Well members, it’s that time of the year. Vancouver Multicultural Society is proudly celebrating it’s 42nd anniversary with a simple get together lunch at Floata Restaurant on Nov 6, 2016.

Almost at the same time last year, we celebrated our 41st anniversary (Nov 21, 2015) with over 200 guests. I still remember the beautiful Vietnamese women who danced for us; and the Filipino lady who entertained us with her songs. We intended to spend the evening getting to know each other, but somehow the night was not long enough to even meet every one.

Shall we do it again this year? Come and join us for lunch this time, and let’s try and meet more people than we did last year. Yes, the entertainers will be there too. Watch out for door prizes from the different countries that we represent.

Summer is always fun! We think of beaches, parks, ball games, bbq, drinks, chips, watermelon…oh, just about anything we can eat or drink. Every year, we gather together in some park to do just this, and chat about everything under the sun. This year would have been no different, or so we thought.

Yes, this year was different. Vancouver Multicultural Society decided to hold it’s first summer picnic. We wanted a chance to get to meet the members and our families and just have fun. Given that we come from different cultures, we each have different ways of having fun. But guess what…we realized that playing games, eating, drinking and chatting is the same in any language. We hardly noticed the difference in cultural backgrounds.

But we already knew that deep in our hearts. Most of us have been here long enough to know that. However, Canada has new families, recently arrived, who may not know this yet. So we decided to invite refugee families and give them a chance to see us in an informal gathering where they can relax, play, eat, drink and chat with everyone.

Most of us still remember what it felt like when we first arrived in Canada. We didn’t know anyone and there was a fear of unknown that settled heavily on our shoulders. These refugees left their countries with a fear none of us have experienced, with no preparation and with nothing except the clothes they had on. Canada has graciously opened it’s doors to them and as Canadians, we wanted to do our part in welcoming them and making them feel at home. Little did we know that the glow in their eyes and warmth of their smiles would touch us in more ways than we imagined. We wanted to give them a nice day and ended up with the wonderful knowledge of how blessed we all are to be in Canada.