Thursday - July 25, 2024 - New wellness app for local First Nation

🌧 High 20C

Good morning!

Since my kids started daycare, we’ve had a few bouts of health. I can’t take credit for the turn of phrase—I heard it on some video or another—but it is an accurate description of life with two young kids. We have moments of health between weeks of runny noses, gummy eyes, hacking coughs, and feverish nights. The kids, for the most part, handle it well, bouncing back from the latest viral infection with relative ease. My husband, not so much.

Who knew daycare germs could be so aggressive? I have my fingers crossed—with little real hope—that public school germs are more genteel.

– Grace

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Traffic & Weather

🌤 Local forecast: Langley | Chilliwack | Abbotsford | Hope

🚘 Driving today? Check the current traffic situation via Google, and find DriveBC’s latest updates.

🛣 Click here for links to road cameras across the Fraser Valley, including those for the Coquihalla, Highway 7, Hope-Princeton, Fraser Canyon, and Highway 1 in Langley and Abbotsford.

NEWS

The creek chronicler

There’s no place quite like Stoney Creek in Abbotsford—or probably the Fraser Valley.

And there’s no one quite like its self-appointed chronicler, Dave Rutherford.

Stoney Creek is a short stream that tumbles down the lower slopes of Sumas Mountain onto the prairie below. It weaves between cedars and maple leaves, its waters providing habitat for fish and other wildlife. Along its shaded flanks runs a rare trail where dogs are allowed to roam uninhibited by leashes. A series of bridges criss-cross the small stream.

Dave Rutherford moved nearby in the mid-1990s, but it wasn’t until five years ago that the retired elementary school teacher began coming to Stoney Creek Park everyday. He liked the massive trees, the quiet spaces and quaint bridges, and the people and the dogs.

He began to see, and care for, the park like it was his backyard. That meant picking up litter. And soon, it meant writing about it. What came next was a publication like no other—one that gave a tiny park its own monthly magazine and its own passionate reporter when it needed them most.

• Today, Tyler writes about another newsletter publisher who has created his own beat based around a tiny, but important, Fraser Valley park.

Related

Need to Know

👉 Langley Township is investigating how a far-right organization was able to rent one of the municipality’s halls [Langley Advance Times]

🚂 The BC Electric Railway line in the Fraser Valley is still used for freight, but in Burnaby, it has become a relic of transportation past [The Tyee] / You can read more about the BCER’s Fraser Valley line in our recent train Q&A [FVC]

🤝 An Abbotsford and Chilliwack dementia program is looking for more volunteers in the Fraser Valley [Abbotsford News]

🚒 A fire started in Agassiz Elementary Secondary School yesterday afternoon, but was quickly put out [Agassiz Harrison Observer]

🏥 Two teens were hospitalized after they were hit by pellets from BB-guns in Chilliwack early Monday morning [Fraser Valley Today]

🚑 A Surrey man died after he crashed into a tree in Langley last week [Langley Advance Times]

👏 Harrison musician Todd Richard was recently named an honourary firefighter for the village [Adam Louis/X] / We interviewed Richard about the return of live music after COVID-19 restrictions in 2021 [FVC]

🔥 A family on a walk near Chilliwack Lake Road was able to stop a grass fire from turning into a larger forest fire last weekend [Chilliwack Progress]

💰 An online fundraiser has raised more than $13,000 for the families of two Langley men killed in an avalanche near Squamish [Langley Advance Times]

🚗 An SUV crashed into a Chilliwack ditch Wednesday after the front tire came off while driving [Fraser Valley Today]

📉 The Bank of Canada has cut its key interest rate for the second time since June, and economists say interest rates could continue to go down [CBC]

📷 CURRENT CAM: Congratulations to Dave and Quentin (who responded at nearly the exact same time) for correctly identifying this week’s Current Cam as Central Heights Church in Abbotsford.

SPONSORED BY FORT LANGLEY JAZZ & ARTS FESTIVAL

Last day for online tickets to the Cool Blues Show

Today is your last chance to snag online tickets to the Cool Blues Show for just $65 before prices increase to $75 at the gate.

Tomorrow, July 26, from 4-11pm, Fort Langley Community Park will come alive with FIVE top blues acts, a beer garden, food trucks, a games area, and more! Don't miss out!

The Agenda

Sq'éwlets launches new Indigenous wellness app

The Sq'éwlets First Nation near the Harrison River has launched a new app to help its members connect with cultural teachings, language lessons, and harm reduction programs.

The q'eyéx app, developed with funding from the First Nations Health Authority and others, is described on its website as a “confidential and safe place to connect with ancient teachings, learn from elders and knowledge keepers, and up-lift the Sq'ewlets' ways of being.” The app includes stories from Elders, Halq'eméylem language lessons, daily check ins, and access to culturally-safe harm reduction programs.

More than 60 band members have signed up for q'eyéx since it launched two months ago, and have completed more than 2,000 teachings, according to the First Nations Health Authority. Sq'éwlets is one of four BC nations to have developed a wellness app through the health authority. The others include Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish Nation), Tla'amin Nation near Powell River, and Stz’uminus First Nation on Vancouver Island. The nation also has a “digital museum” website with a comprehensive history of the community.

New community cupboard open in Abbotsford

Abbotsford’s Seedling Church has opened a free community cupboard at its Busby Road location, in an effort to engage in what United Way calls “radical food sharing.”

The community cupboard is a collaborative effort between United Way and Seedling Church. Built by a local volunteer, the cupboard will act as a free pantry for locals in need. It will be stocked with non-perishable food, as well as diapers and hygiene products. The cupboard will be open 24/7, although donations will need to be brought to Seedling Church during office hours (11am to 4pm Tuesday to Friday, or Sunday mornings).

The cupboard is the second free pantry sponsored by United Way in Abbotsford. The first was opened in November of last year at Mill Lake Church.

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🗓 Things to do this week/end

🌱 Blackberry removal: The Langley Green Team invites the community to Routley Park in Langley on Saturday, July 27 to get rid of invasive blackberries. Details online.

🐉 Dragon boats: The Harrison Dragon Boat Festival returns to the lake on Saturday, July 27. Come as a spectator to watch hundreds of paddlers compete for medals, or register your boating team to compete. Details and registration online.

🍻 Cider celebration: Agassiz’s Homestead Cider is celebrating its one-year anniversary from Saturday, July 27 to Sunday, July 28. Food trucks will be on site all weekend, and the cidery will release a new flavour. Todd Richard will play live music from 4 to 7pm on Saturday and The Unbranded Duo will play on the Sunday. Details online.

Want even more? Insider members get a comprehensive events listing every Thursday, plus a weekly Saturday round-up edition with behind-the-scenes content. Becoming a member costs less than $2 a week and helps support the ongoing production of The Current’s newsletters and in-depth journalism. Become a member here.

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Catch up

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