Around the ring

“Soccer buddies” needed
Do you like soccer and working with kids? Then consider volunteering as a "soccer buddy" with the "Just for Kicks" program. The program, started up three years ago by UVic biology professor Nigel Livingston, provides an opportunity for special needs children, aged 6­16, to play team soccer. Soccer buddies provide one-on-one assistance to children during games, which are held at 2 p.m. every Sunday afternoon at the McKinnon Gym and last for one hour. If the weather is good, the play is taken outside. If you’re interested in volunteering, call Livingston at 721-7121 or email njl@uvic.ca. Some soccer experience would be an asset but isn’t necessary.

Lighten up and be kind
That’s the message the Lightness and Kindness committee will be promoting for their fourth campaign in support of International Random Acts of Kindness Week, Nov. 12­15. The week also includes World Kindness Day on Nov. 13. Posters and a letter from UVic president David Turpin in support of this initiative are being distributed to every department. Everyone is encouraged to take part in a random act of kindness and wear the “light bulb” buttons distributed during past campaigns. Information: 721-5166.

UVic puts its stamp on Canada
UVic will be among six Canadian universities honoured by Canada Post in 2003 with commemorative stamps. The new issue will celebrate the 100th anniversary of UVic’s predecessor, Victoria College, and the 40th anniversary of the university. The series is currently being designed and UVic’s stamp is expected to be unveiled in the early spring. Other universities marking anniversaries in the 2003 domestic-rate stamp series are Bishop’s, Saint Francis Xavier, Western Ontario, Montréal and the University of Guelph’s MacDonald Institute.

UVic develops standards for business plans
Securing funding for a new business can be tough, especially since entrepreneurs don’t have consistent criteria for writing business plans, according to Dr. Brock Smith, a UVic business professor. “Small businesses need business plans to attract stakeholders and resources to their organizations," he says. "But currently different funding organizations rely on different standards, so entrepreneurs don’t know what criteria they have to meet.” Smith is working with fellow UVic researchers on a plan to develop venture analysis standards, a set of criteria to be adopted by the industry, on which business plans can be evaluated.