Recent Media

March 28, 2011

 Above and beyond the call of duty

Photograph by: Wayne Leidenfrost -PNG, The Province

Surrey firefighters have pledged $150,000 that will help support Surrey’s new Outpatient Care andSurgery Centre set to open in June.

It has become second nature for Surrey’s firefighters -often the first responders in emergency situations -to help improve the lives of the citizens they serve.

The level of commitment shown by the city’s 390 firefighters goes far beyond the call of duty.

“Our firefighters in the last 10 years have donated over a million dollars to our charities right out of their payroll deductions, and that’s something we’re very proud of,” said Surrey Fire Fighters Association president Chris Keon.

Continuing their tradition of giving back to the people, the Surrey Fire Fighters Charitable Society has come forward with a $150,000 pledge for the 100 Days to Give campaign benefiting the Surrey Memorial Hospital Foundation. Donations will directly support the new Outpatient Care and Surgery Centre to open in June.

“No other charitable group -excluding those that are directly affiliated with the hospital -has given as much to us over the years as the Surrey firefighters,” said Surrey Memorial Hospital Foundation president and CEO Jane Adams. “It’s in their nature to give to the community, and they deserve all the respect they get.”

Keon says the charitable society is involved in many different community programs and fundraising initiatives, including the annual Mayor’s Gala Ball, running a thrift store and providing nutritious snack programs to kids in schools.

He says the firefighters themselves run the society, so there’s absolutely no overhead, with 100 per cent of donated dollars going back to the community in some way.

One of the mandates of the society, he says, is that any money raised in Surrey stays in Surrey.

Adams tells The Province the firefighters were among the first groups to get on board this campaign and were also major donors in the hospital foundation’s last two campaigns.

Recently, they donated $500,000 to the Emergency Centre Campaign to address mental-health and addictions. In recognition, one of the areas of the new ER to open at Surrey Memorial Hospital in 2013 will be named the Surrey Fire Fighters Mental Health and Addictions Crisis Response Unit.

“Our mandate is very simple. Our goals and objectives are simple,” says Keon. “They’re just to provide relief from poverty and to assist members of the community that have been affected by traumatic wounds and events. We raise money for medical and health-care research and to provide bursaries for community service. We sponsor programs that promote kids staying in school and we try to deliver programs that offer positive life experiences and enhance kids’ self-esteem.

“All of those put together, I think, make a stronger community.”

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November 11, 2010

Laying a foundation for community health

By Staff Writer – Surrey North Delta Leader
Published: November 11, 2010 6:00 AM

• Surrey Firefighters Charitable Society has delivered the latest gift in its $500,000 pledge to Surrey Memorial Hospital Foundation’s Emergency Centre Campaign. Foundation board director Bruce Hayne and president and CEO Jane Adams thanked firefighters for their latest contribution of $70,000, which will support mental health and addictions treatment within the new Emergency Centre, scheduled for 2013.  Sarah McDiarmid

posted August 2009

Gold, silver, bronze and a few broken noses

The largest World Police and Fire Games has wrapped up, but local police and fire fighters in Surrey and Delta have plenty of souvenirs to remember the event by.

A few broken noses, a dislocated shoulder, a leg injury and even a concussion. Nothing too serious.

And dozens of medals in events ranging from boxing to barefoot water-skiing.

Local winners included a Delta Police officer who took home seven medals and set a games record in one event, a retired Surrey fire-fighter who took home six medals, a Surrey Mountie who won the Tai Kwon Do event and a retired Delta Fire Department captain who out-fished the world.

Surrey:

The Surrey RCMP team took gold in paint ball.

Const. Russell Kim took gold in Men’s Tai Kwon Do, while Cpl. Jon Heron (with Cpl Tom Norton from RCMP headquarters in Vancouver) won a silver medal in Men’s Team Biathlon (running and shooting) and Const. Peter Neily won a bronze medal in the Open Men’s 50 metre Breast Stroke.

Surrey fire fighters won 10 gold, 18 silver and eight bronze medals.

