What to do if you find Hazardous Garbage at Sunnyside Park or on the Dickens School Playgrounds

For Needles:

Parents/Guardians should contact the Needle Hotline at 604.657.6561 to report a discarded needle on school property or Sunnyside Park, and it should be picked up in about an hour.  

More details on the Hotline can be found here:

https://www.phs.ca/index.php/project/mobile-needle-exchange/

The VanConnect App can also be used (click on Garbage and Litter, then Abandoned Garbage, then Discarded Needle) to report a discarded needle.  The City will share this information with the Needle Hotline. However, this option may take more time before the needle is picked up. 

For Condoms:

Condoms can be carefully placed in a garbage bin by an adult.  

Alternatively, condoms can be reported on VanConnect as abandoned garbage (click on Garbage and Litter, then Abandoned Garbage, then Garbage/Miscellaneous Junk) on City Property such as Sunnyside Park. If found on the school playgrounds over the summer break, the Vancouver School Board (VSB) should be contacted. 

Have a wonderful summer! We look forward to seeing you again in the new school year on Tuesday, September 5.

© Charles Dickens PAC

FOR SALE - Nine Silent Auction Items

If you did not get a chance to bid on these 9 items at Spring Fling's Silent Auction, NOW’S YOUR TO BUY THEM!

These items did not have a winning bid at the Silent Auction.

If you are interested in purchasing any of these 9 items now, here are the rules:

1.     The item can be purchased for the purchase price listed.

2.     To purchase the item, send an email to dickens.pac@gmail.com with your name, a contact number (preferably a cell number), item number, and item name.

3.     Items will be open for purchase starting at 12pm on Saturday, June 24 until 12pm on Monday, June 26.

4.     Items will be awarded on a first-come, first-served basis - the first person to email about an item after 12pm on Saturday will win that item for the purchase price.

5.     We will contact the winners by the end of the day on Monday, June 26. All items must be paid for and picked-up by Thursday, June 29.

To see the items, click on this link: Silent Auction Items For Sale

The image below shows Item #255 Handmade Shelving System

PAC AGM & Elections

Our financials for this year, and a proposed budget for next year will be presented. 

If you'd like to know more about how PAC works and what we do, or are interested in possibly joining the PAC Executive for the next school year, contact Tamara Shand (Main) and Carol Duffy (Annex) our current Chairs, at dickens.pac@gmail.com to ask your questions - thank you!

Our SPRING FLING Photos & Videos are up!

To see our SPRING FLING photos and video clips go to

Facebook.com/dickensspringfling

Instagram.com/dickensspringfling/

"Solo Georgia Strait Crossing" Fundraiser

Division 9 parent, Don Urquhart, successfully completed his OC1 (Single Outrigger Canoe) crossing of the Georgia Strait, and raised $3,340 for Charles Dickens Elementary School. Bravo and much appreciation to Don! 

Don will also revisit select classrooms at Dickens Main to share his motivational experience of goal setting and execution. 

In his own words:
"The crossing went well. I did a fair amount of research on the Strait and trained as much as possible. I was really happy with respect to how everything unfolded and also learned a lot while I crossed. I set my schedule to the tides, flows and winds but underestimated my average speed in the first 22 miles and arrived an hour too early at my 25-mile waypoint. This made the next 1.5 hours of paddling brutal and it took a lot out of me. 

Once the hour passed and the tide went slack and turned, I was off again at good average speeds. I crossed in 8 hours which included my resting times: 3 to 5 minutes every hour and two 15 minute breaks.

I was really looking forward to seeing some wildlife along the way and maybe have porpuses or white-sided dolphins swim alongside me but I did not see anything except a couple of seagulls and a harbour seal - Lol!

I was a bit of a 'deer in headlights' experience on this crossing because I really had no idea how my body would respond physically. I had another mishap the night before I took the Ferry to Nanaimo. I was setting up my OC1 for Sat Nav and checking all the vulnerable areas of the canoe, when I noticed a slight fracture in my rudder cable. A friend came over to replace the part but when doing so, the internal cable housing broke which rendered the OC useless. 

I have a second OC1 but it's not a racing hull and weighs about 4 to 5 pounds heavier and was not properly fitted to me. I was crushed at this mishap and beside myself. Six months of prep and all of a sudden I am staring at my broken OC that cannot be fixed inside of two weeks. I got up at 6am the next morning and brought my other OC back to my home and did a refit of the OC plus an install of the brackets for the navigation devices. 

The OC performed perfectly and was a touch more work to paddle but I had a lot of sizable swell and wind in the first 22 miles so this made up for the extra weight.

Arriving at the Vanier Park boat launch at Kitsilano was a great feeling but once I stepped off the OC I kinda had to learn how to walk again for the first few meters. There was also a small welcoming party which was completely unexpected but so appreciated...Thank you!" www.facebook.com/Solo-OC1-Georgia-Strait-Crossing

17th Annual SPRING FLING at Charles Dickens Elementary

Thank You to everyone who came on Thursday, June 1 to celebrate with us! And a heartfelt Thanks to all our Donors, Entertainment Teams, and the 200+ Volunteers from our Dickens Community!

We are currently still in process of setting up photos & video clips on our SPRING FLING Facebook and Instagram, and will be sending out notes of thanks in the near future.