February 2012
- Cover Story Start this Year off with Huge Savings!
- VIV Cover Story 7th Annual Green Solutions Trade Show and Speakers Forum
- Celebrity: Denise Tacon By Judy Stephan
- Seniors Special By Judy Stephan
- Letter From A Mediterranean Cruise By Shelley Crawford
Cover Story
Start this Year off with Huge Savings!
By Judy Stephan
Island-born internet entrepreneurs, Fraser Paterson and Nadine Shemilt, have created an amazing service called www.islanddailydeals.com that will let you enjoy all the best activities Vancouver Island has to offer while saving you 50% to 95% off LOCAL products and services. Island Daily Deals offers new AMAZING deals everyday on all the best things to see, eat and do across Vancouver Island. Using the power of group buying, they negotiate out of the world
deals for you with amazing local businesses , so all the consumers get a
great deal while businesses experience viral marketing with guaranteed
new clients coming in their door. It's a win-win for everyone!
Both Nadine and Fraser studied at VIU, are Chamber and YPN
members and were finalists in the Innovative Start-Up of the Year. Nadine
is an experienced realtor with Realist Realty, while Fraser comes
from a financial planning background - Together they are an indomitable team who can help your business get viral advertising and introduce
your product or service to consumers at a whole new level. Island Daily
deals has more than 10 000 local email subscribers and 5000 facebook
fans - just think how that sort of exposure can help your business!
Businesses featured include: ACMe Food Co. (1000 sales), the
Modern Cafe, Cottonwood Golf Course, Splitsville Entertainment,
Spas (Maffeo's Salon & Day Spa, Tru Spa, CHOP Salon, and many
more), Travel Deals (Weigh West Marine Resort) and many more.
Feature your business today and get:
- 100's of new clients walking through your front door
- Through their social media they have a reach of over 40,000 people
- Word of mouth and viral advertising
Vancouver Island Voyager Cover Story
7th Annual Green Solutions Trade Show and Speakers Forum
March 17 - 18, Nanaimo
The Mid-Island Co-op is pleased to present
the 7th Annual Green Solutions Trade Show & Speakers Forum, March
17th and 18th in Nanaimo. The Beban Park Social Centre will be buzzing
with exhibitors from several cities on Vancouver Island, showcasing
the many ways consumers can reduce their carbon footprint. The event
is free to attend and is open to the public.
This 'must see' event offers ideas for energy saving, new products,
sustainable food choices, and eight informative and interactive seminars.
New this year is the Eco Kids Zone, where children can participate
in eco-related activities while their parents explore the exhibitor
booths and attend the presentations.
"Living Green has become a household phrase, and people are
looking for simple ideas to do their part," says Susan Urban, community
relations officer for the Mid-Island Co-op. "The Green Solutions
Trade Show is a way consumers can interact with experts and find ways
to save energy and make environmentally conscious lifestyle changes
- from using less water to choosing bio-friendly products to building a
home that meets LEED certification standards."
Urban says the 2012 Green Solutions Trade Show & Speakers
Forum will be even better than previous years as word has spread about
the event. "We will have presentations from experts including Jack Anderson
from Green Plan, Bob Burgess from Rainwater Connection, and
Michael Schellinck from Nanaimo Recycling Exchange. Having the Eco
Kids Zone, sponsored by Woodgrove Centre, is a great addition to this
year's show to help get the whole family thinking Green."
100% of Mid-Island Co-op's profits are returned to the community
through re-investment in the Co-op, equity allocations to our members/
owners, and through contributions to community organizations.
For more information, please contact Susan Urban, Community
Relations Officer for Mid-Island Co-op at 250.729.8413
or susan@midisland.coop
Celebrity - Denise Tacon
By Judy Stephan
I have known Denise Tacon for well over a year now,
and she is a powerhouse. Born in Northern Ireland, she moved to Victoria
when she was 5. She has been associated from the ground up with
the hospitality industry for 31 years - from back of house, to front of
house, and eventually management and consulting. She initially studied
Theatre Arts at The University of Victoria and University of Windsor,
and complimented this with writing and technology courses at
Camosun College and St Clair College- which laid the perfect creative
and technical backdrop for her future career at hosting conferences.
Now, many years later, she is the General Manager of Vancouver
Island Conference Centre. Her resume is impressive: From opening 2
hotel-based event facilities, to being a meeting specialist in both the
Hilton and Mariott Hotels, to owning her own restaurant, Denise has
also staged conferences in Ontario, where she lived for 13 years. Her
biggest conference was the Organization of American States Summit
held in Ontario in 2000. This involved high level security for over 30
visiting Prime Ministers, a 4-block chain-link perimeter fence, and cooperation
with the police, coast guard and swat teams. This earmarked
her as a woman who could do anything. After the birth of her daughter,
she moved back to Victoria and she was chosen for the Nanaimo
position. Ironically she refused the position 3 times, remembering the
Nanaimo she came to know when travelling up Island with her father
as a child. Her preconceptions yielded a certain hesitation, but once
she came to see the city all these years later, she realised what amazing
potential it had. She accepted the position in 2007 prior to opening,
and started selling the facility while still in a hard hat. She facilitated
and assisted every department operating procedure; each element of
stock orders and operating supplies; and worked closely with designers
on aesthetic purchases and designs.
Driven creatively and statistically, Denise believes in high quality
service; the best in service delivery and the team that does this; and remains
competitive within the industry following trends, market analysis,
comparing other conference centres, their pros and cons and their
income strategies. She is proud to be part of the progress and evolution
of Nanaimo, specifically the Downtown core, and to be part of its
revitalization and transformation from what she sees as a cocoon to a
proverbial butterfly.