Former Olympian Shelley Morris (high jump) took gold in the toughest competitor alive contest, a gruelling series of challenges that includes an obstacle course, bench press competition, rope climb, shot put, swimming, running and pull-up events.

Shelley also won gold in javelin.

Bill McNamara, who appears to be enjoying an active retirement, won six medals, including gold for finishing first in his category in a race up the infamous Grouse grind.

Doug Low won gold and Josh Hobson took silver in the bench press, Chris Szostak took gold in wrestling in his weight class, while Mark McRae took bronze.

Andy George won two gold medals in cycling.

George was on the Surrey Fire gold-meal-winning triathlon team with Brad Shirley and Aaron Jamieson.

Scott Kent harvested four silver medals in track, including one as a member of the Surrey 4X4 400 metre relay teams with brothers Mark and Dan Bertoia.

Nancy Innes took silver in the stair climb competition.

Farah Fahimi took home silver in women’s triathlon.

The Surrey fire softball and over-35 soccer teams took silver.

Jeff Oliver won two silver medals in the fishing contest.

Brian Woroniuk took bronze in arm wrestling.

Scott Solomon took gold in barefoot water skiing.

Lorne West won two silvers in water skiing in the jump and trick categories. Corey Walters won a silver and bronze in slalom and trick water skiing.

The Games wrapped up Sunday with a colourful, raucous party at Swangard Stadium that included costumes, dancing, a flyover by the Canadian Snowbirds and a performance by the rock band Trooper.

More than 10,577 athletes from fire, police and correctional services departments in 56 countries participated in the Games, which awarded 2100 medals. The next Games will be held in New York City in 2011, the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks.

dferguson@surreyleader.com

Superman, meet Supermom.

Juggling a career, recreational pursuits and a family life — complete with a husband and two kids — is no problem for Surrey’s Shelley Morris. Nope, what she needs is a challenge, and she may have found it at the World Police and Fire Games.

Morris, a 12-year firefighter with Surrey fire department, will test her stamina to the limit in one of the games’ showcase events, the Toughest Competitor Alive (TCA) competition.

Surrey firefighter Shelley Morris, 37, will test her rehabbed knee during the World Police and Fire Games, July 31 to Aug. 9.

Sharon Doucette/The Now

“There are two reasons I chose to do this,” said Morris, 37, a former track star at Simon Fraser University. “The first was to give me a goal to rehab towards. When I was lying on the couch with my knee torn apart, I thought the best way to get me motivated to work out every day, on the physio and stuff, was to have an end goal.

“The second reason was, to put it simply, all of the events in the competition are things I can do. I did shot put when I was a heptathlete in university. I used to be a lifeguard, so I can swim, and I can run because I did that in the heptathlon as well.”

The World Police and Fire Games run July 31 to Aug. 9 at assorted locations scattered across the Lower Mainland. Surrey is home to more than 380 competitors in the WPFG, the most of any community in the province. The Surrey athletes represent Canada Corrections, Surrey fire department, BC Corrections, Canadian Border Services and the Surrey detachment of the RCMP.

Morris is one of those athletes from Surrey, and she will be busy during the games. Less than a year after she suffered a devastating knee injury, Morris will compete in women’s hockey, shot put, javelin and the bench-press events. The biggest event for her, however, is on Aug. 1 in Coquitlam, where she will dig deep to try to conquer the challenges presented in the Toughest Competitor Alive competition.

How tough is it? Well, the TCA involves eight separate events rolled into a single day of competition, including a five-kilometre run, shot put, 100-metre swim, bench press, 100-metre sprint, an arms-only rope climb, chin ups and military-style obstacle course.

Morris had originally planned to compete in volleyball and the high jump in the WPFG, but those plans took an abrupt detour when she snapped her patellar tendon playing volleyball last October. Facing a lengthy rehab, Morris shifted her plans to accommodate her situation — she was not allowed to do any jumping for one year — and looked for something that would play to her strengths, in particular her heptathlon background and her strong upper body. Even while rehabbing her knee injury, Morris was able to work at events that focused on the upper body, such as the bench press and the chin ups.

The toughest part has been working her knee back to health.

