Tuesday - June 18, 2024 - How to get a free A/C unit

🌤 High 21C

Good morning!

I probably spend too much time thinking about soccer. This June, things are reaching a climax. The Euro and Copa America tournaments are both starting, meaning I have a soccer game in the background as I write this. I play for a co-ed team part-time—but only when the schedule doesn’t overly conflict with the soccer being played by my kids.

Those three levels of soccer are delightfully different. You don’t need me to tell you that coaching a team of kids is very different from organizing an adult’s team or tactically setting up a team of pros. But I do like reflecting on my most-important duties when it comes to coaching my son’s team of eight-year-olds.

Preparation is important, of course. I’ve now learned to make sure the kids have all gone to the bathroom before kick-off. Motivation is also crucial, which is why I now spend the entirety of the half reminding kids to run to the ball. (They’re always happy and eager to do so when reminded.)

Then there are the tactics. I prefer to keep my defenders high up the field. This helps us offensively while making us susceptible to counter-attacks. But a good high defensive line is useful, I believe, because it reduces the amount of time our defenders spend chatting to each other, gazing at the sky, looking at the flowers, picking their noses, dancing amongst themselves, talking with the goalkeeper, playing patty-cake, yelling at the dog on the side of the pitch, and twirling in place until they’re dizzy and can’t get up.

We finally celebrated our first win of the season last week. I would never take the credit for the kids’ hard work and declare it the result of brilliant coaching. But our noses-picked-to-goals ratio has never been higher.

– Tyler

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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

How to solve farming’s plastic problem

For more than a decade, Agassiz farmers have been fighting to recycle their twine, feed bags, bale wraps, and other plastics.

Ever since a temporary agricultural recycling program fizzled out in 2012, a small group of dairy farmers in Agassiz have been devising ways to keep their plastics out of the landfill. They spent their own money to send plastics to specialized recycling centres for years, regrouped when a local depot closed, and partnered with a Canada-wide recycling team.

But external funding is close to running out for the project. And although another stop-gap program is in the works, local farmers still worry a lack of funding will send their plastic back to the dump.

• Today, Grace looks at the barriers farmers face to recycle, and explores what can be done to help save the decade-old program.

Related

Need to Know

🔎 Drugs, tobacco, and SD cards were seized from inmates at an Abbotsford prison [CTV]

🥞 Cultus Lake Days this weekend will feature live music, a parade, and beach activities [Chilliwack Progress]

🥽 Langley’s Drive-In Theatre is leaving town, but the Aldergrove Community Centre is offering a special dive-in theatre night next month [604Now]

⛳ Abbotsford’s Nick Taylor has qualified for Canada’s 2024 Olympics golf team [Golf Canada]

📉 New research shows the most likely location of a massive “Big One” earthquake off the Pacific Coast [CBC]

👉 A 37-year-old Dewdney man died after falling from a boat into Nicomen Slough on Friday [Mission Record]

🐻 A big backyard black bear surprised long-time Fort Langley residents last week [Langley Advance Times]

🔎 BC Coroners Service refused an autopsy for a man with epilepsy; BC has one of the lowest autopsy rates in the country [CBC]

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SPONSORED BY THEATRE BC

Six nights of live performances

Mainstage is coming to Chilliwack! Six different plays to see from July 1-6 - a week of entertaining performances as part of the Provincial theatre festival. Each night of Mainstage features a performance chosen as tops in its region - the best of community theatre in BC. Choose the individual shows you want to see, or a full week package; get Mainstage tickets today via the Chilliwack Cultural Centre box office.

Mainstage 2024 also offers a variety of acting and directing workshops, led by professionals associated with the Arts Club of Vancouver.

Mainstage is one of the longest running theatre traditions in Canada. This year’s festival is hosted by the Chilliwack Players Guild at the Chilliwack Cultural Centre.

The Agenda

More people eligible for a free air conditioner

Thousands more BC residents are now eligible for a free portable air-conditioner unit to help them withstand the summer heat. Additional funding has increased the eligibility for a program that provides free units to low- and middle-income households across the province.

Those eligible can get a portable unit and have it installed for free. Eligibility is based on income: the threshold is set at $39,700 for one-person households, $49,500 for couples, and $73,800 for four-person homes. You can find eligibility details and how to apply here. Renters must still get approval from their landlord.

The province expects the increased funding to cover units for 19,000 more households across the province.

Get home insurance before wildfires break out, residents urged

BC residents are being urged to make sure they have fire insurance before wildfires take hold in the province.

At a news conference last week, Emergency Management and Climate Readiness Minister Bowinn Ma noted that home insurance policies typically cover wildfires, but that it can be difficult to get insurance when a wildfire is located anywhere nearby (or, sometimes, not-so-nearby). Many companies don’t allow people to get new insurance when a fire is within 50km. That means that it can be tough getting insurance in Chilliwack even if there’s a fire on the opposite side of the valley.

With few active fires in the south of the province, Ma urged residents to get fire insurance before new blazes begin to spring up.

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