The Ride to Conquer Cancer: 6 Gabriola Islanders in training!

There are 6 Gabriola residents that are taking an amazing journey. We'll be participating in a two-day major cycling (over 200km) event called The Enbridge Ride to Conquer Cancer benefiting BC Cancer Foundation. We've joined up with a team from Nanaimo called "Nanaimo Rides Again" and are aiming to raise over $100,000 between now and June 16 2012.
Already the experience has been amazing for me, I'm using this to experience to show my kids that you can make a difference and you can be the change. Many of you may know that my dad is battling terminal cancer, so this will be a very emotional journey, but I feel so supported by my family, friends and the community of Gabriola.

We have people joining us on training rides to keep our motivation up, Lesley Standerwick is helping us train, local businesses are supporting us and people chipping in any way they can.

We are planning a Beer & Burger night for the end of Feb, we're doing a bottle drive on Jan 6 (please let us know if you have any bottles to donate), and we'll be spinning in Nanaimo at Walmart on Jan 29 and at the Maple Sugar Festival on Feb 12. This is just the start of our fundraising activities, the more we raise the more we have to find the cure. Right now 2 out of 5 people will hear the words "you have cancer" in their lifetime, we need to change this for my family and for yours.

Please take a minute and visit our personal pages and if you'd like to donate online to either Tina or her husband Guy Parcher or one of the other riders, please do it today so that you can take advantage of the 100% tax deduction for your 2011 taxes, what a way to finish of the year!

submitted by: Tina Lynch

Congratulations Gabriola - Semi-Finalists in the Aviva Community Fund Competition...

The dedicated volunteers of the Gabriola Health Care Society have proclaimed the year 2010 to be The Year of the Clinic and are committed to raising $1,000,000 to develop and build a permanent community owned emergency treatment and medical care facility. We believe that a permanent, community owned, ecologically friendly, seismically-engineered and technologically advanced emergency treatment room will provide a desirable long-term solution to the health care needs of our increasing population.

Part of their fundraising efforts included applying to the Aviva Community fund, which offers a chance to share in the $500,000. The voting ensures that it is the most popular ideas as chosen by Canadians, the top “25” most voted on will go to the “judging” finals. Gabriola’s request to the Aviva Community Fund is in the range of $250,000 to cover the costs of the emergency treatment room for this facility. You can view, a complete history of the Gabriola Health Care Society . Gabriola is now be amongst the semi-finalists with the vote counters having been reset to 0, this semi-final runs until Dec 16th. Thank you Gabriolans and all the voters from around the world – be ready to start voting again Dec 2nd you can vote here! (Just a reminder that you can vote every day!!!)

You can see why the Lynch’s are casting our votes daily, and why we appreciate the excellent health care service here on the island at our: Discover Gabriola Blog .

Stressed over the Holidays ?

I'd like to suggest Chocolate.

I'm in the midst of organizing the fundraising packages for the Nanaimo Diamonds Synchronized Swim club. Each swimmer will be visiting friends, family and neighbors to collect orders for Purdy's chocolates, orders will be collected by November 10th and delivered on December 14th. If chocolate is the answer for any of your holiday stress, then please plan ahead and come by the Coast Realty office on Gabriola and fill out one of the order forms on my desk. (submitted by: Tina Lynch)