Nearly 60 people dug themselves out from a snowstorm on Sunday, Feb. 2 to celebrate the Lunar New Year at the Alberni Athletic Hall.
Families from the Port Alberni Chinese Canadian Society watched the traditional lion dance to mark the start of the celebration, which Stephen Ho led with incense, firecrackers and "luring" the lion with lettuce, signifying health and prosperity. Members shared a buffet provided by Beijing Grand restaurant owners as well as other members.
This year is the Year of the Snake according to the Chinese Zodiac.
A large part of the celebration each year is making donations to different community organizations from profits made at the annual Chinese food booth at the Alberni District Fall Fair.
"This year we did better than usual but we had some bigger expenses," Tsai said. The society had to replace some appliances for their food booth, which was expected. What wasn't, however, was having to build a temporary structure after the Port Alberni Fire Department inspector said their booth was in violation of a fire code just one day before the annual Fall Fair started. The society will have to address the issue going forward.
"The community was wonderful once again. Despite the hiccups we actually sold more food," Tsai said. The Chinese Canadian Society raised just under $10,000 after expenses. Half of that goes back into the society for events and bursaries. The other half is donated back to the community.
This year the Chinese Canadian Society donated $1,000 each to the Alberni Athletic Hall Society, Salvation Army, Alberni District Fall Fair Society and West Coast General Hospital Foundation.
Dana Surry, who manages the Athletic Hall with Daniel Paulino-Garcia, said the donation will help keep costs down for user groups. "We're a non-profit society so any money that we get goes back into the hall," she said.
Salvation Army Major Michael Ramsay told those gathered that the donation will fund programs that help the city's vulnerable people. The Salvation Army manages the city's food bank, helping hundreds of families every month. They run the Bread of Life soup kitchen, which serves 700 meals every day to people in need. They also provide meals to people in the shelter, the tiny home village and through the mobile food truck.
The shelter at the Bread of Life "has been full to capacity in weather like this (sub-zero temperatures and snow)," he said.
"You do make a difference in everybody's lives."
Post-secondary bursaries of $500 each were also announced for Joseph Tsai, Andrew Liang, Elaine Tao, Winston Tao and Simon Zhang. The society also manages bursaries for Alberni District Secondary School students.
