You're invited to attend Sheila’s Celebration of Life at North Shore Unitarians, honouring long-time NSU Member who passed away last October. See her obituary here.
Tax Receipts Issued February 11th
Janni issued 2025 Tax Receipts on February 11th by email (for those with an email address) and by mail (for those without email).
If you donated in 2025 but did not receive a tax receipt, check your Junk or Spam folder. If it's not there, or if you have questions about your receipt, contact Janni in the Main Office.
Donors who give through CanadaHelps get their tax receipts from CanadaHelps (not from NSU). More info at https://www.canadahelps.org/en/receiptdownload.aspx.
Casserole Lunch this Sunday
After the service on Sunday, February 8th, you're invited to join us downstairs for a casserole lunch arranged by Dianne Hicks and Barrie Forbes. (Suggested $5/person).
The Hands That Feed Us - film screening & discussion with filmmaker Devon Cooke
film screening and discussion
with filmmaker Devon Cooke
Friday, March 13th at 7pm
(doors open 6:30pm)
Admission by donation ($10 suggested)
Light refreshments on offer
Filmmaker Devon Cooke sets out to find out why his dream of becoming a farmer seems so impossible. The film chronicles Devon's journey and five Canadian farmers as they cope with border shutdowns, labour shortages, market closures, and wild price swings. When the crisis is over, will it be business as usual, or will our farmers create a stronger, more local food system?
Road closures on Hadden will result in detours weekdays starting Feb. 16th
The District of West Vancouver has an upcoming sanitary sewer upgrade project along Hadden Drive between Mathers Avenue and Southborough Drive. Work is scheduled to begin the week of February 16 and is expected to be completed in July . Construction will take place between 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Monday to Friday, or as needed to complete the project.
PW Trenchless Construction has been hired to carry out this work. There are planned road closures along Hadden Drive with each road closure depending on the construction progress. There will be detour routes in place, as needed. Please see this PDF containing additional information. Feel free to reach out if you have any questions.
Apparently, people coming from Deep Cove, North Vancouver, and Lynn Valley on westbound Hwy 1 will not be impacted by the detours. But on weekdays from 7:30am to 5:30pm, people coming from Horseshoe Bay or West Vancouver on eastbound Hwy 1 will need to:
Drive past the Taylor Way exit,
exit at Capilano Road
get back on the freeway headed West
take the Taylor Way exit
immediately turn right on Hadden and then Mathers
On weekends, Hadden drive should be accessible — so this won’t impact your drive to NSU on Sundays. You will only need to use the detours on weekdays — and the detour routes should be clearly marked.
If you have any questions regarding this work, please contact Trevor Ngo at 604-499-2475 or tngo@westvancouver.ca, from 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Monday to Friday.
Experiment with Light Meditation
Experiment with Light is a meditation process from the Quaker tradition. Each session has a short check-in; a half-hour lightly guided meditation; 15 minutes journaling; and 15 minutes sharing.
We will meet on zoom from 7 to 8:30 pm on the 2nd Monday of each month starting February 9th.
More information at https://experiment-with-light.org.uk/
Mary Bennett (from VanU) has been attending a semi-monthly “Light Group” for over two years. In the last year she has started facilitating and would like to share this practice with Unitarian friends.
Email: unitarianmary@gmail.com with questions or to register. Maximum 10 participants
Bagel Lunch
After the service on February 15th, you're invited to join us for a Bagel lunch (suggested $5/person).
Scrabble! (After lunch on Feb. 15th)
Scrabble Game Afternoon
After lunch on Sun. February 15th
1-3pm in the sanctuary
You’re invited to this FUN and FRIENDLY event, which is open to all, regardless of skill level. Sign up on the bulletin board in the stairwell, or simply show up! We hope to see you there.
February Outreach: Pathways Serious Mental Illness Society
Each month, we raise funds for a registered charity whose mission is in line with our values. We call this “Outreach”.
During the month of February, we are collecting donations for Pathways Serious Mental Illness Society — a local organization consisting of families of loved ones living with a serious mental illness helping other families with this shared experience. They help families through support, education and advocacy. They’re a volunteer-driven and membership-based family support organization doing ambitious work. Their programs and services are based on a peer support model and include one-on-one support, peer support groups, skills-building workshops and Family-to-Family educational program. Family Peer Support Volunteers all have lived experience of caring and supporting a loved one with a serious mental illness.
Please label your contribution as “Outreach”, whichever payment method you use to donate.
Updates to our Grocery Receipt Program
Over the years, we've raised thousands of dollars in "free" money for the church through our Grocery Receipt Program.
Here’s how the program works: We've made arrangements with two local grocery stores (West Vancouver IGA and City Market at Park Royal). For every $5,000 in grocery receipts from their stores, they give us a $25 (or $50) gift card -- which we sell at face value to someone in the church who shops there, and the money from the sale is donated to the church. In other words: for every $5,000 in receipts, the church gets $25 (or $50) of "free" money.
Marie Bensley was originally in charge of our Grocery Receipt program -- and then she handed it over to Nora Coates. Since 2024, the program is monitored by Linda Pratt. Linda sorts donated receipts for the two stores, add them up (so they are in bundles of roughly $5,000), send the packets to the store manager, and "sell" the donated gift cards.
If you shop at either of these two stores, please save your receipts! Bring them to the church and place them in the folder on the bulletin board in the stairwell. This is a great way to earn “free” money for the church!
Similarly, if you shop at either of these stores — please let Linda know if you’d occasionally be willing to purchase gift cards (at face value) for those stores, to help her convert the gift cards into cash for the church.
UPDATE:
As of January 2026, City Market at Park Royal is offering a drawing and will award a $25 Gift Card to one of our shoppers from each batch of $5,000 that Linda submits. See the sign in the stairwell for complete details, but basically, here’s how this NEW program works:
Buyers who shop at City Market at Park Royal are invited to go online to complete a brief “tell us how we did today” survey (linked at the bottom of your receipt). If you strongly agree to all the survey questions by giving them a 5 out of 5 rating, simply write your name and phone number on the back of the receipt. You will then be eligible to win a $25 City Market Park Royal Gift Card.
Each time Linda submits a batch of $5,000, one name will be drawn for the $25 gift card — so your chances are very high of winning!
(The store Owner/Manager, Doug Huntington, has assured us that your name and phone number will be kept confidential — and he will personally contact the winner using the phone number they provide).