck
was coming along their street on a Saturday.

One person gave a cash donation of $636.

In total, the drive raised $4,905,

“The people were absolutely great. [ can’t
~ thank them enough, They made it fun for us.”

People were also able to bring donations to
the post office, where. staff - assisted by
friends, family members and even, the odd
stranger — sorted battles and cans well into the
evening.

“We started at 9:30 a.m. and we Were there
until 7:30 p.m.,” Dilley said, adding there just
weren't enough hours in the day.

~~. Canada Post employees also thank several
local businesses for donating food.

They offer up a challenge to other busines-
ses to do the same for fire relief assistance ef-
forts.

Here’s how you can
help your heart

‘A TERRACE man is encouraging residents to
take advantage of a life-changing health pro-
gram offered next month,

The four-week program is aimed at people
who have — or wish to avoid — heart disease,

diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity and high .

cholesterol.

‘Ron Johnson, who suffers from narrowing of
the arteries, a condition that left him gasping °

_ for breath five years ago.
He believes exercise, reducing stress and
‘switching to a low fat diet ~ the kinds of re-
_ commendations participants for the Coronary

‘Health Improvement ‘project, or CHIP, receive |

— gave -him’a new lease on life.
“T can go up stairs who at a time without

huffing and puffing,” he said, adding he even .

-has-better vocal control when he sings.
_- It’s the sixth time the CHIP program has
- been offered here,

‘It's something Terrace dentist Dr. Dean’

Burich and his wife Darlene Burtch have done
in their spare time.
: Johnson is impressed that the couple offers
the program at cost because they believe in it.
-'>|-The price of the sessions beginning in Sep-
tember is $195 per person, or $295 per couple
~— half of what CHIP normally costs partici-
pants.

Each CHIP participants receive two heart
screens, 16 informative lectures, supporting li-
terature and menu planning, recipes and food
demonstrations.

“It's diet, it's exercise, they'll teach you
how to prepare things,” says Johnson.

Information sessions were held last week,
and continue Tuesday, Sept. 2, 3, and 4, at 7

m.

P The program takes place at the Seventh
Day Adventist Church on the Bench at Mc-
Connell Ave. and Kalum Lake Drive. The
seminar sessions are Monday to Thursday from
7-9:15 p.m. Sept. 14 to Oct, 9. The first heart
screening lakes place Sept. 9.

To register, call 635-3200.

@ The perfect view
TERRACE'S Kevin Hawarth, 12, scales an
outdoor climbing wall during his visit to the
Pacific National Exhibition in Vancouver.

By SARAH A.
ZIMMERMAN
KAZUKI FUJII may not be
able to speak a lot of
English but it’s obvious
he’s loving his first visit to

Terrace.

The 16-year-old is fram
Osaka, Japan but he’s
staying with a local family
as part of the Labo inter-
national home-stay pro-
gram.

He’s one of three stu-
dents from Japan who ar-
rived in Terrace this sum-
mer to live with local fa-
milies and experience Ca-
nadian living.

Fujii, who has just one
sister and no brothers, is
spends his time here with
a much larger family than
his own.

The Widemans have
five sons and just one
daughter.

“It's just like having an-
other brother,” says Ever-

_ ett Wideman, 16, the eld-

est sibling of the clan.

The idea behind the
Labo program is to match
up the visiting Japanese
student with a host brother
or sister of approximately
the same age, says pro-
gram coordinator Sheri
Hamer.

Everett and Kazuki
have some similar inter-
ests and others that are
very different.

“He likes classical
music,” says Everett, who
is not a big fan of that
genre himself.

Some things that have
brought Kazuki closer to
his Terrace hosts include
visits to the hot springs,
going to the lake and piay-
ing street hockey in the
Wideman’s long driveway.
Fujii had never played
hockey before coming to
Terrace. .

But he's not the only
one learning from the ex-
perience.

“[e’s just such an eye-
opener,” says host mom
Micheile Wideman. “If
you can’t go there the next
best thing is to bring a
piece of Japan here. He
brings a perspective that’s
good for the kids.”

Fujii came to Terrace
with a scrapbook of photos
of his family’s home and
the city where he lives.

Michelle Wideman says
the photos helped her fa-
mily realise they should be
grateful for the things they
have and the space they
have.

