ALL VOLUNTEER CONFERENCE 2015
Speakers
Message from Wendy Toyer, Executive Director of ALS Society of BC
Dear Volunteers,
On behalf of the ALS Society of BC and people affected by ALS, thank you. Our Society can only provide
the many support services we offer for people living with
ALS, their families and caregivers because of you. It is
because of your volunteerism our organization
operates with less than 15% administration costs. This directs the majority of funds raised going towards improving the quality of life
living for people with ALS and research to find an
effective treatment and ultimately the cure.
In my position I have the privilege of meeting and working with our volunteers in communities throughout B.C. and
the Yukon. Not only are you volunteering for ALS BC, you are my cherished friends. We
all share the same dream of a world without ALS. Working together this dream will come
true. From the bottom of my heart thank you all.
Wendy Toyer, Executive Director
ALS Society of BC
Wally Buono
Wally Buono enters his 12th season as Lions general manager and his third as
VP, football operations. Wally retired as Lions head coach following the 2011
season, a record-setting run that saw him lead the Lions to nine playoff
appearances; six appearances in the Western Final and a crossover visit to the
Eastern Final as well as two Grey Cup Championships in 2006 and 2011.
Wally stepped down as Lions head coach in December 2011 following the
Lions’ Grey Cup win over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. His stable and patient
approach in 2011 not only resulted in the club’s sixth league title, it also
earned him his fourth Coach of the Year honour.
In a coaching career that spanned 22 years in Calgary and BC, Buono led his teams to 13 regular season division titles and
five Grey Cup championships. In 2009, Buono surpassed Don Matthews’ 232 victories to become the all-time leader in
coaching wins and finished his amazing career with a regular season record of 254 wins, 154 losses and three ties. Wally
is also the Lions’ leader in career wins as head coach with 101. His consistency and success were previously recognized
with the CFL’s Coach of the Year Award in 2006, 1992 and 1993.
In recognition of his numerous accomplishments as a coach and general manager, Wally will enter the Canadian
Football Hall of Fame in the Builder category later this year.
Born in Potenza, Italy, in 1950, Wally moved to Canada in 1953 with his family, later playing minor football in Montreal.
He attended Idaho State University and was a linebacker for the Bengals. Wally returned to Canada and played 10
seasons with the Montreal Alouettes as a linebacker and punter, appearing in 152 games. Shortly after his retirement,
Wally tried his hand at coaching, landing an assistant position with the Montreal organization in 1983. Four years later,
Wally found himself in Calgary where he worked under Larry Kuharich until 1990 when Stamps president Norman Kwong
hired him as head coach.
In addition to his accomplishments as a coach and administrator, Wally is a noted contributor to the community and was
recognized for his work with the Paul Harris Award in 2001. Wally continues to donate a significant amount of time as an
ambassador of the Royal Columbian Hospital Foundation and as a spokesperson for the Heart and Stroke Foundation.
Among his charitable efforts, Wally is actively involved with Operation Christmas Child, giving presents of clothing and
toys to children of impoverished nations. Following the passing of his good friend and former teammate Tony Proudfoot
in 2010, Wally lends his support to the ALS Society of BC’s WALK for ALS.
Wally and his wife Sande have four children, Amy, Dayna, Christie and Michael and four grandchildren, Jonah, Lucas, Jack
and Lucy.
Gord Shannon
Gord was born in Vernon, British Columbia, and was raised in various locations in
BC. He has been a dedicated member of TEAM ALS BC & YUKON for the past 12
years and he is an inspiration in his community, consistently taking on important
volunteer leadership roles with a smile.
Professionally, Gord has worked primarily for Bel Group of Companies in a
number of diverse roles and locations such as Operations Coordinator in the Lower
Mainland, Vice-President of Operations in the Kootenay Region, and as General
Manager in the Kootenay Region. Gord’s self-determination and
encouraging team-building attitude shines through his work and volunteerism.
In 1997 Gord was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis in September, just before his 43rd birthday. He began to
focus more of his attention to helping others and in 2002 began volunteering for the ALS Society of BC as a member of
TEAM ALS BC & YUKON. Gord has been the West Kootenay Walk for ALS Coordinator since 2005 and has helped to raise
awareness and funds for patients and research for the past 9 years. Last year, thanks to the leadership of Gord and the
community of West Kootenay, they raised $27,457 in support of ALS.
