Jazz Affair is a musical fundraiser
See and hear celebrated jazz greats at the Jazz Affair, a major fundraising event to support jazz-music education in School District 68, on May 25 at the Coast Bastion Hotel in Nanaimo.
This is the 12th year of the event, hosted by the Friends of Nanaimo Jazz Society.
Legendary trumpet player Terell Stafford and pianist Harold Mabern will headline the evening with tenor saxophonist Cory Weeds, bassist Michael Glynn and drummer Julian MacDonough.
Nanaimo’s 10-piece Decadence Jazz Band will also be on hand to entertain the crowd, along with award-winning School District 68 students.
There will also be a silent auction and raffles.
Tickets are $65 and include a buffet dinner. The event runs 6 to 9:30 p.m., May 25 at the Coast Bastion Hotel, 11 Bastion St., Nanaimo. Tickets available through the Port Theatre box office at porttheatre.com, by phone at 250-754-8550.
For more information, go to friendsofnanaimojazzsociety.org/ event/jazz-affair-coast-2018/
Bike ride honours cycling advocate
Enjoy a fun, relaxed bike ride — and raise funds for the Saanich Peninsula Hospital — at the Denis Muloin Bike Ride for Palliative Care, May 27 along the Lochside Trail.
This is the fourth year of the event, which honours Muloin, who died in 2014 after a long battle with cancer. He was known as a passionate advocate for cycling in the Saanich Peninsula community.
As the manager of Sidney’s Russ Hay’s the Bicycle Shop for more than 20 years, his beaming smile and easy-going manner made him many friends in Sidney.
His last months were spent at the palliative-care unit at the Saanich Peninsula Hospital. The care he received was the reason his friends and family created the event, to raise funds for the palliative-care unit and celebrate his memory at the same time.
The family-friendly event is a ride rather than a race, with suggested stops and destinations marked, as well as scavengerhunt items to find along the way.
Riders can get involved by registering as an individual for $25 or as a family for $40. Individual fundraising pages can be set up to collect pledges online. As an incentive, a sponsor has offered a two-night stay at Black Rock Oceanfront Resort in Ucluelet for the rider who collects the most fundraising pledges.
The ride starts at 9 a.m. May 27 at Lochside Park. For more information, go to sphf.ca/events.
Shakespeare’s words put into song
Listen to a diverse program of choral music based on the timeless works of William Shakespeare at Seeking Life: Linden and the Bard, May 27 at the St. John the Divine Anglican Church.
The concert is presented by the Linden Singers, a mixedvoice, multi-generational, auditioned choir.
At the event they will sing classical, jazz and pop.
Tickets are $20 for adults and free for anyone under 25 years old. The concert starts at 2:30 p.m. May 27 at the church, 1611 Quadra St. For more information, go to lindensingers.ca.
Bat project needs bat-counters
The Habitat Acquisition Trust is seeking batty volunteers — and locations of bat colonies — for the B.C. Bat Count, which begins June 1.
This citizen-science initiative encourages residents to count bats at local roost sites.
“Bat counts are a wonderful way for residents to get involved in collecting important scientific information,” said Paige Erickson-McGee, conservation specialist. “No special skills are needed, you can be any age and you can relax in a deck chair while counting.”
The count will collect baseline data on bat populations before the devastating white-nose syndrome fungal disease affects bats in the province.
“White-nose syndrome is estimated to have killed more than seven million bats since it was first discovered in eastern North America a decade ago,” said Mandy Kellner, provincial coordinator of the B.C. Community Bat Program. “In March 2016, the disease was detected just east of Seattle, and has now spread within Washington state. This has greatly increased our urgency to understand bat populations in B.C. We need the public’s help to census local bat populations — we never know when it is our last year to obtain population estimates before white-nose syndrome causes widespread declines in western North America.”
Counts are easy — volunteers wait outside a known roost site, such as a bat-house, barn, bridge or attic, and count bats as they fly out at twilight.
They record the final number along with basic information on weather conditions.
Ideally, one to two counts are done between June 1 and 21, before pups are born, and one to two more between July 11 and Aug. 5, when pups are flying.
“We know relatively little about bats on Vancouver Island, including basic information on population numbers,” said Erickson-McGee. “This information will be extremely valuable, particularly if it is collected annually. If people want to get involved but don’t have a roost site on their property, we will try to match them with a roost site nearby.”
To participate in the count on southern Vancouver Island, call 250-995-2428 or bat@hat.bc.ca. To find out more about bat counts, or to get assistance dealing with bat issues, go to bcbats.ca.
Astronomer to receive prestigious award
Oak Bay High School graduate Gwendolyn Eadie is scheduled to receive a prestigious award from the Canadian Astronomical Society for the best doctoral dissertation in Canada in the field of astronomy.
