It took a whole community of helpers and supporters to assist Pearson residents to tell and publish their stories on this website.
CARMA extends thanks and sincere appreciation to all of these supporters:
- Lillian Ireland, CARMA’s Coordinator of Transition and Community Development, who galvanized everyone into action and painstakingly organized every detail of the writing project from its launch, which featured a big Hawaiian party with Hula dancers, to facilitating the matches of students with residents and encouraging everyone to keep writing.
- Cynthia Khoo, CARMA’s 2005 summer student who interviewed, edited, coordinated and photographed and brought order and style to the creative efforts.
- Angel Sun, Angela Wong, Chris Tam, Dhanisha Parekh, Ellen Nam, Eric Fang, Jennifer Law, Jennifer Luo, Tiffany Chan, Betty Zarazus, and Allison Lee, all students of Winston Churchill Secondary School, who spent many hours interviewing residents, transcribing their stories and interpreting their intent and meaning.
- Allie Taub, a University of British Columbia student, and Karen Martin who developed strong relationships with Pearson residents and helped then to tell stories when they did not think they had any stories to tell.
- Rheta Ogilvie, a CARMA mentor who loves reading and writing, and whose enthusiasm for the writing project never waned.
- Lezlie Wagman, the Coordinator of the Sharon Martin Trust Fund at Vancouver Coastal Health, who suggested that Tales from West 57th Avenue have its own website and then found the funding to make it happen.