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NEWS photo Terry Poters

SANTA CLAUS is a landiord. West Vaacouver-iozsed Hollyburn
Properties Ltd. President Stephen Sander says he wili be transferring
23 apartment blocks, worth more than $100 millicn, to the Con-
sclousness Internationa! Foundation (CIF), a new charity he has set

Nuiti-millionaire -
gives real estate
revenue to charity

A FORMER school teacher,’ who struck it rich by
assembling a large rental properties portfolio worth more
than $100 million, is putting his real estate holdings to
work to support Third World charitable projects. .

Stephen Sander, president of
West Vancouver-based
Hollyburn Properties Ltd., says
he will be transferring 23
Hollyburn Properties apartment
blocks to the Consciousness In-
ternational Foundation (CIF), a
new charity he has set up.

Some of his North Shore
holdings include Marlborough
Towers, Harbour Castle and
Simpson House in North Van-
couver and Hollyburn Plaza in
West Vancouver.

The West Vancouver Sikh first
considered the philanthropic
move eight years ago.

“My motivations are strictly
Spiritual and soul-oriented,”’
Sander said. ‘‘The credit is not
due to Stephen Sander or the
family. The credit is due to the
people of Vancouver, British
Columbia and Canada — the
people who gave us the opportu-
nity to do as well as we have
done. And now a great deal of
credit is due to the tenants who
are living in these buildings.
Because they will be contributing
through their rentals to the chari-
ty,” he said.

According to Sander, who is
acting as the executor of CIF, the
broad objectives of the charity
are strictly humanitarian.

**We want to help the helpless,
the homeless, the aged, the sick
and the neglected people of the
Third World countries. Initially
we intend to participate with the
existing charities that support
similar causes we have in the
Third World countries. Eventual-
ly we will establish and organize
our own institutions and pro-
grams. We are strictly non-
political, religious and spiritual,

By MICHAEL BECKER
News Reporier

but not of any specific religious
designation as such. The spiritual
element is basically soul and hu-
mility and service to
humankind.”’

Sander emigrated from
England to Bridgewater, Nova
Scotia, in 1960. He taught for
three years there‘and then moved
to B.C. to teach. ‘‘In those days
teachers weren’t paid very much
and it was a struggle to make
ends meet. 1 was working part
time and trying to support my
family, and I realized I should go
for where there is money. I real-
ized you make money in either
real estate or stock markets and
bonds. So I hit the real estate,’’
he said.

He set up Hollyburn Properties
Ltd. in 1975 and has spent the
past 15 years buying up and
managing residential rental pro-
perties.

Sander pians to spend about

‘$500,000 on charity projects next

year and expects revenues going
to the charity may be as much as
$10 million within five years.

And what of the novel idea of
rent going to charity? Said Sand-
er: “The tenants want to know,
‘Hey what is this all-
consciousness about?’ and if they
have to pay a lot of rent. Well
we're not going to charge a lot of
rent, we charge whatever is fair
and reasonable.’”’

Once the transfer of properties
is complete, Sander foresees
spending most of his time ad-
ministering the charity and work-
ing again as a teacher or a real
estate consultant.

3 - Sunday, December 24, 1989 - North Shore News

SANTA CLAUS FUND RECIPIENT SHARES EXPERIENCE

Meaning of Xmas found
in small box of crackers

An unemployed journalist on income assistance, who wishes to remain
anonymous, wrote the following piece to share both his pleasure and
gratitude for the generous yearly Christmas hamper sent to him by the

West Vancouver Santa Claus Fund.

THE LIGHT of Christmas really does shine everywhere.
Take a small box of soup crackers. You might not think
that such a simple gift could represent and hold within itself
the true meaning of Christmas. But it can. The smallest
present can be as full of meaning as any gift of the Magi.

Such a small gift box of crackers
came to me not so long ago, and
brought to me the truth of
Christmas. It was a small, simple
box that I could easily hold and
turn over in my hand, which ! did,
until I came to a hand-written
name on one side. The spirit of
Christmas then came flooding into
my heart.

You see, | am one of those
nameless, faceless people who have
been the lucky beneficiaries of
your kind and thoughtful! generosi-
ty through the West Vancouver
Santa Claus Fund. I would {ike to
thank you for this by trying io give
you some idea of how much this
has meant to me, and others in my
situation.

I am a single man, now past 50,
and unable to find employment for
some time now in a society where
the emphasis, alas, is on youth
rather than experience. But that is
another story.

The fact remains that even
though | stil! have much to offer
and contribute to society, I have
been compelled to exist on social
assistance for longer than [ care to
think about or comment on. One
of the few bright spots in this time
has been when ! received my
package of food staples and treats
from the Santa Claus Fund.

