Outreach
The Society offers cultural events for German-speaking seniors and residents, which are conducted in the German language. The community gathers twice a month, on Saturday afternoons at the German-Canadian Care Home. Events feature coffee and cake followed by a film, a speaker or a seasonal sing-along. Since their inception these events have been very well attended.
Ongoing donations to help the Society support and finance these events are much appreciated. If you have any questions regarding this program or are interested in volunteering, please contact the Program Coordinator, Waltraud Custer at 604-713-6562 or outreachprogram@gcch.ca. In addition, the Outreach program includes a book exchange and a poetry club.
Weekly German Sing-along program for residents
A weekly German sing-along is organized for Care Home residents, and members of the German community often also enjoy taking part.
Poetry Club
Once a month the poetry club meets in the Stuhlmueller Library of the Care Home to read, recite and enjoy German poetry.
If you are interested in participating, please contact 604.713.6562, or e-mail outreachprogram@gcch.ca.
Summer Fest
On July 19, 2025 Tamar Simon (Soprano) and Geoffrey Schellenberg (Baritone) performed the magic flute (Die Zauberfloete) from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, accompanied by pianist Roger Parton. Thank you to all performers for taking their audience on a journey through operas & operettas.
Tamar Simon is an emerging Armenian-Canadian soprano embarking on a promising opera career. Based in Vancouver, BC, Canada, Tamar was recently engaged with the Vancouver Opera Festival as the soprano soloist for their New Works Project. She also sung with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra as Valencienne in their Look of Love concert and with White Rock Concerts as Musetta in their production of La Boheme.
Tamar was a District Winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in 2016. She is a graduate of the University of British Columbia’s Master of Music program in opera performance, studying under Patrick Raftery and Nancy Hermiston. At UBC, she performed many leading roles, most notably the role of Susanne in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro where she was described as “believable and engaging Susanna, passing from innocence to subtlety to assertion, always in control and always the unrecognized protagonist” (Opera Canada).
These video clips were taken in the atrium of the German-Canadian Care Home.
The German-Canadian Benevolent Society of British Columbia is registered as a charitable Organization within the meaning of the Income tax Act under Number 10742.8492.RR0001.