Category Archives: Uncategorized

Vancouver Grandmothers conference March 11, 12: important registration information

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The following is a message from the Greater Van Gogos, the Vancouver Grandmothers to Grandmothers group which is organizing the Reflection and Renewal conference in Vancouver Friday March 11 and Saturday March 12 (the same weekend as our Oceanside fabric sale).  If you are thinking of going, please click on the following headings to download full information and registration forms:

If you would like to coordinate with others to plan the trip to Vancouver, please contact Joyce Eilers, our Liaison, who will be able to put you in touch with others who are also going: fjeil52@shaw.ca  Note that the registration deadline is February 22 (6 days from now) and that you are asked to send the completed forms to the Vancouver group by ordinary post — so you’ll have to respond quickly.

posted by Eileen Dombrowski  for Joyce Eilers

Good morning BC Grandmothers Campaign members and Grandmother Campaign Liaisons!

The registration deadline for R&R is next Monday, February 22.  We understand that with a mail-in registration process some forms may be a bit delayed in arriving, but it is critical that all registrations be in the mail with payment to the address shown on the registration form by that date.  Each registrant will receive an e-mail confirmation message once their registration has been received from R&R registrar, Angela Arkell.  If you sent your registration in some time ago and have not received e-mail confirmation from her, please e-mail aarkell@shaw.ca with details.  Firm numbers are needed to finalize catering, workshop space assignments,  and much more to help assure the complete success of this major event.

The registration information package and registration form are attached to this message in pdf format, to help anyone having trouble accessing this information on our GVG website.  The Information Package has all the information that has been confirmed to this point, including specific timing for the Friday evening reception, craft market and Stephen and Ilana’s talk, as well as the morning and afternoon program on Saturday.  Use the Registration Form to register for yourself and also register for any guests coming to the Friday event.  Please write the full names of your Friday guests on the back of the form so they will be included on the registration list for that event.  

Jean Way (Richmond Gogos) and Lynn Popoff (Grandmothers for Africa South Okanagan) will be leading a fundraising workshop on Saturday afternoon called “Show Me the Money”.  The workshop will provide a wonderful opportunity to share some of the amazing fundraising events that BC groups have used.  If your group hasn’t already done so, please consider sending in a short description of one or two of your successful — and fun! — fundraisers.  Even if your group is not able to attend, you can still share in the fun. Tell us about your fundraiser. A handout of these ideas will be given out at the workshop.  Send a short description of the event, and any helpful information about it, along with a contact name and e-mail to Jean at jeway@shaw.ca by this Friday, February 19.  

Registrations for R&R are going well and it looks like we will have members from at least 30 groups with us for our provincial gathering.  You won’t want to miss being there, with hundreds of our sister grandmothers and grandothers from BC and Africa, so please be sure to send in your registration by February 22.  Thank you!  

Remember that there is a small travel subsidy to help with the costs of travelling to the conference. Preference will be given to those carpooling when possible. To request a travel subsidy, please send an email to Judy Johnson at judyjohnson@telus.net.  Tell us where you are travelling from and how many will be in your car. Please let us know if there are any questions. You will receive confirmation about your subsidy once all registrations are in.

If you have any questions about registration or any other aspect of R&R, please contact info@greatervangogos.org. The next conference email will provide more details about R&R and answer any questions that may arise.  

We look forward to meeting all of you and sharing in this special weekend.

In Solidarity,

Judy Johnson and Diane Walker, Greater Van Gogos Co-chairs

Fabric & Yarn Sale: March 12 is rapidly approaching!

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Calling all ‘Material Girls’ and knitters…

to the first Oceanside Grandmothers event of 2016!   Come and visit our FABRIC & YARN SALE for a great selection of inexpensive fabric, yarn, wool, books, patterns, notions, machines and accessories.  The sale will be held at Knox United Church, 345 Pym Street, Parksville on Saturday, March 12th from 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.  Parking is plentiful.  Admission is free.  Net proceeds will go to the Stephen Lewis Foundation Grandmothers Campaign.   

WE WELCOME DONATIONS OF:  fabrics [no sample books please], yarn, notions, books, patterns, and machines [in working order] for all things sewing, quilting, knitting and crocheting.  Items can be dropped off at Knox on Thursday, March 10 from 9 am till noon).  Info: (250)752-1296 or (250)954-1885.

