Community Conversations: Addiction & Mental Health

Guy Felicella

With Guy Felicella

Friday, April 25th
7:30pm

(doors open at 7pm)
at the home of North Shore Unitarians
370 Mathers Ave, West Vancouver

Guy Felicella grew up in a middle-class home in British Columbia — but due to trauma, undiagnosed ADHD and difficulty at home and school, he fell into addiction at a young age. Guy spent 30 years in the repeated cycle of gangs, addiction, treatment, and jail. He spent nearly twenty years residing in a two-block radius in Vancouver’s notorious Downtown Eastside. Miraculously, with sheer determination and the help of others through harm reduction and recovery, Guy managed to survive the HIV/AIDS crisis in the DTES, two decades of being homeless, multiple life-threatening bone infections, and six drug overdoses.

Today, Guy has escaped the grips of the turmoil that kept him suffering and currently resides with his wife and three young children with over a decade of recovery and sobriety under his belt. Guy is passionate about advocating for the vulnerable people who still suffer with addiction/mental health and is adamant about educating communities on the importance of a full spectrum of care from harm reduction to recovery and to eliminate the stigma that exists around drug addiction.

Hear Guy’s inspiring story and learn about how you can help your loved ones who may face similar challenges.

Learn more about Guy’s story at his website.

Space is limited to 120 participants, so pre-registration is required by April 21st. ($15/person).

If you need assistance with your registration or prefer to pay by credit card over the phone, please call our Main Office: 604-926-1621 during Office Hours (M-F, 7am - 2pm).

April's Outreach Recipient: Ocean Wise

Each month, 100% of our offering plate (unless otherwise noted) is donated to a non-profit organization whose mission is in line with our values. We call this “Outreach”.

During the month of April, our Outreach recipient is Ocean Wise.

Eight years ago, the Vancouver Aquarium expanded to become Ocean Wise, a global conservation organization focused on protecting and restoring our world's oceans. They do this by improving marine habitat and capturing carbon by monitoring and restoring kelp, tackling plastic and chemical pollution, ocean noise, and organizing shoreline clean up events.

They also work to protect whales by minimizing the negative effects of human activities, such as commercial fishing and shipping on their ability to communicate, navigate, forage, and reproduce. 

You may donate to our Outreach Collection for Ocean Wise anytime during the month of April by dropping your donation into the offering plate — or using another payment option clearly marked as “Outreach”.

Newsletter Deadline: Monday, April 7th

The Board has decided to change our Newsletter schedule to release 3 newsletters per year, instead of 4. 

Our next newsletter will be released April 15th and will cover the months of April, May, June & July. 

If you have any contributions for the newsletter, please send them to Janni by April 7th. Your submissions should be as Word documents or in the text of an email (not a PDF).

Contact Janni if you have any questions.

Two Special Guests April 6th

On Sunday, April 6th, we’re welcoming two special guests to our 10:30am service: Randy Burke and Luke Wallace.

RANDY BURKE

When COVID struck in 2020, ecotourism in BC was facing total shut down. In our April 6th service, we’ll hear a first-person account of a pivot that salvaged biomes and livelihoods at the same time: the Marine Debris Removal Initiative. Longtime NSUC member Randy Burke, owner of Bluewater Adventures, will tell us the story of the expeditions, featuring action shots of crew hauling debris from beaches to barges.

Randy is a Bluewater Captain. He has taken thousands of guests on memorable adventures along the BC and Alaska coast over 20 years. See his full bio.

Luke Wallace

Kicking off Earth Month for us will be guest musician Luke Wallace, a local composer whose songs lift up the message of people acting together for the planet.

Luke is a dynamic force in the world of folk music, using his talent as a songwriter, speaker, and choral arranger to champion environmental causes and inspire positive change. Hailing from the Coast Salish Territory known as Vancouver, Canada, Luke has been on a decade-long journey of touring, recording, and organizing for the betterment of people and the planet. See his full bio.

We hope you’ll join us for this special service!

Scheduled Breeze Maintenance: 7-9 PM Thursday, March 27th

Breeze is doing a scheduled maintenance upgrade on Thursday, March 27th from 7-9pm Pacific Time. Breeze will not work while this 2-hour upgrade is underway, but will be back in service and better than ever after the upgrades are complete.

