Cancer is a very scary diagnosis with its many uncertainties and long and difficult treatment regimens. Many treatments and diagnostic imaging is only available in the city. A group of dedicated men and women who are Squamish Volunteer Drivers for Cancer provide a service that alleviates some of the stress associated with cancer treatment.The Squamish Cancer Car program drives clients dealing with cancer to appointments in the city.  12 drivers, 2 dispatchers and a coordinator all happily volunteer their time to get people to doctor appointments, surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy.  The volunteers find it very rewarding to give back to the community!

“The Gift of a Lift” is a free service.   Clients are very appreciative; some of their comments   ..… “thank you to the volunteers”,   …. “a car full of daffodils”, “when your doctor gives you the bad news, …..who do you call?…. thank you for your help, your time, your kindness”.  “God bless you!”

There are always those behind the scenes and we would like to say thank you to our supportive fundraiser and the many donors who give of their money so that the program is possible!   During this Covid-19 challenge, we would like to say a special thank you to our drivers for helping two clients complete their radiation treatments!    

This story was submitted by Grace Halverson as part of our Golden Rule Challenge series.

If you have a Golden Rule Story to add, please send it to us at squamishmultifaith@gmail.com

“TREAT OTHERS AND THE PLANET AS YOU WOULD LIKE TO BE TREATED”

The Golden Rule is ancient and modern, secular and religious, personal and common. It is the universal principle of treating others the way that we want to be treated.

The idea of dedicating a day to the celebration of practice of the Golden Rule was initiated by a collaborative in Interfaith Peace building in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on April 05, 2007.  They put out a call to all citizens of the world and many organizations, including the United Nations, to join them in proclaiming the day and living everyday according to the teaching of the Golden Rule in order to make our world better and more peaceful for all.

Since then, about 700 organizations in 165 countries have joined in proclaiming Golden Rule Day and a request for a United Nations declaration of Golden Rule Day is pending before the General Assembly.

Squamish Multifaith Association joined this collaborative and decided to issue a Golden Rule Challenge, as a way of inviting a community response and celebrating the many acts of kindness and thoughtfulness that are easing the burden on others and on our shared environment, especially during this challenging time.

This call was put out on April 01 and we will be collecting stories throughout April. In celebration of Golden Rule Day, I would like to showcase an organization that looks after some of our most vulnerable community members.

I checked in with Emma Cox, manager of the Squamish Foodbank,

to see how they were faring and if she had any examples of how practice of the Golden Rule was helping them during this time. I was blown away by her response.

“As the demand increases for our services, our volunteers are putting themselves at risk to continue serving the community at this great time of need. Our volunteers are donating even more hours of their time to prepare approximately 120+ food hampers to be safely distributed at each food bank day so participants do not need to enter the food bank.
We have had an overwhelming number of community members contact us wanting to volunteer, deliver hampers or donate funds or food. “

And that is just for starters. Businesses small and large are pitching in to help:The Sunflower Bakery Cafe downtown baked and donated 40 loaves of fresh bread for their last food bank day.
The RCMP is doing a big food drive which is being delivered to the food bank next Thursday.                                                                                                                                       Nesters Squamish have ordered enough food for the next food bank day on 14 April that they will be donating.
The owner of the dog walking company in town ‘Dog Haven on Raven’ (Michelle) and two of her employees have taken over the deliveries for the pre-existing hamper program, as volunteers.                                                                                                                 Blue Water Concepts is doing a special Easter Food Drive, April 05, 07, and 09. Here is a link to the Facebook event page where people can get involved:
https://www.facebook.com/events/670064617154098/

Collectively as a community, donations to the food bank over the last two weeks have reached almost $25,000.

It has been said that the true test of a society is how it looks after its most vulnerable members. Squamish is passing the test with Golden Colours.

MAY EVERYDAY BE A GOLDEN RULE IN YOUR LIFE

Last week we issued the Golden Rule Challenge, as a way of inviting a community response and celebrating the many acts of kindness and thoughtfulness that are easing the burden on others and on our shared environment, especially during this challenging time. We are hearing your stories of thoughtfulness and caring and it is especially heart warming to hear how inventive people are in celebrating despite the restrictions placed on us all. Every evening at 7 p.m. the rattle and drum in our neighbourhoods as people clap and bang saucepans to thank the frontline health workers who are risking their own lives to care for people is a sign that we have something to cheer about.

But what about children, stuck inside unable to play with their friends? We have heard back from a few people with stories of how they creatively celebrated birthdays for children in Quarantine.

One family made a birthday sign and wrapped up a gift. They hung the sign on a tree in the child’s yard and left the gift at the door. They then called his mom and asked them to come to the door. He was so happy to receive a gift!

In another neighborhood – friends hung up birthday signs in the windows and chalked messages on the footpath. The family was texted to come to the front door and happy birthday was sung from the driveway.

So if you have birthday coming up in your family or know of a friend needing some birthday cheer. Get creative – and let us know what you did to celebrate.