FabricSalePosteropt500

Bottle drive May 28. Please volunteer.

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The Grannies’ Bottle Drive has proved an excellent way of raising money and we’d like to do it again this year on Saturday May 28th.   However, experience has shown us that this will only be possible if we have enough volunteers to keep the workload reasonable.   There is a direct correlation between the number of volunteers and the amount of money collected.

We need about 20 volunteers to help with picking up, sorting and counting the refundable containers donated to us.   We also need the use of trucks, vans, trailers or SUV’s to pick up donations on our routes. Volunteers choose the number of hours they can work. The Drive itself will be shorter this year – from 10.00 a.m. to 2 p.m. with the sorting and counting finished by 3p.m.

Some Grannies have said that the work required is “too dirty” but really it isn’t very dirty – we wear old clothes and gloves and most of the bottles and cans are clean.   It is no “dirtier” than the collections that the Bottle Brigade does every week! We are very careful about safety and provide chairs for people who can’t stand for long periods.

So come on, Grannies! Volunteer and bring your spouse, friend child or significant other.

To volunteer please respond to lornareid@shaw.ca cadodd@shaw.ca or barbwhyte@shaw.ca

posted by Eileen Dombrowski for Lorna Reid, Bottle Brigade

New minutes and Directory ready

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What an excellent meeting on Tuesday!  As a follow-up, the following are now available for downloading from the For Members Only pages of our website:

  • The minutes of the meeting of Tuesday, January 19, 2016 are ready on the page ARCHIVES: minutes of past meetings
  • The updated Directory, including updated contact information and photos of new members, is ready on the page MEMBERSHIP AND DIRECTORY.
  • Also on the page MEMBERSHIP AND DIRECTORY is the first edition — the January edition! — of New Members 2016, with the photos and names of new members we’ll want to get to know.

You’ll need your password to get into these pages (if your browser doesn’t remember it for you).  If you’ve forgotten it, email me and I’ll send it to you.

Eileen Dombrowski, membership/Directory and website. oceansideg2g@shaw.ca

Reflection and Renewal Grandmothers Provincial Gathering

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Below you will find full information on the Grandmother Gathering/Conference in Vancouver on March 11 and 12: Reflection and Renewal.  This is the event that Joyce was presenting in our meeting this morning. It will be held at John Oliver Secondary School, 530 East 41st Avenue in Vancouver.  Organized by the Greater Van Gogos, it is a provincial gathering of all interested Grandmother groups in BC.

It’s just plain bad luck that this gathering falls on the same weekend as our fabric sale, where many of us will be involved.  If you choose to attend the Vancouver Gathering/Conference, though, you may want to coordinate with others for transportation and accommodation.  To be put in touch with others, give your name to Joyce Eilers at fjeil52@shaw.ca  You are asked to have your registration form posted to arrive to the Vancouver group by February 22, 2016.

Eileen Dombrowski for Joyce Eilers

ACCESSING INFORMATION

QUICK SUMMARY OF EVENTS: On Friday evening,  Stephen Lewis and Ilana Landsberg-Lewis will be speaking, and a Marketplace will run except during their talk. On Saturday morning, a keynote speech will be given by visiting African grandmothers.  On Saturday afternoon, people attending the Gathering will be able to choose two workshops to attend out of a menu of ten.  Details of these events and others, plus information on transportation and accommodation, are laid out in the Reflection and Renewal Information Package and Registration form, accessible on our own Oceanside Grandmothers website.

To access this information:  Go to the Members Only section (with your Oceanside g2g password), to the temporary event page.  Click on the links there.

 

FURTHER NOTES FROM VAN GOGOS

The information package contains:

  • Information about the conference
  • Conference schedule
  • Workshop information
  • Marketplace information
  • Accommodation information

The registration package contains:

  • Registration form to be completed by each attendee
  • Information on where to send your group’s forms
  • Costs and payment information

Please note the following highlights:

