a4 Greg Potter SPOTLIGHT FEATURE IS ONCE again the season of joy and giv- ing, when the secular meets the sacred and Santa meets the Saviour. Into this picture steps the North Shore’s David J. Foster, well u NEWS photo Neil Lucente SET OF 4 STACKING CHAIRS} WITH 42° TABLE 1 15 yr. warranty - offer expires Dec. 24/93 _ | BROWN JORDAN NOMAD FOLDING CHAIRS | FOLDING . CHAIRS LIST $274 ALL PROCEEDS from the sale of David Foster's Walk to Bethlehem cassettes (available for $5 at the Harvest and the West Van Baptist Church) go towards the North Shore known around these parts as the - founder and executive director of - ‘the Change the World Foundation and the North Shore Harvest Pro- ject. ' ; . . Like George Bailey, the Jimmy . Stewart character in It’s A Wonderful Life, Foster had to bot- tom-out before climbing back up. The experience is reflected in his life and his work and his latest ef- fort is an affirmation of both — a Yuletide song penned to ring in ‘the season and benefit those in need, ~ “The world is a scary and vola- tile place to five in right now,’ says 33-year-old Foster. ‘Gangs, - violence, the recession —there’s- ‘not a fot of hope out there. But :. when there is hope, it seems to be at Christmas. oe ~ “So we wrote the song about ‘s remembering when the world was a better place — not just at“ ~ Christmas, but throughout the year.” no . : ‘The song is Walk to Bethlehem, “the name borrowed from and in- ~ spired by a multi-media ve-enact- ment of the first Christmas, pres- ; “ented annually to more than 4,000 spectators by the congregation of the.West Vancouver Baptist Church, of which Foster is a . member, More specifically, it concerns the plight of one of the produc- tion’s founders, Bev Gowe, who . had been stricken with cancer. _- Conceived as a healing song by . Foster and his writing partner, Grant Gwynn (and aided | “ “musically by producer Rob ‘DesCotes and North Van " stringman extraordinaire jim Woodyard), its design came full circle when Gowe eventually re- covered. “The lyric; however, evokes a . broader meaning, more in tune “with contemporary reality than Christian allegory. And Foster is well acquainted with reality. » “Around 1987, twas only liv- - ing for myself,” he says. ‘It was wine, women and song. | was do- ing drugs and alcohol. | had a suc- - cessful fitness business and within six months | ended up on welfare. “| made some bad lifestyle ‘ choices and some bad business choices.” ' . ; His business, One on One ‘Health Management, went belly- up. "He lost his West Vancouver home and all the bells and whis- “thes that went with it. He couldn't even afford to eat. “t remember rolling pennies — . tewas all (had left — and crying » out to Gad, ‘OK, you win." | knew there had to be a better way. “Sometimes people have to get the rug pulled out from under them before they can come to a realization about their lives.” -4: ‘He ended up at the North Shore Harvest Project. - \Food Bank with more people than .he ever imagined could be destitute on the reasonably af- fluent North Shore. In a sense, the experience saved his life both lit- erally and spiritually. “| didn’t realize there were needy people on the North Shore until | became one of them," he says. "That was when | really got my eyes opened and my heart chang- “With the help of his church and several North Shore businesses, he began organizing what has become the annual North Shore .Community Christmas Dinner. _. The dinner brings the Christmas spirit to more than 2,000 North Shore residents, more than half of - them children. Foster's next coup was creating the Change the World Foundation. The foundation, in turn, created the North Shore Harvest Project, a non-profit society dedicated to collecting and distributing basic needs, emerge ncy food and clothing for the needy and homeless. — The Harvest Project finally secured a permanent warehouse space at the back of 166 West Esplanade last September. Meanwhile, all proceeds from ‘the sale of the Walk to Bethlehem cassettes (available for $5 at the Harvest and the West Van Baptist Church) go towards the Harvest. And with the song garnering seasonal airplay on local commer- - cial stations, the 1,000 copies are destined to move quickly. “It's sad to think that maybe the central theme of Christmas has been lost,”’ he says. “Hopefully we'll be able to bring it back with this song. ; . As for cynics who might accuse - him of ramming things down their throats, Foster is quick to respond. “Everything ! do is Christian based, but as for the music, it’s more like Christian-based cross- over,”' he says, referring to artists such as Amy Grant and Peter Cetera or, for that matter, Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, T-Bone Burnett and U2. “People nowadays are looking for something that inspires them and is more than entertainment. “It’s not like some crazy standing in the middie of Granville yelling at peopie.”” ~ ; To that end, David Foster wants to get together with his namesake, the Victoria native who is now an established songwriter and pro- ducer living in Los Angeles. “He's kind of like my long-lost brother or something,” says Foster of the other David Foster, who is likewise heavily involved in charitable causes. . “| was training a member of his band during Expo ‘86 and went backstage and met him. ~ “We're going to put some stuff « ona demo and take it to him. t would seriously like to see if he’d want to wark on some of our other material with us.”’ A FESTIVE “GREEK-STYLE” NEW YEAR’S EVE PARTY! 2 seatings — 5:00 p.m.-8:30pmi, 8:30pm to closing 0 per person includes appetizers, main course, dessert, champagne and much, much, more! 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