Syd Vanderpool
Champion boxer (super middleweight) and certified coach and trainer, Syd “The Jewel” Vanderpool brings more than 13 years of professional boxing and training experience to his members. Syd has extensively trained with some of the world’s finest trainers including the legendary Emanuel Stewart, Goody Petronelli and John Davenport. His unique abilities in and out of the ring make him both a motivational coach as well as a highly sought-after sports trainer. His experience training with world renowned athletes such as Lennox Lewis, Zab Judah and Victor Camacho has given him unique insight into the higher levels of professional sport – a world he fought in for more than a dozen years and helped him to achieve his #1 World ranking. Now Syd brings his vision to the SydFIT Health Centre, where he shares his passion with young athletes and inspires the centre’s community of members to achieve more than they ever thought possible. Syd also has a remarkable salvation testimony and joins us to share this part of his story. https://sydfithealth.ca/

Laurence Jaffe
Do you believe in miracles? Laurence Jaffe wants you to. Some might say he’s a miracle himself. All he’s done is produce his first feature film that will premiere in theaters nationwide Easter weekend. By the way, Laurence Jaffe is 98! So, how does a nonagenarian “newcomer” in Hollywood pull off a feature film that attracts actors like Oscar® winner Mira Sorvino, Emmy® winner Peter Coyote and Kevin Sorbo? After all, when Jaffe was a kid, movies were still silent. From a young age, Jaffe always set the bar high for himself. When World War II broke out, he joined the Marine Corps “because I wanted to serve with the toughest and the best.” After the atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Jaffe found himself stationed in Nagasaki for nine months helping medical units. After the war, he graduated from Dartmouth College and then received a master’s degree from Columbia University. Jaffe then launched a successful decades-long career in marketing during the “Mad Men” era. By his side through it all was his wife of 72 years, Hope, who passed away last October. But why, when most people at his advanced age are ready to retire from their retirement, would Laurence Jaffe want to start a new career as a filmmaker? “I guess I’ve never been one to look back, only forward. That’s the secret to a full life.” Jaffe’s eternal optimism is evident in his film, THE GIRL WHO BELIEVES IN MIRACLES, about a young girl, Sara, who takes God at His word and prays for people in her small town to be healed. “Both young children and old people possess the same innocent and beautiful quality – they trust. I think that, after the year we’ve all endured, the world needs an uplifting movie like this to give us the capacity to trust once more.” Director Rich Correll says the lesson of his movie is that no situation, no matter how dire or painful, is beyond the reach of God’s ability to hearten and heal. "All Sara needed to hear was her pastor say that faith can move mountains," Correll explains. "She took that promise as truth. Imagine if we all started to do that: put our faith, however small or weak we may feel it is, into practice and action. It doesn’t mean that every prayer will be answered. But that faith that fuels such prayers - while it doesn’t guarantee outcome - does pave the way through." For the young actress, Austyn Johnson, knowing the film she made before anyone had ever heard the word “COVID” is coming out now, seems like a matter of divine timing itself. "There haven’t been too many movies in theaters in the last year," she says. "That moviegoers will have the chance to see our movie on the big screen... to maybe have their minds taken off the things we’ve been going through and feel hope again is really its own kind of miracle." https://TheGirlWhoBelievesInMiracles.com/

Austyn Johnson
Do you believe in miracles? Laurence Jaffe wants you to. Some might say he’s a miracle himself. All he’s done is produce his first feature film that will premiere in theaters nationwide Easter weekend. By the way, Laurence Jaffe is 98! So, how does a nonagenarian “newcomer” in Hollywood pull off a feature film that attracts actors like Oscar® winner Mira Sorvino, Emmy® winner Peter Coyote and Kevin Sorbo? After all, when Jaffe was a kid, movies were still silent. From a young age, Jaffe always set the bar high for himself. When World War II broke out, he joined the Marine Corps “because I wanted to serve with the toughest and the best.” After the atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Jaffe found himself stationed in Nagasaki for nine months helping medical units. After the war, he graduated from Dartmouth College and then received a master’s degree from Columbia University. Jaffe then launched a successful decades-long career in marketing during the “Mad Men” era. By his side through it all was his wife of 72 years, Hope, who passed away last October. But why, when most people at his advanced age are ready to retire from their retirement, would Laurence Jaffe want to start a new career as a filmmaker? “I guess I’ve never been one to look back, only forward. That’s the secret to a full life.” Jaffe’s eternal optimism is evident in his film, THE GIRL WHO BELIEVES IN MIRACLES, about a young girl, Sara, who takes God at His word and prays for people in her small town to be healed. “Both young children and old people possess the same innocent and beautiful quality – they trust. I think that, after the year we’ve all endured, the world needs an uplifting movie like this to give us the capacity to trust once more.” Director Rich Correll says the lesson of his movie is that no situation, no matter how dire or painful, is beyond the reach of God’s ability to hearten and heal. "All Sara needed to hear was her pastor say that faith can move mountains," Correll explains. "She took that promise as truth. Imagine if we all started to do that: put our faith, however small or weak we may feel it is, into practice and action. It doesn’t mean that every prayer will be answered. But that faith that fuels such prayers - while it doesn’t guarantee outcome - does pave the way through." For the young actress, Austyn Johnson, knowing the film she made before anyone had ever heard the word “COVID” is coming out now, seems like a matter of divine timing itself. "There haven’t been too many movies in theaters in the last year," she says. "That moviegoers will have the chance to see our movie on the big screen... to maybe have their minds taken off the things we’ve been going through and feel hope again is really its own kind of miracle." https://TheGirlWhoBelievesInMiracles.com/