• View Scooter specs
• Download Special Application – Proudrider Scooter

Application deadline: Feb 29, 2012. 

• Watch what Jurgen Posselt, a BCPA Peer from Prince George had to say about gliding and BCPA.
• Read about the trip in the latest issue of The Spin.
• Looking for some adventure? Visit our SCI Information Database to help you find what you’re looking for. 

Chefs: Cory Parsons & Bert Abbott

On Wednesday 30^th November, the BCPA Peer Program Nanaimo held its annual “Evening in the Kitchen” event at the Nanaimo Curling Club. Peer Program Coordinator, and former chef Bert Abbott hosted the evening along with guest chef, and author of the cookbook “Cooking with Cory”, Cory Parsons.

The evening was a hit, over 50 guests turned up for an evening of fine food and a chance to catch up with other BCPA Peers before the holidays. Elizabeth Girard, a peer who attended the event said that the evening was “Absolutely Awesome…I couldn’t have had such a good meal in a restaurant.  I can’t wait for next year”. Another Nanaimo Peer, Kristy Tymos also commented that the cooking demonstrations Cory Parsons gave throughout the evening were inspiring “What stood out was I loved seeing people doing something that they worked at and mastered”.

For more information on upcoming Peer Program events in your region visit our Peer events calendar.

For more photos from the evening visit our Facebook page.

The Menu

Appetizer

• The Devil’s Eggs
• Italian Sausage Stuffed Mushroom Caps
• Prosciutto wrapped Scallops with Chipotle & Lime 

Salad

• Fennel-Apple Salad

Main

• Chicken Seville with Brown Basmati Rice

Dessert

• Caribbean Bananas Flambé
• Chocolate Truffles

Enjoy! If you have a story that you would like to share, contact me at bjacobsen@bcpara.org.

There are, however, a few blogs I do enjoy and do my best to read regularly. One of those is Dan Pallotta’s Harvard Business Review Blog. Dan provides a strong and passionate voice for changing the way non-profits are regulated, operated and evaluated. I share a great many of the views he expresses on how the restraint on nonprofits undermine their potential (also part of the title of his excellent book, Uncharitable). I draw inspiration and information from his blogs.

And, it is in the December 5th installment of his blog that I drew the inspiration for this, my inaugural blog. I Don’t Understand what Anyone is Saying Anymore. That’s the title of his blog entry, and increasingly, I don’t understand what people are saying either.

To be fair, I’m not referring to everyone. I usually get what my family and friends are saying – they’re pretty good about being honest and direct. They usually understand what they are talking about or admit when they don’t. They use plain, sometimes colourful, language. That generally goes for the staff and members of BCPA too.

Who then? Government, funders, business are prime breeding grounds for obtuse dialogue. It’s not hard to understand why. The demands of trying to do more with less has rapidly led to the need for new ideas on how to do business, how to evaluate progress and impact, and how to establish and monitor accountable practices (another overused and increasingly meaningless phrase). There are no easy solutions to the many challenges societies face these days, but for purposes such as job security people become “innovative” (see below) with their use of language to obscure the fact that they don’t have the solution – or that they don’t really understand what the challenge is.

The problem usually arises when people aren’t quite sure what they are trying to convey – when they don’t fully understand the nature of a problem or what a solution might be – and when they aren’t willing to admit to their befuddlement. In these situations, people tend to use big words and trite expressions. They insert a mélange of meaningless buzz words into ever increasing run-on sentences. What could be summarized in a two-page report becomes a 100-page tome infected by circular arguments and meaningless rhetoric. In other words, they tend to use way more words than necessary.

There are innumerable examples of meaningless language used these days by those not quite sure what they are talking about. Dan highlights a few: “thinking outside the box,” “value-add,” “low hanging fruit,” “paradigm shift.” A few of my pet peeves include: “innovative solutions,” “best practice,” “taking it to the next level,” “contagion.” In one place I worked, the use of the term “innovation” became so overused that it no longer had meaning. So, I tried to ban its use for all but its most literal applications. My campaign failed. It seemed the leadership didn’t understand what I was talking about.

In this blog and in all we communicate at BCPA, we will aim to be clear and concise. We’ll try to use meaningful language. We’ll try not to resort to the catch phrases of the day, and we’ll try to tell you something meaningful. From time to time, we’ll also try to have a little fun.

In his blog Dan states: “When I was younger, if I didn’t understand what people were saying, I thought I was stupid. Now I realize that if it’s to people’s benefit that I understand them but I don’t, then they’re the ones who are stupid.” I hope through the writings in this blog you’ll be able to understand me.

The Dominion Curling Club Championship organizing committee, including BCPA staffers Shelley Milstein and Gary Steeves, created a variety of fundraising initiatives for the event, kicking it all off with an online fundraising contest for curlers and their teams. The goal was to raise $20,000, however due to the sweeping energy and rock solid commitment of the curlers more than $32,000 was raised during the online campaign.

Curlers and their supporters joined in on the fun at the championship event raising funds through daily  50-50 draws, raffles, and a stellar silent auction. At the end of the tournament the curlers and their supporters had raised a total of $58,000 for BCPA, above and beyond all expectations.

Executive Director of BCPA, Chris McBride says “On behalf of BCPA, I would like to thank everyone who participated in The Dominion Curling Club Championship. Whether you were a participant, organizer, volunteer, or sponsor, each and everyone one of you succeeded in making The Dominion Curling Club Championship a ‘world-class’ event, not to mention the most important fundraiser of the year for BCPA”.

The funds raised will go to BCPA’s Peer Program which helps people with spinal cord injury (or related disability) and their families, adjust, adapt and thrive. Click here to learn more about BCPA’s Peer Program.

A special thank you to The Dominion Curling Club Championship

Online Fundraising results:

Top Individual Fundraisers

1. Gary Farr – Team BC
2. Kendra Nakagama – Team Alberta
3. Robyn Mackey – Team Nunavut
4. Brad Bibby – Team Saskatchewan
5. Danielle Sicinski – Team Saskatchewan

Top Team Fundraisers

1. Team YK, Women’s, Atlin Curling Club
2. Team Nunavut, Women’s, Iqaluit Curling Club
3. Team BC, Men’s, Ashcroft & District Curling Club
4. Team Alberta, Women’s, Lethbridge Curling Club
5. Team NS, Women’s, Mayflower Curling Club