Templeton Stroke Recovery Picnic

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TROUT LAKE PICNIC —July 30, 2009
Hot! Hot! Hot! We have a "heat wave.‟ and, temperature records dating back more than 50 years were broken across the BC: Vancouver: 34C.- Bella Coola: 40C

Sunny, the day we held our picnic. It‟s good, we got a sheltered picnic area and everybody was on the shade. Nobody wanted to play the bocce, horse-shoes in the sun.. And, everybody moved in slow motion.

“You start to feel weak, a little dizzy and you just want to sit down and do nothing.”

It‟s only when some body started squirting cool water on wrists and other pulse points. You feel refreshed from that stifling heat wave.

Valerie, Orlando, Gina, Deb, Tony, Key, Gabriel, Heather , Mei-lin, Josef, Louise, Olga, JoAnne, Jose, Martha, Blair, Mitch, Helen, Daniel, John, Irma, Ollie, Hailey, Jack and Matthew‟s group from Trout Lake Stroke Recovery.

Olga, JoAnn, Josef and Orlando played Cribbage to beat the heat.
After a magnificent lunch we were serenaded by Mitch, on the French horn and Gina, on electric piano and we had a sing-along as well. We practiced the songs at our meeting as a speech improvement/exercises. We are getting better in singing, too!

Helen‟s son, Daniel, had a portable tent awning where Mitch; showed her Hula dance expertise and we were amazed again, again, again… Daniel got his portable massage chair set-up and; Blair, Martha and Heather got a massage courtesy of Helen‟s son, Daniel.

There‟s wind blowing when the picnic was winding down at 2 PM. I‟m not really complaining because I know that the heat wave won‟t last for too long, anyway. —josesuganob

USNBEA Grand Reunion 2009

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USNBEA GRAND REUNION 2009
It’s a sunny and warm early Saturday morning, July 25, 2009. The HandyDart picked me up and delivered me at the Riverfront Park, 8:30 am. Nobody was there but they soon arrived, one by one, before I panicked.
Families, with specialty dishes/desserts, came one after another. Eunice started frying lots spring rolls! Lito Blancaflor was our roving photographer.
Elen Faytone & Merlina Fayusal group, with Frank Tomelden, were preparing the event program: registrations, door prizes and games.

Washington State group arrived led by Rod Pablico, Eva Abad, Cel Ebilane, Jasmin Evangelista, Frank Rendorio, Raul Evangelista, Elsa Mutuc, Dave David, Ed Tingco and their guests.

BC members came in droves; some not so old folks and new ones, too. Registrations were brisk because some were first timers. That’s good, I supposed.

Reyno Fernandez, from San Francisco, California, came just to see what’s it’s all about. I hope, by now, he knew. It’s a reunion of old friends and former co-workers.
Jun Salinas from Fort St. John, BC & Temie Tara from Squamish, BC. All went their way just to be at the reunion.

Mel Zabala came with two big box of fresh oysters (ang mga 'talaba' was donated by Tony Bernales). They were broiled it right away and the big feast was on!
Helen Montes brought fish; fresh fish and everyone was talking about what kind of fish was this?
Then, the arrival of ‘lechon,’ Every body’s diet was being discarded, for that day. O, ang Cholesterol mo!!! sabi ni Mario S.

Time for door prizes and games!!! Door prizes were donated by BC members.‘Talong at Saging’ game! Everybody was laughing so hard!! Humahagalpak sa tawa!
At ang sabi ng isa, “Mahaba naman ang talong mo!”
‘Pinata’ and ‘Pabitin’ for the grandkids.

May pabalot pa! There was so much food that everyone have a ‘balot nga!’ And,Frank’s ‘pan de sal’ was becoming ‘famous.’

Almost 3 pm. Formal change of command (wow! parang militar ang pasok!) USNBEA banner was given to the Washington State group for the next year reunion, to be held somewhere in Washington State. See you next year at the reunion!

—Joe Suganob
Vancouver, BC, Canada

Mt. Pleasant Neighborhood House Seniors Celebrate

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June 29, 2009--
Wow! The Seniors of Mt. Pleasant Neighborhood House really celebrated the Multiculturalism with dances with colorful, native dresses; songs (Chinese songs), of course, lots of food.
Seniors from Filipino, Chinese, Vietnamese and Canadian community gave their out most in singing 'O, Canada.' Jose Mendoza and Angela Paiyizi coordinated the event.

Last pre-Reunion meeting!

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6/21/09
USNBEA Grand Reunion day is coming fast! This was our last meeting before the reunion and held at Frank's place. We had to 'tsibog' first. So many food at the table; salads,pancit bihon guisado,spring rolls (vegetable & togue type),and desserts like Eunice's puto bumbong, pan de sal ni Frank, more food (I don't know their names but they were absolutely good), and with some wine, 'ayos na naman.'
Then,we (Bob & Helene Montes, Lito & Eunice Blancaflor, Mario Suratos, Danny Libonao, Frank & Sony Tomelden, and Joe Suganob) went to more scheduling, organizing and preparing this year's reunion. And,we have to email more and phone each other, for more exacting details. Meeting adjourned about 6pm.
The USNBEA Grand Reunion 2009, is on Saturday, July 25, 2009 at Riverfront Park, near Fraser River, Vancouver, BC, Canada. See you there!

SRABC - Coquitlam Branch Annual Luncheon

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June 19, 2009--
Templeton Stroke Recovery went to Coquitlam Branch Annual Luncheon last Friday, June 19, via HandyDart.
Coquitlam group welcomed the SRABC branches from Burnaby (North & South), Delta, Douglas Park, Port Coquitlam, Shaughnessy, TEMPLETON and one person from Vernon Branch (Vernon, BC).
The luncheon was very good and entertainment, wonderful! Will be back next year, that's for sure!

Strides for Strokes!

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June 14, 2009-
Peace Arch Park was the place to be on Sunday, June 14, 2009. The Stroke Recovery Association of BC held its annual “Strides For Strokes.”
The Templeton group gathered at Templeton Park Pool early Sunday morning, (June 14, 2009). The HandyDart came at exactly 9am. Fourteen members and volunteers was really excited to go, being the first time that the HandyDart drove us from Vancouver to Peace Arch Park, near Peace Arch Border Crossing.
Branches from White Rock (host), Surrey, Coquitlam, Langley, Maple Ridge, Pitt Meadows, Shaughnessy and TEMPLETON came. Some branches (us included) had a table to show what they are doing in their groups. You could see all the smiling faces, meeting old friends and making new ones.
Featured: music by Ish Da Fish; very tall Mr. Bubbles; face-painting and a fire truck.
The emcee was Mark Madryga, senior meteorologist from Global TV Morning News, forecasted a very warm afternoon and was leader of the pack of very enthusiastic stroke survivors, relatives, volunteers and friends in walking around the park and the event raised $15,000 to support stroke survivors rehabilitation programs.

Hats Off Day 2009

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Saturday, June 6, 2009 - 9am to 2pm
The Heights is a special place! This North Burnaby neighborhood has a strong sense of community, and a thriving business district all within walking distance.
Hats Off Day is when the Heights merchants "take their hats off" to their community and their customers and the entire Heights community celebrates together. It's was a huge, one-day extravaganza featuring a colorful main-street style parade with real local flavor, and a big street party afterwards.
Artists Helping Artists (AHA) is in Heights' neighborhood so, we were there, too!
With lots of music, food, kids activities! It was fun!!!