Tuesday, November 11, 2014
Sunday, April 1, 2012
You have all stitched hope in my heart
Well not quite reaching our goal of $4000 we march on, doing as much as we can in the time we have to raise the rest of the funds needed. We will do so through car washes and bake sales etc. but we also decided every week we will sell something at school. Knowing kids, and their minds solely set on food, we came up with a schedule to sell food and our first product was the left over juice from our event. With the support of our fine leading teachers (Principal Mr. Devin and Assistant Principal Mr.Jenson) who eagerly allowed us to continue fundraising at school.
Immediately at lunch when we started to sell the juice, people started to buy it for our cause.
Soon all our friends came around and tried to pull other people in with sale slogans for our juice, screaming
“Buy juice and change a family’s life!”
Do you remember how I told you before how we had a table cloth that we had people sign at the Silent Auction?
People who did buy juice or donate were rewarded with being able to sign orange fabric that we are going to make into curtains and hang in the house. Symbolic of all the people who love and supported us, enabling us to help this family. At one point our friends walked around the school and asked people for straight donations, we were surprised by the outcome. By the end of lunch we had made 37 dollars and our curtains were signed by numerous names to represent the kid’s involvement in changing the world. You have all stitched hope in my heart and restored my knowledge that the world is filled with kindred souls of all age, creed, race, we all have the power to come together with one voice and change the world for the better.
We were all partaking in changing the world
It was miraculous people who didn’t have money before suddenly threw a five our way. It is amazing to see people come together as a school and so warmly embrace us and our purpose. By the end of the day we made $75.56 off of our supporters, my friends, and teachers, we all went home with a smile on face, knowing we were all partaking in changing the world.
Monday, March 26, 2012
Helping Mexicans without Leaving Canada
The value of family is strong, for many people around the world. Many people come to Canada with hopes and dreams of a better life not only for themselves, but also for their loved ones back home. Often people work very hard here in Canada only to send the money home to support family and loved ones.
It is possible to help people in other nations, without even leaving Canada.
While Ocean and Janelle are going to Mexico to build a house for a family there, we wanted top invite our Mexican friends, who happen to be artists, to participate in the event. When Ocean made the offer to artists Sabrina Villarreal and Jorge Padilla, the idea was to create an opportunity for them to sell their art. Instead both were more than willing to donate their art so that Ocean could go to Mexico.
Another friend, Flor, has been trying to figure out what to do here in Canada. Having left behind her dance studio and school, she is leaning in this direction. In the mean time she is starting two new businesses: teaching Zumba and selling the jewelry she has designed. She was approached with the same offer: an opportunity for her to display and even sell her pieces. Again, Ocean's offer was accepted on a condition, that a percentage of the sales goes to support the girls.
I have asked each to give a brief bio. Being family friends for some time Jorge was quite willing to let me write his.
Introducing our friends and feature Mexican Artists:
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Feature Mexican Artist: Flor Zamora
It was only natural for Ocean to ask Flor, who had been teaching the girls a bit of Spanish, if she would do a dance at the event. Flor readily agreed.
She described the dance:
About the dance we did prepare a traditional dance and we will use traditional dresses. This dance is called la tortuga del arena (turtles on the beach) Legends and traditions have always played an important part in the history and culture of Mexico, often they are a mix of history and imagination and they are kept alive by oral tradition, Mexican people like to express their legends, interests or daily activities through dances and songs La tortuga del arena tells the story of women going to the beach, looking for turtle eggs to rescue them and help little turtles to return to the sea.
Not only is Flor a beautiful dance, she is also a designer for Balaam. Again in her own words:
My jewellery business (Balaam) is very small but I have 2 jewellery makers and 5 more people working for me in Mexico, my sister in law and I began this business one year ago, both design jewellery pieces and hand bags. The economy in Mexico is getting worse every day but our country is rich in natural resources, Balaam wants to show people around the world the beauty of our country and people.
BALAAM inspiration.
Feature Mexican Artist: Jorge Padilla
So it is for Jorge Padilla and his wife Patricia. It is true that they came to Canada as Temporary Foreign Workers. Jorge got a job as a laborer, and Patricia as janitorial staff. Accepting these humble positions was a drastic change from their experiences back home where they were respected members of the community as owners of a veterinarian hospital working with all animals: including exotics.
Never in their wildest dreams did they think that coming to Canada they would be stripped of everything, struggling through the process of immigration and licensure. (It takes an Internationally Educated Vet up to 5 years to complete the examination process and their third exam costs $6000` not including flight and accommodations.) Against the odds, they became Canadian Citizens.
Hardship then struck Jorge. As a result of the work he was doing, he got a hernia. After one year of unemployment, he is still awaiting surgery.
Yet despite all of this Jorge was so willing to donate some of his art for Ocean's event. We were blown away when he arrived at out house the week before the event with what seemed to be his entire portfolio. Among them were Patricia's favorite: the African series. There were also pictures of famous Mexican stars, a Greek Godess, a lovely Indian woman and post WWII women with children. My favorite is the pastel and pencil boat on the shore.
In honour of the event Jorge created several brightly coloured pictures of Mexico.
