Free Swimming at Greater Vancouver Recreation Centres

Growing up in an immigrant family, we were all about free or inexpensive. My family knew how to stretch a penny, let alone a dollar. Free was the golden word, especially when it came to family entertainment.

If you live in Greater Vancouver, you will be happy to know that Westminster Savings sponsors free public swims at select recreation centres (see the list below). In addition, the City of Vancouver sponsors a free public swim twice a week at Britannia Pool in East Vancouver. Until April 26, 2015, Britannia offers free swimming between 3pm to 4:55pm every Tuesday and Thursday.

Yes, you read that correctly. Free swimming!

Last Sunday, my husband suggested checking out the free public swim at Eileen Dailly Pool. Unfortunately, the free swim conflicted with the little man's need to nap after having too much fun at Burnaby Central Railway (read about our visit here).

From the viewing area, the pool looked busy but not overly packed. We will have to try again as this looks like it would be a great family activity especially if you have young children.

UPDATE: August 2, 2015
We went to the free swim hosted by Westminster Savings on Sunday, August 2nd (aka the first Sunday of the month). Since the free swim was at 12:30, we arrived 15 minutes prior and lined up at Eileen Dailly. We could tell this was a popular event by the crowds who were scattered throughout the viewing area.

Here are some tips for those of you wanting to visit:

1. Arrive early (at least 15 minutes).
2. Bring a quarter to rent a locker for the locker room. There are a limited number of large lockers for rent; great for those with little ones.
3. Supervise your children. With the number of people who attend these free swims, you want to ensure their safety and the safety of others.
4. Be considerate of others. The showers in each of the washrooms are for you to quickly rinse off; not to spend 15 minutes lathering up. So please, be quick with it and do your full hair conditioning at home.
5. Lastly, thank Westminster Savings for their generosity! You can follow Westminster Savings on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or Instagram. Even better, go thank them in person at any one of their fourteen branches in the lower mainland.

**Please note that the free swims are subject to change. Please call before you go and arrive early.**

Free Swimming in Greater Vancouver

Location	Start	End	Location	Address	Phone	When
Burnaby	12:30pm	2:30pm	Eileen Dailly Leisure Pool	240 Willingdon Ave, Burnaby	604-298-7946	First Sunday of every month
Burnaby	7:00pm	9:00pm	Bonsor Recreation Complex	6550 Bonsor Avenue, Burnaby	604-297-4597	First Wednesday of every month
Coquitlam	7:00pm	9:00pm	Poirier Sports & Leisure Complex	633 Poirier Street, Coquitlam	604-927-6027	First Sunday of every month
Coquitlam	7:00pm	9:00pm	City Centre Aquatic Complex	1210 Pinetree Way, Coquitlam	604-927-6999	Third Friday of every month
Langley	2:00pm	4:00pm	WC Blair Recreation Centre	22200 Fraser Highway, Langley	604-533-6170	Second Sunday of every month
Maple Ridge/Pitt Meadows	2:00pm	3:30pm	Maple Ridge Leisure Centre	11925 Haney Place, Maple Ridge	604-467-7322	Last Saturday of each month
New Westminster	2:30pm	4:30pm	Canada Games Pool	65 East 6th Avenue,New Westminster	604-526-4281	First Wednesday of every month
Port Coquitlam	1:00pm	3:00pm	Hyde Creek Recreation Centre	1379 Laurier Ave, Port Coquitlam	604-927-7946	First Sunday of every month
Surrey	2:00pm	5:00pm	North Surrey Recreation Centre	10275 City Parkway, Surrey	604-502-6300	Last Saturday of each month
Surrey	6:00pm	8:00pm	Newton Recreation Centre	13730 72 Avenue, Surrey	604-501-5540	Second Sunday of each month
Surrey	3:00pm	5:00pm	Surrey Sport & Leisure Complex	16555 Fraser Hwy, Surrey	604-501-5881	Third Sunday of each month
Surrey	1:00pm	4:00pm	South Surrey Indoor Pool	14655 17 Avenue, Surrey	604-502-6220	First Saturday of each month
Vancouver	3:00pm	4:55pm	Britannia Pool	1661 Napier St	604-718-5800	Tuesdays and Thursdays* until April 26, 2015

Please let me know via the comments form below if there are more recreation centres in Greater Vancouver that offer free swims! :)

Source: Westminster Savings and City of Vancouver

#EatCarrotsForBrice - Sunday, April 19th

I read a story that made me smile today.

Photo Credit: Brice Royer via Vancouver Sun.

A fellow Vancouver resident, Brice Royer, posted an ad on Craiglist offering "Unconditional Love For Sale $0". His ad was listed in the real estate section and was seen by many house hunters frustrated by the increasingly unaffordable housing prices in Vancouver.

As I dug more into Brice's story, I discovered that he had founded a website called Gift Economy which encourages people to Pay It Forward. What's more is that Brice has been battling stomach cancer for the past three years which left him allergic to many foods. As a result of Brice's food allergies, he can only tolerate carrots. So Brice eats carrots three times a day, every day.

Brice's kind act did not go unnoticed. A social media campaign #EatCarrotsForBrice was launched to honour Brice.

The only thing Brice wants is for everyone to show a little carrot love on Sunday, April 19, 2015. It all started when his mom took funny pictures of herself eating carrots and this made Brice smile.