With little family now to speak
of, and few friends in my situa-
tion, this Santa Claus Fund
package has been my major, and
almost my only, Christmas pres-
ent.

Opening that cardboard box and
examining the contents has
brought back the feelings | had,
when, as a small boy, ! would rush
into the living room early
Christmas morning to gaze in joy,
and awe, and wonderment at the
mound of gaily-wrapped and rib-
boned gifts that were crammed
under the heavily decorated tree in
the corner by the big bay window,
and spilled out into the middle of
the room.

Every Christmas, of course,can
not be the same, and there was the
small feeling of disappointment
one year when the Santa Claus
Fund donations were down and my
parcel was small and fight. But
there was also the Christmas when
donations were up, and the box so
heavy I could hardly lift it. I felt as
rich then as 2 millionaire, and this
feeling of joy stayed with me
throughout the entire holiday
season and beyond, as | continued
to enjoy the contents of this

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Christmas treasure chest.

After the box is received and set
on the table at home, impatient
fingers quickly tear it open so each
item of food can be quickly lifted
out. They are all carefully exam-
ined, slowly turned over in the
hand before being put down on the

T ate and enjoyed the crackers
from that small box very slowly
over several weeks, keeping it with
me for as long as I could. Each
time I removed a cracker from that
box I could see the boy’s name in
ink proudly standing cut, and I
thought of him, wondered who he
was, and what he was like.

What did he look like? How old
was he? Did he write his own name
on the box, or had a parent, or
perhaps an older sibling done it for
him? Was his family well off, or
just ordinary folk, wanting to
share the spirit of Christmas with
others less fortunate than
themselves? Had he picked out the
crackers himself, from the shelf at

Ee cch time I removed a cracker from that
box I could see the boy’s name in ink
proualy standing out, and I thought of
him, wondered who he was, and what he

was like.”’

table, to be stored away in a kitch-
en cupboard for later opening only
after the box has been emptied.

Every item is individually
savored, and there is a reluctance
to set it down and move on to the
next; but the next calls for equal
attention, and the hand and eye
must move on until the last is out.
Each item of food is a Christmas
gift in itself.

An added joy comes in the
discovery of a special treat in this
box of treasures. The heart sings
and the pulse temporarily
quickens, like that of the small boy
finding the electric train under the
tree, as a favorite food item
seldom had because of the cost is
pulled from the box. And there’s
always a small Christmas cake to
be found, the only such cake I will
likely have or taste over the holi-
days.

The last item to be opened is
always the envelope with the
supermarket coupons inside, and I
sigh with relief when I see the total
amount has not been diminished
from that given the year before.
For it is these coupons that allow
me to purchase those food items }
could not otherwise afford. These
coupons will put the Christmas
turkey and all the trimmings on the
table, and thus represent the
crowning touch to this truly
wonderful gift of Christmas love
and sharing.

And then there was that small
box of soup crackers.

I saw the name as I turned the
box slowly over in my hand, the
crackers being of a tasty but costly
kind { would not normally buy for
myself in my present situation. It
was the name of a Chinese boy,
carefully written in black ink.

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home or in the store? Did he, too,
wonder who it was, and what the
person would be like who would
receive his gift of crackers? And
will he read this now? And know?

Each time I ate one of those
crackers I pictured a small Chinese
boy, dressed smartly in his best
school finery, marching proudly to
the front of his classroom, the box
of crackers, with his name so
clearly written in black ink on the
side, clutched tightly in his smail
hand until he shyly handed it over
to his smiling teacher, to be added
to those other classroom gifts al-
ready placed in the collection bin
in the corner by his fellow
classmates.

It was with a touch of sadness
that I ate the last cracker, and it
was with a feeling of remorse and
guilt that I finally crumpled the
box and threw it away. But for as
tong as { live, I will never forget
this boy and his gift of crackers, a
gift small in measured size, but
bigger beyond any measuring in
the true spirit and meaning of
Christmas.

That’s what the Santa Claus
Fund means to me. That’s what
Christmas will always mean to me
forevermore.

And so, to my fellow friends in
poverty and need I would simply
say: “God bless you all. May you
find the joys and the spirit of
Christmas even in your poverty —
the poverty of pocket, but never of
worth or of spirit!’’

And to all of you who give so
generously from the heart and thus
know and live the true Christmas,
I offer my simple but sincere
“thanks,’’ from my heart to
yours.

“Merry Christmas everyone!”

Sunday and Monday, periods
of rain. Highs near 11°C.