“When I started physiotherapy, he had me doing exercises just raising my leg,” she recalled. “That’s it, but I needed to do that just to build up the muscle. I almost needed to learn how to walk again. I was weird because I was dragging my toe a bit and the physiotherapist had to remind me to actually put my heel down when I walk.

“It was so strange to have to actually think about how to walk and then how to run. It was a weird, weird concept for me to have to basically start from square one.”

To help stay motivated throughout the long rehab process, Morris focused as much as she could on the goal of competing in the WPFG. She and her husband, firefighter Rash Dhillon, competed at WPFG in Sweden in 1999, when she won gold in high jump and silver in heptathlon.

This time around, the knee injury pushed her out of her comfort zone and into the unknown territory of the dreaded TCA competition.

“I’m most nervous about the five-kilometre run, which has to be done in under 30 minutes,” she said. “I know it’s doable and knowing myself, I’ll push myself until I want to puke. That in itself makes me nervous. Plus, any time you get to a starting line in a race, the butterflies naturally pop up. The other events will go by much quicker, so there’s no time to get really nervous about it.

While the thought of the long run makes her nervous, Morris says the toughest event will most likely be the rope climb, an event for which she is having a hard time training, given an lack of suitable ropes to practice on.

Another concern is the obstacle course, which involves a series of barriers and one section of dragging a heavy weight.

“I’ve seen pictures of it on the website and I know what it is comprised of, but I have no way to actually try it,” she said. “I know what I have to do, but I can’t actually do it until the day of the competition.”

Morris has been warned there is a huge learning curve between the first and second time a competitor takes on the TCA. Since this is her first-ever crack at the TCA, she knows she’ll be at a disadvantage to the other athletes who have done it at previous games.

“My goal is just to go for it and to bring lots of recovery drinks and maybe a few snacks,” she said. “I think we’re giving us something like 15 minutes between events, so we could get worn down pretty quick.”

As the days elapse and the date of the start of the WPFG draws nearer, Morris admits she is getting antsy. Fortunately for Morris, as she knows from her track days, that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

“The nervousness never goes away but at the same time, it’s exciting,” she said. “I think that’s also why I’m in this job. Some people thrive on that nervous feeling — you either do well with it or you crumble. I am nervous about it and I am excited about it, but I know if I didn’t do this I would totally regret it. And I definitely don’t want to have regrets.”

When Mike Starchuk met his future father-in-law — a neighbour at the time — he had no idea of the impact he would have on his life.

As a teen, Starchuk was intrigued with the man’s career as a firefighter and decided he wanted to learn more.

Starchuk described his future father-in-law as an inspiration.

He was upbeat and always had a positive outlook on life, despite the horrible things he came across.

“If I lived across the street from a welder, I probably wouldn’t be a firefighter,” Starchuk chuckled.

So, at 21, he began his career with the Surrey Fire Fighters Association as a volunteer.

He was hooked from day one.

“I think from the very first time I found myself inside a house where you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face, and you’re told to go see if someone is in the bedroom or bathroom or anywhere else, well, the adrenaline rush was irreplaceable.”

And his journey began.

Over his many years at the department, he has been a trainer, a mentor and an inspiration to those around him.

Starchuk is heavily involved in organizing charity events, both for the fire department and for various community organizations, including the Variety Club and the Child Development Centre.

“I work in Surrey, why would I not live here,” he said.

And for Starchuk, living means helping others.

He said one of his many blessings is having a family that supports his many projects.

“I wouldn’t have been able to do lots of these things without having a family that understands that I had to be away,” he said.

“The amount of time I’ve spent with my family may be lesser than others, but they got to see the end results and what makes me happy about doing it.”

Simply put, Starchuk does what he does to help others.

“I do it because you can see the results on people’s faces that need it the most,” he said.

“It seems like no matter how small of a thing you do for people, the reward they get is far greater than what you could ever imagine.

“When you have time to do a little bit, do it, because a little bit a lot of times makes a big difference.”

From the beginning of his career, he has done just that and has helped the lives of countless people and organizations in Surrey.

And now, more than 25 years into his career, he has followed in the footsteps of his father-in-law.