Above all else, Gord cherishes his loving wife of 32 years, his two
wonderful daughters and his two rambunctious grandsons.
Garland Coulson
Garland has spent over 25 years mastering time management. At first, He was
determined to learn time management for his own career, but soon found
himself helping others wherever he worked. For the last 15 years, he has been
a time management speaker trainer and coach, helping thousands of people
get more done in less time.
Garland calls time management the “missing” skill they don’t teach in school
or university. No matter how brilliant or talented you are, if you are always
running out of time, you can’t apply your skills to their fullest.
Time management isn’t just about work. One of the reasons Garland loves to
teach time management is so that people have more time for what is important in their life. Time for family, friends, community and passions. Time just to be a human “be-ing” instead of a human doing. More time for those moments that take your breath away…
Dr. Neil Cashman
Dr. Neil Cashman is a neurologist-neuroscientist at the University of British
Columbia and Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute working in
neurodegeneration and neuroimmunology. His special areas of work are the
amyloid encephalopathies, such as the prion illnesses, Alzheimer’s
disease, and motor neuron diseases, particularly Amyotrophic Lateral
Sclerosis (ALS).
He joined the McGill Neurology and Immunology faculties in 1986, and
accepted the Diener Professorship of Neurodegenerative Diseases at the
University of Toronto Department of Medicine (Neurology) in 1998. In July
2005, he was appointed Professor of Medicine at the University of British Columbia, where he holds the Canada Research Chair in
Neurodegeneration and Protein Misfolding Diseases, and has laboratories in the renowned Brain Research Centre. He is
Scientific Director to PrioNet Canada, a Network of Centres of Excellence focused on basic and applied research related
to prion diseases.
He is Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Amorfix Life Sciences since 2005, a public company developing therapeutics
and diagnostics for protein misfolding diseases. He is the author of over 300 publications, and provides expertise and
guidance to numerous scientific, medical, and governmental committees related to his research interests. Special
honors recently received include the Jonas Salk Prize in 2000 for “outstanding contributions to basic biomedical
research,” his election to the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences in 2008, and in 2012 the Genome BC Scientific
Excellence Award.
Aliya Dossa
Aliya Dossa is a TEDx speaker and one of Canada’s Top 25 Under 25
Environmentalists. Four years ago, she co-founded “Youth 4 Tap”, a
movement encouraging people to drink tap water instead of bottled water
across Vancouver, Calgary, and Toronto. She has learned firsthand about the
power of youth leadership and engagement, but has learned that ultimately,
the best recipe for change is one that involves people working together across
generations. Currently, she studies economics and philosophy at UBC, with a
deep interest in fostering behavioral strategies for change. She also works as
a youth sustainability facilitator with Metro Vancouver and Dream Generation,
and played a key role in developing the sustainability strategy for Canada’s
2014 Special Olympics Games. In her free time, she loves to sing, dance, play
her guitar, and talk to strangers.
As a Public Speaker, Aliya believes that when we share our stories -- both of success and failure -- with one another, we
open doors to profound learning opportunities. She is passionate about engaging audiences on a variety of subjects such
as youth engagement, intergenerational collaboration, environmental sustainability, and the profound power of
connecting with one another.
Advocating for environmental responsibility in her community as a leader in sustainability, Aliya has received special
recognition including: TD Merit Award for Community Leadership (2012), Remarkable Women of Vancouver (2014), 1st
Place Maple Leaf Youth Award (2011), Jack Layton Youth Award for Sustainability (2012), National Loran Finalist (2012),
Youth Environmental Star (2011), RE/MAX Quest for Excellence (2012) and Coast Capital Savings Citizenship Award
(2012).
Sylvia Kerfoot
Sylvia’s 15 years on the Canadian National Freestyle Ski Team (Moguls) were filled with
highlights including spots on five Canadian World Championship Teams, a Bronze and
Silver Medal at the 2006 Canadian Nationals and a second-place finish at the 2008
World Cup. Currently an event manager and community marketing advisor for RBC
Royal Bank Sylvia supports the BC regions for community and regional events, and
sponsorship
activation.