She will be presented with the society’s 2018 J.S. Plaskett Award for her groundbreaking work to shed light on the dark side of the Milky Way galaxy and other corners of the universe.
In her thesis, the 33-year-old Eadie developed a high-level statistical method to derive the mass and mass distribution within astrophysical systems. Her formulations will be a powerful tool in the exploitation of future very large datasets from the Gaia mission and the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope.
She will be will be presented with her award at a ceremony on Wednesday at the society’s annual conference, which is being held in Victoria at the Victoria Conference Centre. For more information, go to casca.ca.
Rock ’n’ roll party for literacy
Put on your dancing shoes and get ready to rock ’n’ roll at the Retro Bash for Literacy, a Victoria Literacy Connection fundraiser, May 26 at the Oaklands Community Centre.
The event features Palamos Project, a six-piece cover band playing lively tunes from the 1960s and 1970s.
There will be a cash bar and door prizes.
This event is hosted by the Victoria Literacy Connection, a merger of Literacy Victoria and the Victoria READ Society. It offers literacy programs for children, youth and adults in Greater Victoria.
Tickets are $20. Doors open at 7:30 p.m. May 26 at the Oaklands Community Centre, 2827 Belmont Ave. Tickets are available at victorialiteracyconnection.ca.
Name the philanthropist of the year
You have until June 15 to nominate your favourite philanthropist for the 2018 National Philanthropy Day Awards Celebration, which takes place in November.
From philanthropists as young as five years old, to those who have made philanthropy a lifetime of work, the awards recognize the great contributions of philanthropy by people, businesses and organizations.
“National Philanthropy Day is an opportunity to celebrate the spirit of giving and the impact of this generosity on our community,” said Jessica Bell, chairwoman of National Philanthropy Day Victoria. “Philanthropy is about more than just large financial donations. We celebrate our young up-and-coming philanthropists, as well as our well-established community philanthropists, volunteers, community groups and more.”
Award categories include: Generosity of Spirit Award, Outstanding Fundraising Volunteer Award, Outstanding Philanthropic Community Award, Corporate Responsibility Award, Youth in Philanthropy Awards ages 5 to 10, and Youth in Philanthropy Award ages 11 to 18.
The closing date for nominations is June 15.
Hosted by the Association of Fundraising Professionals Vancouver Island Chapter, the event takes place at the Victoria Conference Centre on Nov. 16.
For more information and nomination forms, go to community.afpnet.org/ afpbc vancouver island chapter/ npd48/npd-awards-celebration.
South Park auction helps school
The South Park Family School is hosting an adult-only Auction Gala to help raise money for field trips, musical instruments, library furnishings and extracurricular activities, at the school, on Friday.
“South Park Family School is all about community,” said Samantha Muir-Vargo, auction co-chair. “Our annual auction is a great way to connect with the wider community by inviting them into the school, while also raising funds to enhance the kids’ school experience.”
The gala features a silent and live auction with a professional caller, with items not available anywhere else, including one-ofa-kind art pieces. There will be live entertainment, a cash bar and food donated by local eateries.
The event is hosted by the South Park Parent Association Committee of the independent public school, which welcomes children from Kindergarten to Grade 5.
Tickets are $10 at the door. Doors open at 6, the silent auction runs 6 to 7:45 and the live auction commences at 8 p.m., May 25 at the school, 508 Douglas St.
For more information, go to southparkauction.com.
Celebrate Victoria’s first Torah scroll
You are invited to join the local Jewish community in celebrations of the completion of the first Torah scroll in Victoria on May 27.
The Torah is a 3,300-year-old sacred text (containing the Five Books of Moses) written on a scroll of parchment. Made up of 304,805 letters written by hand by a trained scribe with a quill, the Torah has been the living centre of every Synagogue worldwide for more than two millennia.
The Jewish community will assemble, in the presence of religious and political leaders from Vancouver Island and beyond, to commemorate the event.
The event unfolds in three parts:
Part one begins at 1:30 p.m. when Rabbi Moshe Klein, fifthgeneration scribe from Jerusalem, will help with the scribing of the last letters of the Torah. The entire community, alongside dignitaries and officials, will be present at this historic event. This event takes place at the Comfort Inn, 3020 Blanshard St.
Part two is a parade that starts at 2:15 p.m., led by the Torah under a Chupah and accompanied by a marching band and a police escort to the Chabad Centre, 2955 Glasgow St.
After the procession arrives at the centre at 3 p.m., a concert will commence, with special guests Eli Marcus and Chony Mileck from New York.
For more information, go to chabadvi.org.