If you plan on eating out for breakfast, lunch or dinner March 29, make sure it's at a restaurant participating in Dine Out For Life.
There are more than 250 restaurants from Whistler to White Rock taking part in Dine Out, so it shouldn't be hard to find what you're looking for.
Participating restaurants donate 25 per cent of their proceeds from the day to A Loving Spoonful, which provides free, nutritious meals to men, women and children with HIV/AIDS, and Friends for Life, a non-profit agency that provides complimentary therapies, such as massage, to people with a serious illness confined to their home.
Even if you're not feeling charitable, here's another great reason to take part. Some lucky diners are going to win prizes, including $100 gift certificates for participating Dine Out restaurants, a weekend getaway package including dining and accommodations or the grand prize of round-trip airfare for two to anywhere WestJet flies. For a list of participating restaurants, visit diningoutforlife. com/Vancouver.
DOWNTOWN
A group of Canadian and U.S. physicians concerned about public health are organizing a one-day conference to explore the potential health and environmental impacts from the troubled reactors in Fukushima, Japan, and to highlight the need for better monitoring and disclosure.
The conference, The Fukushima Nuclear Disaster-One Year Later, will bring together experts to share information on what's known about radiation exposures from the area and local and global health, environment and economic impacts seen during the past year. The conference, billed as Day of Inquiry, takes place March 11 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at SFU's Harbour Centre campus.
KITSILANO
The Fair Trade Oriental Rug Event returns to Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»March 16 to 25 at Ten Thousand Villages, 2909 West Broadway.
For 10-days only, more than 100 hand-knotted Bunyaad rugs will be on display and available for purchase at this annual event.
Bunyaad is a fair trade rug company that works with more than 850 families throughout 100 villages in Pakistan. The name Bunyaad means "foundation," in Urdu. When the earthquake hit Pakistan in 2005, many homes were destroyed. But the homes of the rug knotters remained standing because the fair wage they received from rugs sold allowed them to invest in proper, strong foundations.
Introduction to Oriental Rugs is a seminar taking place in conjunction with the sale. The seminar will also be held at Ten Thousand Villages' Broadway location, March 16 at 7 p.m. To reserve a seat for the seminar, call 6047306831 or email [email protected].
I often receive emails from readers asking how best to get their event included in this column. My advice is to include all of information relevant to the event in the same email. If I'm working on deadline or swamped, it's unlikely I'll have the time to respond to any emails, but if I have the information, I can grab it and go.
Twitter: @sthomas10