RIGHT AT HOME: Kazuki Fujii, 16, is staying with the Wideman family of
Terrace. Clockwise fram top left: Elliot, 14, Kazuki, Everett, 16, Seth, 7, Dex-

ter, 4, Vanessa, 11 and Conrad, 13.

SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN PHOTO

“I think they were sur-

While his stay here is

best? “Everything,” he

prised to see it was simple
and small,” she says.

Fujii’s arrival has also
made the Wideman child-
ren realise they are lucky
to come from such a large
family.

short, Terrace has made an
impression on him, Com-
ing from a congested city
of 15 million people, Ter-
race is a refreshing
change.

What does he like the

says enthusiastically.
“Especially the air.”

For more information
about the Labo home stay
program or how to becorne
a host family call Sheri
Hamer at 638-8365.

She still likes her job — really!

A local woman is celebrating 30 years on the job at Canada Post in Terrace

By JENNIFER LANG
PEOPLE SEND some pretty
strange things through the mail.
Just ask Lynn Karlash, superinten-
dent of the Terrace Post Office,

One time, someone mailed a
bunch of dough inside an enve-
lope. It leaked out all over the
back room.

“Lynn,” came the cry from the
sorting room, “There’s something
wrong with the mail!”

Mailing uncooked dough is not
recommended, but it turns out
other items that would seem to
create unsurmountable logistical
problems are perfectly acceptable.

Like chicks, ladybugs, bees, or
‘ripe cheeses, for example. The
latter, being somewhat odorific,
are sometimes left outside on the
loading dock until they’re picked
up, Karlash says.

Kariash has the kind of work
history you don’t hear about too
often any more, She’s worked for
the same employer — Canada Post
— at the same Terrace office, for
30 years.

“T guess if you like your job
and like what you’re doing and
the people you work with, you'll
probably end up staying,” she
says, laughing. “It’s like a second

even find the power button” on
her computer. “Now everything is
on computer.”

Remarkably, just about the
only duty she’s never done is deli-
ver the mail,

(That’s about to change. She
recently agreed to switch jobs for
the day with a letter carrier as
part of a recent fund raising
contest.)

It’s a good crew; says Karlash,
who eventually remarried. She has
a 17-year-old son. Her adult

The biggest was
when machines came
in to do tasks that used
to be performed by
hand.

LYNN KARLASH oversees 34 employees. JENNIFER LANG PHOTO

home, basically!
Karlash, a transplant from Cal-
gary, started in 1971 sorting mail, the
Back then she was a single mom changes.
who needed a break. She wasn’t
even sure she would get the job.
“They called me and I've been

here ever since!”
She worked her way up over
years,

The biggest was when ma-
chines came in to do tasks that
used to be performed by hand -

witnessing many

race,

like sorting mail.

She became a financial super-
visor, an operational supervisor
and then finally superintendent,
overseeing 34 employees in Ter-

Three years ago, she “couldn't

daughter works al Royal Colum-
bia Hospital in New Westminster.

She describes her staff as hard
workers who believe in good cus-
tomer relations.

They recently threw her a sur-
prise party in honour of her 30—
years of service. '

She’s not ready to retire — at
least not yet.

“I appreciate my job,” she
says, citing the corporation's em-
phasis on professional develop-
ment for employees. “I appreciate -

what Canada Post has done for

ine and the people I work with.”

WASN'T THAT a party? Organizers of Ter-
race’s Riverside Music Festival say the fifth
annual showcase of old time traditional
music was another summer success.

“There was incredible energy at the festi-
val this year,” says spokesperson Betty Ha-
milton, who adds credit is due to the excel-
lent work done by sound man, Scott North-
ridge, behind the scenes.

The Aug. 8-10 event featured 13 separate
acts, including headliner Mark Perry of Smi-
thers, who turned in a powerful performance
along with Scott Atchison.

“It was magic,” Hamilton said, adding it
was a highlight among many.

Other notables on stage included festival
favourite Grant Hommy, a cowbay poet,
Quesnel Bluegrass band the Milburn Moun-
tain Boys, fiddlers Andy and Amy, who were
joined by two of their students, and Smithers
musician, Larry Boudreau,

This year's festival, sponsored by the Ter-
race Elks and Royal Purple, drew as many
as 1,100 spectators over two nights and two
days for 28 hours of live music, At least 70
volunteers helped out over the weekend.

ON STAGE: Riverside is a chance to showcase up and comers, organizers say.

Magic moments helped to light up music festival