Denise lives in Ladysmith with her husband and daughter, and aspires
to one day have the time to pursue her love of writing, painting
and perhaps to share her experiences with others through teaching and
motivating.
Nanaimo Magazine wishes Denise her every success in her future
career as the Vancouver Island Conference Centre grows from strength
to strength from year to year.
Seniors Homes - Aging with Grace!
By Anne Middleton
Physical movement is often described with fluid words such
as "Grace"! Yet as we age our bodies become stiff and rigid, even sore, and
movement becomes less fluid, and sometimes painful. Activity and exercise is
important to the aging process - Frequent careful exercise creates better skeletal
support and movement.
Exercise activities also ward off depression and low feelings, by boosting our
all important endorphin receptors - our 'feel good' hormones. When released,
this wonder hormone gives that happy relaxed feel back to life, which is so
important to seniors dealing with loss, loneliness or isolation.
Moving the body daily is essential to vascular health - keeping the heart
healthy, arteries clear and blood pressure low. Also the body's joints need
movement to maintain viscous fluids and help prevent arthritis from settling
in. Lastly, but most importantly, the health of the brain is always improved
with physical activity, decreasing brain rigidity and the onset of dementia, and
keeping cognitive abilities sharpened.
For various reasons many seniors are unable to walk or get about
without an aid of some sort. From simple and practical to high tech,
aids are now available through specialty stores; these mobility shops
are popular on Vancouver Island simply because of our vast aging
population.
If stability poses a problem, or diminishing eyesight creates both
a safety hazard as well as instability, a simple cane may be just the
answer to keep up daily activities. From crutch canes, providing
leg balance, to the full lean on 'walker' or 'Zimmer' frames giving
full body support, aids provide the chance for walks and fresh air.
Scooters and power wheelchairs can provide yet another group,
suffering greater disabilities, the freedom to be out and about and
independent.
Shopping for mobility aids can range from simple home care aids to
the expense of stairwell lifts and power chairs. These decisions often
require help from family or companion aids. If exploring the outlets
that provide such equipment, consideration must be given to:
- Does the shop provide in-home assessments?
- Are all products sold with maintenance and installation by bonded staff?
- Is the shop a Certified Dealer for homecare products?
Letter from a Mediterranean Cruise
By Nicky Upton (Sheffield, England)
Dear Voyagers,
I recently had the pleasure of a 7-day cruise through the
Mediterranean. It was a good time to see some of the treasures on offer in this world,
where modern meets ancient, and live together in harmony. Driving from Barcelona
Airport to the ship, I noted the hustle and bustle that is a modern city. People hurried
to work cutting across the motorway lanes, not noticing the majesty of churches that
poke their spires up among the high rise blocks.
Once on board the ship we set off to Toulon, built to accommodate the growing
need for naval development in France. It is quite unattractive with its square,
utilitarian apartment blocks. However, once you reach the outskirts, you find yourself
in countryside kissed by the late autumn glow with green fields, bronze leaves and the
road snaking along the coast to the magnificent hilltop villages built many centuries ago
to fortify the Provence region - and which stare at the
valleys below continuing their age-old role without
recognising the peace that has reigned in Europe for
over 70 years. We wandered through the streets of
Castellet, with its tiny-doored houses and rampart
walls. The imagination ran riot as we looked out from
the ladies' balcony, and envisioned the ghosts of
medieval knights riding home from bygone crusades
with their ladies watching them.
From there to Saint Sanary Sur Mer, a pretty
seaside resort so typically French with tiny boats
bobbing jauntily in the harbour, the residents sitting
in cafes putting the world to rights whilst draining
wine or coffee. Young bucks impressing girls on their
mopeds whilst the old stags engage in boule which
they take as seriously as wartime strategy.
Next was Italy and the splendour of Pisa. I had
visited Florence before and marvelled at its beauty,
but nothing could have prepared me for Pisa. We hear
of the Leaning Tower but Pisa has so much more to
offer. The palatial opera house with its intricately
carved doors, the Basillica with its exquisite religious
paintings around the edifice. Look at the front and
you draw breath, walk around the building and it
takes your breath away. The chapel dedicated to the
mother of God echoes with the respect of times past
for a woman held in high esteem. A lion graces the fortified walls above
the ancient gate, so long unused. Here in Pisa you live, eat and breath
history.
On to Naples and the Ruins of Herculaneum. Pompeii has always been
the star of this part of Italy but it doesn't hold a torch to Herculaneum.
Only a tiny piece of it has been uncovered by archeologists and due to
financial restrictions work is on hold, but the buildings are amazingly
preserved and the frescos and mosaics are in some parts as crisp as
they were when made. Destroyed by the same volcano that saw the
end of Pompeii, it suffered a different fate. It was buried by mud from
landslides and then covered by lava. The deaths of the people were
not captured in time by the lava as in Pompeii, but were subject to
their brains exploding because of the intense heat. On display are the
skeletons of a family, beautifully preserved with the breaks in the skull
as it was forced apart and shattered. Such an interesting place to visit
and complimented by a trip to a cameo factory to see how the age-old
tradition of shell-carving continues as a modern tourist industry as it
did 2000 years ago when the Romans came to holiday in Herculaneum.
Such amazing experiences remind me how lucky I am to live so close
to living archives. We are fortunate to be the custodians of the past
for our short lives. One day someone may be wandering through our
streets trying to uncover and understand the way we live, but if they
find a mobile phone, will they be as inspired as I was by those mosaics,
frescos, buildings, villages? I doubt it.