Here’s what to expect during maintenance:

  • You will not be able to access your Breeze account

  • Emails and/or text messages scheduled to send during the maintenance window will send after completion

  • Online Giving will not process, and attempts will result in an error

This outage will include updates to Breeze that will enhance the reliability and performance going forward.

(If you are a contributing congregant and would like access to Breeze, please reach out to Janni in the Main Office. Janni will confirm by phone that you are really you [not a scammer], and can then set you up with Breeze access).

WANTED: Your Stories of the Supernatural

Last year, Alison Nixon (our Music Director) did a service called "The gift of Atheism" where we celebrated life from an atheist/ agnostic perspective. I would like to do a future service that embraces people’s mystical or supernatural experiences.

If you have had a “Spiritually Transformative" experience of any kind, in any context, Alison would love to hear about it! Please reach out to her by phone (778-688-2912) or email (alisonnixon@hotmail.com). Once she has a group of several people, she will likely have a Zoom meeting or meet after church to share our stories and our learnings. Some of these stories and learnings will then be incorporated into the service.

Movie Night - ARRIVAL (2016)

Join the North Shore Unitarians* for Movie Night: Friday, March 28th. Doors open at 6:45, film starts at 7:15pm.

The featured film, “Arrival” (2016) was directed by Canadian Denis Villeneuve. Nominated for 8 Academy Awards, it's categorized as Sci-Fi Mystery and Thriller Drama; running time is 1 hr 56 min.

Quote from review on Rogerebert.com: "a movie designed to simultaneously challenge viewers, move them and get them talking".

Plot summary on website Rotten Tomatoes (critics' rating 94%): “Linguistics professor Louise Banks (Amy Adams) leads an elite team of investigators when gigantic spaceships touch down in 12 locations around the world. As nations teeter on the verge of global war, Banks and her crew must race against time to find a way to communicate with the extraterrestrial visitors. Hoping to unravel the mystery, she takes a chance that could threaten her life and quite possibly all of mankind."

Light refreshments provided (including popcorn), with beer and wine for sale.

Tickets are $20 at the door (or you can buy them ahead of time from Andrea Fast). Proceeds go to NSU.

See the Trailer.

Questions: contact Andrea (andreafast@shaw.ca) at 604-910-2847.

* Address for North Shore Unitarians: 370 Mathers Avenue in West Vancouver.

Garden Work Party rescheduled for March 29th, 9:30am - 2:30pm

Rescheduled for Sat. March 29th
(weather permitting)
9:30am — 2:30pm

We are asking for a minimum of four sturdy workers to place soil on our new garden. We also need two workers to rake the soil as it is placed, and volunteers to help with beverage and lunch service (as coffee, tea and lunch will be available for our workers).

Please dress for the weather and bring these tools if possible.

  • Your own coffee mug plus:

  • Gloves

  • Knee pads

  • Clippers

  • Lawn rakes

  • Spades (pointed shovel)

  • A wheel barrow, if possible.

Please RSVP by Thursday at noon to both Brian and Jean as we need a count for the tea, snacks, and sandwiches:

Guitar Interest Group - continuing every other week with Kerry Burke

The Guitar Interest Group is continuing every other week with Kerry Burke as the leader. Upcoming dates:

  • March 11th & 25th

  • April 8th

  • May 6 & 20th

The Guitar Interest Group meets at 7pm in the Sanctuary. All skill levels welcome — and you don’t even have to have a guitar to participate!

Contact Kerry Burke if you have questions.

The March 11th session will feature CANADIAN songs, including:

  • Early Morning Rain in C-Gordon Lightfoot

  • Four Strong Winds in G-Ian Tyson

  • Both Sides Now in G-Joni Mitchell

  • Long May She Run in D-Neil Young

  • Anthem in C- Leonard Cohen

  • Angel in C- Sarah McLachlan

  • Bird on a Wire in A-Leonard Cohen

  • My Heart Will Go On in E- sung by Celine Dion

  • Hallelujah in G-Leonard Cohen

Watch this space for upcoming themes at future sessions.