On July 2, he received the same award that his father-in-law received 14 years ago: the Red Powell Award.

It is awarded to someone who has been with the fire department for 20 years or more and serves the community, in addition to the department.

On the award, right above Starchuk’s name, is his inspiration — Ken Field, his father-in-law.

Amy Reid, Special to Surrey Now

Published: Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Santa arrived on his sleigh bearing gifts at the Save-On Foods in Newton Friday morning.

But his sleigh was a motorcycle and his gifts were bags of canned foods instead of toys.

It was all part of the Surrey Food Bank’s Christmas in July campaign.

                       

Santa and one of his helpers were in Newton Friday to help the Surrey Food Bank promote its campaign.

Sharon Doucette/The NowJuly is typically the slowest month in terms of donations, so the campaign aims to remind the community that people need help at this time of year.

Shirley Jensen, director of development for the Surrey Food Bank, said recession makes it hard to judge whether donations are down, because the food bank can’t tally things up until the year’s end.

But Jensen said there is a 30-per-cent increase in the number of people who need help.

That’s why the Surrey Food Bank set up camp in the Save-On Foods parking lot, dressed in red and green Christmas gear, playing Christmas carols, all the while with Santa and his motorcycle greeting passersby.

During the day, the food bank accepted donations and were busy educating people about the Share a Bit of B.C. Goodness coupons, something that the Surrey Food Bank does year round, that can be purchased at any grocery store.

The $2 proceeds from each coupon will go toward helping people in Surrey, North Delta and part of Surrey.

“We’re really using this campaign to bring awareness to the coupons, so that people are aware that they’re available,” said Jensen. “We want to get people to notice it more and carry on and do better throughout the year.

“It’s a very easy way to help the food bank. When you check out, add $2 to your bill. If you do it every time you shop, it really starts to add up and really helps us with buying the things we need for our hampers.”

And the day turned out well, said Jensen. At 11:30 a.m. the Surrey Food Bank was presented with a cheque for $5,000 from the Surrey Fire Fighters Charitable Society.

Larry Thomas, President of the Surrey Fire Fighters said “the funds we are donating today are ear marked for the Food Bank’s Tiny Bundles program, which assists the unique nutritional needs of pregnant and nursing moms, and infants from birth to 1 year of age. Nutrition during pregnancy and a baby’s first year is of critical importance to the child’s health and development.”

Thomas thanked Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts and Council for their assistance with helping raise the funds for the Fire Fighters charity. Proceeds from the Mayors Gala Ball go to the Fire Fighters Charity to assist them with helping children and the less fortunte in our community.

In addition to that, the food bank received more than $500 in donations from people in the community and did what it intended to do – get the word out.

“This campaign is a huge help to us,” Jensen said. “We need to make up for the shortfalls in summer months.

“Summer vacation doesn’t mean hunger takes a vacation. Please, buy a $2 coupon, add it to your list and think Christmas, today.”

Published: July 22, 2009 10:00 PM
Updated: July 23, 2009 11:38 AM

Fire fighters turn up the heat on Burn Camp kick-off in Cloverdale

Fire fighters from various Surrey Fire Halls volunteered to host the Burn Fund Camp kick-off in Cloverdale on Sunday. Back row Curtis Klassen, Hall #15 Clayton Heights, Mark Bertoia, Hall #8 Cloverdale, Dan Amos, Hall #11 Boundary Park, Matt Corrin, Hall #12 Crescent Beach, Jason Pargee, Hall #4 Guildford, Pat Sheeley, Hall #18 Fleetwood and Terry Hunt (hidden). Front row: Andrew Duncan, Hall #1 Bear Creek, Freedom Sukenik (and daughter) Hall #3 South Surrey, Burn Fund president Mike Hurley, Marc Fournier and Farah Fahimi (fire fighters and camp counsellers) and Surrey Fire, Todd Schierling, SFFA registrar, and SFFA president, Larry Thomas.

Surrey North Delta Leader Published: July 20, 2009 7:00 AM Updated: July 20, 2009 4:43 PM

Burn Camp a splash with the kids