In 2009, Sylvia’s sister-in-law Pauline was diagnosed with ALS. Pauline’s journey has
taken her family around the world. They continue to create memories everyday that
her family will have for a lifetime. In 2012 Sylvia participated in the Richmond-Vancouver Walk for ALS where she was able to present a grant as an RBC Olympian to support
the ALS Society in BC. Cindy Lister for ALS Cycle of Hope
ALS Cycle of Hope provides an annual opportunity for families to
help raise funds, ALS awareness and inspire hope for other families living with ALS.
The ALS Cycle of Hope 2015 team will leave on August 6th, 2015 from Kamloops, B.C. and will travel through the
townships of Salmon Arm, Vernon, Kelowna, Penticton, Osoyoos and finish in Keremeos B.C. on August 12th, 2015. Our
mission is to promote ALS awareness and to inspire hope for families living with ALS.
- See more at: www.cycleofhope.ca
Quinn Callander
Quinn is a seven year old, grade two student who lives with his parents in Maple
Ridge, BC. Quinn is a Beaver Scout who takes his Beaver law very seriously: “A
Beaver has fun, works hard and helps take care of family and friends”.
When Quinn learned that his good friend Brayden needed expensive surgery that
was only available in the USA, he wanted to start fundraising to help Brayden’s
family pay for the surgery. Brayden lives with cerebral palsy and has difficulty
walking without a leg brace, he also falls down often due to his lack of balance.
Quinn had attended one of Brayden’s physiotherapy sessions, and had witnessed
him going through the daily painful stretching exercises that were required to keep
his muscles loose and allow him to walk. The surgery would allow him to walk
without the use of the leg brace and to avoid the painful treatment’s he had been
enduring.
Quinn set his mind to reaching a goal to raise the $20,000 needed to cover the
surgery expenses. Quinn held a very successful lemonade stand, that along with a crowdfunding website his Mom set
up, Quinn was able to raise over $61,000 to cover the cost of his friend’s surgery.
The story of the lemonade stand went viral and landed both Quinn and Brayden on the TV show The Doctors. Because
of the success of his fundraiser, Quinn was able to “pay it forward” and also help a second child afford to have the
same life-changing surgery.
Quinn has continued to speak about the importance of helping friends who are in need and giving back to our
communities by volunteering. Sometimes the simplicity of a seven year old child’s perspective can sum it up easily: if
you have a friend who needs help, then you should help them.
Marife Fabros
Marife was born and raised in the Philippines. She graduated with a Bachelor of
Science in Nursing at Lyceum of the Philippines University in Manila.
Upon graduation, Marife moved to Vancouver, Canada to be closer to her
family. In 1997 she began working with Dr. Andrew Eisen as Nurse Coordinator at the
ALS Centre at GF Strong Rehab Centre. Her unwavering passion for
contributing to excellent patient services and care for those living with ALS is the reason why she is one of the longest standing employees at the ALS
Centre. Marife has been working at the Centre for over seven years, and is proud to
be Nurse Clinician and Research Coordinator at the ALS Centre.
It is thanks to dedicated healthcare professionals like Marife that the ALS
Centre can provide ongoing outpatient assessments, interventions, consultations and educational services to people
living with ALS.
Since 1997, Marife has been an active volunteer with the ALS Society of BC. Her ongoing involvement and coordination
with the Society is instrumental in marrying the successful relationship between the ALS Centre and the ALS Society of
BC.
Steve Darling
Steve Darling is the co-anchor of the #1 rated morning program in BC. He started his
career in radio as a producer and then moved behind the
microphone working as a disc jockey at JRFM radio.Then, he moved to CKWX as a
sportscaster helping to start the all newsstation News1130. Following that he moved
to BCTV covering sports and anchoring weekend mornings and the News Hour.
In 2001 he became the co-anchor of the Global BC Morning News.He has
covered numerous stories including 9/11, the Olympics and provincial elections.
He was honored for his work on the Vancouver Olympic announcement and won the
RTNDA award for top live programming for the 2012 Christmas Wish Breakfast.He
was also awarded the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Medal for his
community service.
Steve hosts numerous charity events and is the ALS Ambassador for the PGA of BC Golfathon and Honorary Chair of the
Ronald McDonald House.
He is married to Jen and has two children, Hayley and Hunter. He also has a chocolate lab named Lucy.
Notes
For questions related to
Volunteering and Event Support Contact
Iman Ghahremani
Volunteer & Event Support Coordinator
ALS Society of BC
volunteer@alsbc.ca
778-999-7278