A few photos of Cory Monteith from my last encounter with this generous man at a Project Limelight event at the East Of Main Cafe

I had the privelege of meeting Cory Allen Michael Monteith a few times. 

I remember my 1st meeting, which I blogged about breifly in this post ( http://canadagraphs.weebly.com/1/post/2012/03/a-few-pics-of-glee-star-cory-monteith-in-vancouver-may-2011-with-his-band-bonnie-dune.html ). I also remember my last meeting with him. 

The last time I would meet Cory was at back of the East Of Main Cafe for a Project Limelight Society event that he attended with Virgin Group philanthropist Richard Branson.

Cory was very involved with the Project Limelight Society. With his last retweet on the social networking site Twitter, tweeted a photo of him sitting inside the East Of Main Cafe that his agent had taken.

The last week or so, I have started dabbling with a blog post about Project Limelight after being there again recently. I had found the old Cory & Richard photos of them leaving the event that day had them in my "to edit soon"  folder for posting.  I recently had visited the East Of Main Cafe for another Project Limelight event that featured speakers Candice Elzinga, Gillian Horvath & Peter Deluise. They gave their time to talk for 2 hours to enthusiastic  fans & future film personnel about their experiences, just as Cory had. I actually had a good time at it. They were fun & informative to listen to.

With his growing fandom from his work as jock-turned-musician Finn Hudson on "Glee", Cory had become the unofficial poster child for the Project Limelight Society. He probably brought more social attention to the project than anyone else thru his attendance at the small cafe on East Georgia Street for various events & his tweets & interviews where he talked about it.

Project Limelight Society runs a free program for youth from the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver, which is home to the lowest average income in Canada, to work with professionals in the arts, acting & music industry. Their goal is to help these youths achieve goals of performing on a stage. to boost their confidence, or, give them a chance to showcase their skills for loftier aspirations. MANY people in their program have either dealt directly, or indirectly with various types of substance abuse, and surely this is 1 of the reasons Cory felt so passionately about their cause.

It is sad, and disappointing that Cory died so young. Its even sadder, and even more disappointing when you realize how much he tried making the world a better place compared to many of the egotistical & vapid celebs who sadly get too much attention.

Cory Monteith had issues with substance abuse. He had gone into rehab repeatedly & even stated once he was lucky to be alive. Cory clearly wanted to give others the hope he seemingly found, and he also tried to turn things for himself around. 

I respect that. 

It is rare for me to actually feel too much sorrow for deaths that are overdose related (not that thats been confirmed in this case at this time). I really feel most of the time the people had options they refused to take to avoid that outcome. Ilive in an area, the downtown eastisde, where deaths from OD's are very common place. But I do this time. I do, not because he is a celebrity. Not because he was nice to me. But because he tried helping others with his fame, and he tried to help better himself.  He got a 2nd chance & tried to make it count. He got his highschool diploma in 2011, despite not really needing it as his acting career was soaring, but it mattered so he did it.

Whether its on Glee

Whether its with his band Bonnie Dune

Whether it is him giving his time to causes like Project Limelight.

The world lost a truly good person. The world lost a great talent. The family & friends of Cory lost even more.

If you want to post any condolences, you can do so & I will make every  effort to print them out & pass them on to Project Limelight next time I am  over there to pass on to his family...whether they get forwarded to the family, I can not say. But I'll try my best.

Want to learn more, or donate to Project Limelight

Website - http://www.projectlimelightsociety.org
Twitter - http://twitter.com/ProjLimelight 

Rest In Peace Cory. My Condolences to your family, friends, co-workers & fans.

Here is my photos of Cory from my last encounter. An encounter he did not have to give to me & the 2 fans & 2 photographers waiting, but did. He could have just as easily got into his vehicle in the private garage he was already in & ignored us, but he didnt. He came out, he signed, took photos & thanked us for coming out.

I will be donating 1 of the Cory Monteith autographs I have gotten in the past to Project Limelight to auction off for their charity. I will try to keep you informed if/when/how they decide to auction it if you are interested in it.

I will do a blog later on about my encounters with Mr. Branson, Mr. Deluise & others. But I really felt in light of last nights events, this post needed to be made now.