  • To register, print out and complete one Registration Form for each conference attendee and then mail it with payment by cheque or money order, made out to Greater Van Gogos, to the event registrar, as indicated on the form.
  • Pre-registration is required and the registration deadline is Monday, February 22, as we must have time to give final numbers to the caterer and organize the Saturday workshops.
  • You may register for Friday evening only for $20; Saturday only for $35 or both days for $50.  Only grandmothers group members may attend on Saturday.
  • You may invite guests for Friday evening, but you have to register and pay for them on your registration form, including their names and payment with your registration.  This event will not be advertised to the public.
  • There will not be tickets issued for either of these events, but there will be a list of paid attendees at the event registration desk.
  • We are covering the costs for Friday evening with sponsorships and registration.  We are covering the costs for Saturday with our New Horizons for Seniors grant and registration.
  • You will notice the empty “ placeholders” for African grandmothers in the information package.  We are incredibly excited that the SLF is bringing six women from Africa for our event, but we can’t announce their names until their visas are approved.  Other aspects of this gathering are still in the planning stages, and as they are decided, an updated info package will be posted.

If you have any questions about the information package or registration, please contact judyjohnson@telus.net or info@greatervangogos.org.

Craft market 

If your group wants to participate in the Friday evening marketplace, please let Arlene Racicot at aracicot2@yahoo.com know as soon as possible, if you haven’t already done so.

Travel Subsidy

We know that those travelling from across the province face travel costs including but not limited to the cost of ferries. Our New Horizons for Seniors grant included a small amount to provide some support for those travelling. No final decisions have been made on how this amount will be shared. If members of your group would like to apply to share in this subsidy, please email me at judyjohnson@telus.net . Please indicate in your email how many members will be travelling and how (car pooling, ferries, bus, etc). Our committee will decide based on the number of requests, costs and distances how the subsidy will be shared. Thank you for your patience while we work through this process in an attempt to be as fair as possible. Please let me know if there are any questions.

Group photos 

There will be a digital photo show of BC grandmothers groups as well as photo books produced for gifts for the African grandmothers. Please send good quality digital photos of your group, with your group name indicated in the file name, to Hannah Diamond at hannahdiamond@shaw.ca as soon as possible.  You might want to bring a camera to your next meeting so you can show us your smiling faces!

In Solidarity,

Judy Johnson and Diane Walker, Greater Van Gogos Co-chairs

Granny Bulletin with “Ask her” talks

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The most recent Granny Bulletin has just been released by the Grandmothers Campaign.  You can read it by clicking the following link:  Granny Bulletin December 2015.  As you know, you can receive these Bulletins directly to your own email by signing up from the bottom of our own Oceanside Grandmothers homepage, or by signing up on the homepage of the Grandmothers Campaign.

I’m bringing the December newsletter to everyone’s attention, though, because it includes links to some very interesting short videos:  Ask Her Talks.  They really do give personality and life to the cause with which we are so familiar.

posted by Eileen Dombrowski, website

 

 

 

 

Oceanside Grandmothers are invited to provincial g2g gathering March 11 and 12, 2016

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Below are details on the upcoming BC Grandmothers to Grandmothers Conference this coming March, which we are invited to attend. It is organized by the Greater Van Gogos of Vancouver.

The organizing committee for the Vancouver Grandmothers Conference is looking for people to co-facilitate workshops or do presentations on the topics to be addressed in the gathering (program below).  If anyone is interested in participating in the conference in this way please contact either Elsie Widdowson (elsie.widdowson@shaw.ca) or Kate Clark (clarkkate989@gmail.com), coordinators for Vancouver Island, who will send a coordinated reply to the Vancouver group.

This conference will be on the agenda of our next Oceanside Grandmothers meeting on January 19.

posted on behalf of Joyce Eilers, our regional contact for Oceanside Grandmothers. posted by Eileen Dombrowski. 

MESSAGE FROM THE GREATER VAN GOGOS

Hello, BC Grandmothers — 

Greetings from the Greater Van Gogos region!  It is our pleasure to invite you to join us at the first ever BC provincial grandmothers group gathering on Friday, March 11 and Saturday, March 12, 2016, in recognition of the 10th anniversary of the Grandmothers Campaign.  This event is called Reflection & Renewal – 10 years – Grandmothers to Grandmothers (or R&R, for short) to highlight this milestone. Friday evening will feature Stephen Lewis and Ilana Landsberg-Lewis speaking together!  This is the first of a series of talks which Stephen will be giving to grandmothers groups across the country during 2016.

WHAT?  

Reflection & Renewal is the first BC provincial grandmothers gathering, hosted by the Greater Van Gogos region, in recognition of the 10th anniversary of the Grandmothers Campaign.

