April 19, 2007
Burnaby Festival of Volunteers

This is our country's National Volunteer Week to honour and recognize our hard-working citizens who donate energy and time to their communities. This Saturday the fourth Burnaby Festival of Volunteers will be held in Metrotown from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. Many non-profit organizations will be displaying their services as well as getting opportunities to recruit volunteers.

As founding co-chair of this festival, I would like to invite all members of this House to this special event. You'll be entertained by a Bengal dance performance by Kanchan Lal; traditional Chinese dance by members of the Chen Ling Academy of Dance; the North Burnaby Retired Seniors Society; a youth orchestra by Kabok Strings and guitar solo by Kabok Guitar; and a kung fu performance by Dan Kun. You don't want to miss the opportunity to take part in the hip-hop dance with Dianna David.

Many groups have registered for this special day, including the Burnaby Association for Community Inclusion, Big Brothers of Greater Vancouver, Big Sisters of B.C. Lower Mainland, Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada, Burnaby Community Connections, Burnaby Hospice Society, Burnaby Metrotown Rotary, Burnaby Seniors Outreach Services Society, Burnaby village museum, Canadian National Institute for the Blind, Centre culturel francophone de Vancouver, Down Syndrome Research Foundation, Girl Guides of Canada, Seton Villa, South Burnaby Neighbourhood House, Sunshine Dream for Kids, TB Vets Charitable Foundation, Urban Native Youth Association, Vancouver International Children's Festival, Vancouver Grandparents and Volunteers Now.

I would like the House to join me in thanking the sponsors and the organizing committee members: Lee Faurot, Oscar Cruz, Amy Sundberg, John Renko, Ken Ryan, Cynthia Hendrix, Patrick Ng, Judy Chu and volunteers Jane Leah and students from the Alpha Secondary School for their time and energy to make this Burnaby Festival of Volunteers a success.