Brice wants people to post pictures of themselves eating carrots to raise awareness for allergies during World Allergy Awareness Week which runs from April 13th to April 19th.

So please, show Brice that we "carrot" about him and help raise awareness for those with allergies.

Here's how:

1) Take a picture of yourself and/or loved one(s) eating carrots. Creative submissions are encouraged.

2) Upload your picture to social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Imgur, Google+, etc) and tag it with the hashtag #EatCarrotsForBrice. Let's get it trending on Sunday, April 19th!

Source: CTV News, Vancouver Sun, Gift Economy

Liar Liar

The Internet has exploded in the last 24 hours.

Last night, as I was browsing Facebook, a friend shared an article written by The Science Babe for Gawker. I clicked on the article titled "The "Food Babe" Blogger Is Full of Sh*t" bemused to see what had my friend so excited that she captioned it "This. Is. Awesome."

The Food Babe, wait, that name sounds familiar. I have seen that name recently in the news. She had something to do with Subway Restaurants removing the yoga mat chemical from its breads. At that time, I thought, "Way to go girl!".

I am all for eating whole foods, DIYing and making things from scratch. Well, actually, most of that came as a result of my son being diagnosed with multiple food allergies. I had no choice. I used to love making things from scratch, as a hobby. Now I do this full time, as an allergy mom, to keep my little man safe.

Anyhow, I digress.

As I was reading through the article, still amused, I was craving popcorn. This is the kind of article you read with glee, because it is well written, funny, witty and full of zingers. It's the type of material that has been missing in my life since The Colbert Report went off the air. 

The premise of the article Yvette Guinevere (aka Science Babe) set forth were examples of how The Food Babe does not base anything she writes on factual scientific evidence.

It was all fun and games until I came to the last part written about The Food Babe's advice for her followers (aka The Food Babe Army) on eating out. According to Yvette, The Food Babe apparently gave advice to her followers to "Go as far as telling the server you allergic to butter and dairy, soy and corn."

 

Does The Food Babe know butter is dairy? Read her ramblings here.

I was so curious to see if this was true. So I clicked on the link and I was redirected to another page written by The Food Babe refuting the Gawker article. WTF. Where's the article Yvette was referencing.

Was Yvette lying?

So I searched "Food Babe + Food Allergies" and found the page Yvette referenced.

True enough, The Food Babe tells her followers to lie about having food allergies.

WHAT THE F%#&*$(% IS WRONG WITH YOU WOMAN?!?

Who tells people that?

As a mom of a child who has food allergies, I cannot fathom why anyone with such a mass following would tell people without food allergies to lie. No thanks to her, her 2011 article and The Food Babe Army, they are trivializing food allergies.

Lying about food allergies is not a laughing matter for the 15 million Americans with food allergies. In Canada, where I live, 2.5 million Canadians live with at least one food allergy. Until my little man was diagnosed with peanut and almond allergies, I had no idea how having a food allergy can change one's life. Families with food allergies are always on guard: reading, checking and rechecking labels, calling food manufacturers, monitoring food recalls, making foods from scratch, trying to advocate for the food allergic child(ren), being excluded at social events, and dealing with real a-holes who believes those with food allergies should "Darwin" themselves, among many other things. Many families have watched their loved ones in full blown anaphylaxis and some families have lost their loved ones due to food allergies. It's not something I would wish on my worst enemy.

Oh yes, the joys of living with food allergies! And now we have to deal with dipsh*ts like The Food Babe and The Food Babe Army too? Oh hell no!

So when the Food Babe tells The Food Babe Army to go lie about allergies due to a lifestyle choice, I take offense. In fact, The Food Babe is not the only one who advocates lying about food allergies. Todd Wilbur of Top Secret Recipes (who creates restaurant copycat recipes) boasts faking a food allergy to find out the ingredients at a restaurant. The only difference is Todd does not tell his followers to do so.

This is straight from his About page. No jokes.

I take serious issue with both The Food Babe and Todd Wilbur when tell others they have (air quote) food allergies. This belittles the seriousness of those living with an actual food allergy. Like others pointed out, how many people go around lying about having cancer?

This lying goes beyond the issue of the waitstaff and those in the restaurant industry who may not take food allergies seriously because another Food Babe or Todd Wilbur is lying about having food allergies. It speaks to The Food Babe's and Todd Wilbur's moral character, lack of ethics and their willingness to say and do anything to make a quick buck. Not to mention the most important thing: they are putting the lives of those with food allergies at risk!

Instead of lying, why not CHOSE to tell the TRUTH?

The Food Babe can tell her followers to ask for an ingredients list when they are at a restaurant. Ask the chef if a certain dish contains GMOs, butter, dairy, soy or corn. (FYI: Butter is dairy!) Or even better yet, make your own food at home, like those with real food allergies. Todd Wilbur can ask restaurants for their ingredients list without taking advantage of sympathetic staff who thinks poor Todd has a food allergy, and undermining the lives of those who have food allergies.

My suggestion to The Food Babe, Todd Wilbur and anyone else lying about having food allergies, stop lying already.

To quote The Food Babe, her rule is "If a third grader can't pronounce it, don't eat it." 

Here's my rule: "If a third grader knows it's wrong to lie, you (The Food Babe, Todd Wilbur and The Food Babe Army) should know it too."