WHERE?

John Oliver Secondary School in Vancouver, 530 East 41st Avenue at Fraser Street, with easy transit access and street parking available.  (Travel and transit information will be coming closer to the event.)

WHEN?  

Friday evening, March 11, from 5:30 to 9:00 p.m.

  • Reception with light refreshments
  • Craft marketplace with all groups invited to participate (be prepared to begin around 3:30 p.m.)
  • Stephen Lewis and Ilana Landsberg-Lewis speak at 7 p.m.
  • Tickets will be for sale to grandmothers group members, as well as to family and friends of those members but it is not a public event.

Saturday, March 12, a full day conference from 8:30 to 3:00 

  • For members of Grandmothers Campaign groups only
  • African grandmothers as keynote speakers
  • Workshops
  • Morning refreshments and catered lunch included
  • Time to meet and share with others.

Participants will choose from 2 of the following workshops for Saturday afternoon.

  • Marketing tips and ideas for craft sales
  • Know the Campaign — an interactive workshop on Grandmothers Campaign messaging
  • Fundraising share  – both large and small events
  • Craft sharing
  • Attracting positive media attention
  • Uganda Grandmothers Gathering presentation
  • The new Impact Assessment process of the SLF
  • Using Facebook to increase your group’s social media presence
  • How to sustain your group
  • Grandmothers Lounge

COST?

To be confirmed in January.  We expect that the cost for this full event will be between $50 – $60, with separate prices for Friday or Saturday only.

REGISTRATION:

Full registration information and forms will be posted in the “Just for Us” section of our website (http://greatervangogos.org ) in January. (We will email again to let you know when this happens and what the password is.)

  • Registration will begin in January and will close on February 22, 2016.
  • Complete the registration form along with others in your group, please.
  • Individuals will need to pre-register for workshops.
  • Mail the completed form and a cheque to Greater Van Gogos to our registrar noted on the form.

A reminder for group leaders:

  • Please notify Arlene Racicot aracicot2@yahoo.com  as soon as possible if your group wants to participate in the craft marketplace on Friday evening
  • Please send digital photos of your group in action, including your group name, to Hannah Diamond at hannahdiamond@shaw.ca for display at the event.

ACCOMMODATIONS for OUT OF TOWN GUESTS AND TRAVEL:

  • Please see information about accommodations at the end of this email.
  • Stay tuned for more information! A small travel subsidy will be available for out of town guests. A committee is working to devise an equitable way to share.

We have all learned so much in the 10 years of the Grandmothers Campaign – we hope you can join us on March 11 and 12 to share and reflect on the first 10 years of the Grandmothers Campaign.  Should you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us — Judy at judyjohnson@telus.net or Diane at dcwalk@telus.net.  We would love to hear from you and look forward to meeting you at R&R.  Enjoy this holiday season and we will be back in touch with more information in January —

In solidarity, 

Judy Johnson and Diane Walker, Greater Van Gogos co-chairs

Accommodations information:

Hotels:

Vancouver’s West End:

Best Western Sands Hotel. $99 (conference rate)

1755 Davie St.

For conference rate please book under Greater Van Gogos before February 1, 2016

Walking distance to restaurants and shops.

20 – 25 min. drive to John Oliver School.

http://www.bestwesternsandshotelvancouver.com

Hotel prices quoted are approximate and may vary with time.

Near the airport:

Vancouver Airport Inn Hotel, Super 8  $67

725 Southeast Marine Dr. at Fraser

10 minute drive to John Oliver and bus line available

http://www.vancouverairportinn.com/

Not far from John Oliver:

Best Western Plus Uptown Hotel $95

205 Kingsway, near Main Street

Request the corporate rate and note that you are in Vancouver on business

10 minute drive to JO and bus line available

http://www.bestwesternvancouver.ca

Holiday Inn Vancouver Centre $129

711 W. Broadway

Walking distance to restaurants

15 minute drive to JO

http://www.ihg.com/holidayinn/hotels/us/en/vancouver/yvrbw/hoteldetail

Other Options

Beds Without Breakfast http://www.grandmotherscampaign.org/news-resources/products-and-services/beds-without-breakfast-2

Billeting

Contact Janine janinereid@shaw.ca  if you would like to billet.