Both Patricia and Jorge had to work, that evening, so they arrived late to the event. Jorge was saddened by this. He really wanted to talk to people to know what they liked and why they liked them. If you bought his art, please comment.
A portion of the sales of this art will go to the artist, and a portion is for the trip to Mexico.
Feature Mexican Artist: Sabrina Villarreal
If you took home a piece of art, please leave a comment for Sabrina!
Thank You to Our Sponsors (Pictures and Links)
If you are visiting their establishment, please mention that you attended the silent dessert auction.
Terwilligar Sobeys Mexican Theme Cake |
St. Albert Edible Arrangement |
Edible Art from Cake Couture |
Dutch Delicious Bakery Tarts |
Whimsical Cake Studio Cupcakes |
High Level Diner Wheat Free Cake |
Big City Cupcakes |
MSS Brittle |
Fudgalicious Fudge |
Junction Eatery, near Grant MacEwan |
23rd Avenue and 111 Street |
Thank you to Lucy's Sweets and Sugar Bowl for the Gift Certificates.
Sugar Bowl Gift Certificates |
Hazeldean Bakery Gift Certificates |
In addition to all of the donations from organizations and businesses around Edmonton, you helped to make this Dessert Auction event an overwhelming success.
Sunday, March 18, 2012
SUCCESS!
SUCCESS, a roaring crowd of a hundred and fifty joined us n Friday night to participate in changing a whole family's lives in Mexico. After numerous trials and rewards we can say we finished with a bang but our story's do not end here. Friday morning anticipation seeped through my veins about the result of our conquest; the event. It hadn't quite hit me full on the fact that FRIDAY WAS THE DAY, and not just any day but THE DAY that will not only help change a family's lives but ours as well. I cannot tell you that it has sunk in because it hasn’t, it seems like a haze of smiles hugs and support. Getting dressed I honestly focused souly in not inf actuating myself with the details of the event. By lunch that focus had dissipated to pure fear, I worried about the tremendous things going wrong, but Janelle's excitement reminded me of the overall possibility of a huge success and with that I reaffirmed my courage and left the second half of school ready to embrace anything that came my way. We arrived at the church and met my mother and grandma in the gorgeous kitchen of the church, the ran home to get some things needed for the event and we put ourselves to work, busily putting grapes, apples, kiwis, lemons, and limes in a colorful blend together. We wrapped them in clear wrapping paper and tied them up with bright colored ribbon. These table centers were created to use in the end as thank yous for our volunteers. With Christopher help we strategically put the tables, chairs and stage up. Then two of my awesome friends helped my carefully display all the wonderful artwork (31 pieces) we got from Jorge Padilla, a Mexican artist who came to Canada as a laborer, but had his very own vet clinic back home. We also received more marvelous pieces from Sabrina, another Mexican artist who is working to be a nurse in Canada. The art just added the right touch to the overall mood of the room. All our helpers busied themselves with other preparations to make the evening slip through with few troubles, we had a marvelous kitchen organizer (Kathy) who delegated and made food with the help of more of my friends. At one point in the time during prep I walked into the main hall and looked around to see all my friends gathered and ready to help with any thing our hearts desired. I love friends they are just so great! Somehow I thought in my head when the people started to come the jobs would be over. Let me tell you… I was wrong! At around four thirty people started to trickle in. we had fabulous donations lined across tables throughout the room, lots from very wonderful friends/ substantial supporters and others from bakery's from across the city. We also had some gift certificates for a vet clinic etc. along a wall by the art we had beautiful vegetable trays decorated with almost every vegetable possible, generously donated by a lovely gal Deborah, owner of a newer restaurant (formally the garage) the junction. Plus beside that we had free absolutely divine jalapeno poppers from m&m meat shop. Flor Zamora a gorgeous lady with a heart of gold from Mexico had a table dedicated to stunning limited addition jewelry hand crafted by herself, (Balaam) that the money given would be sent back home to support family. People waltzed around tables, attacking their competition on the bid sheets and creating rivalry's on others. The atmosphere was so joyful and elated, and all I could think was all that time work and effort has already paid of before we even received any money for our cause. Nearing to the end of the evening people sat contently eating taco salads while others continued an escapade to win their wanted dessert. Anticipation filled the air as Janelle and I cleared our voices ready to begin our motivational power-point presentation. Love filled my heart empowering a voice that conveyed the message I wanted it to even though it was not said flawlessly. We had a wonderful series of videos meant to give people empowerment to know they can make a difference now. We had a wonderful time on stage and we passed it along to Flor who provided a absolutely wonderful Mexican dance. Flor was a pro. Dancer back home with her own dance studio, so that made everything seem genuinely Mexican. People applauded and cheered. The evening was coming to an end and a mix of sadness but joy filled my soul. I would like to thank all you out their who have helped in any way shape or form, your love and support as uplifted us to change the world with SUCCESS.
By the way, if you are so curious as I suppose many are anticipating, we made a grand total of 2500$ plus 250 more dollars from individual donations. Thanks so much for all your support and love, you truly have helped our endeavor to change the world.