Archive for November, 2009

Buy your tickets here.

Beauty Night National Executive Director and Founder, Caroline MacGillivray chats to Life on Purpose Network about how Beauty Night got started.

This season Knit Fit has been blessed with great and active volunteers. Already, Knit Fit has over 250 scarves, which is more than we have ever imagined. Because these numbers are so high, Knit Fit is in the process of getting the scarves all packaged up has already started. On Tuesday, November 17 Knit Fit’s executive team worked hard while packaging up these scarves in beautiful presentations. Knit Fit is hoping to set another date for the distribution of scarves because scarves are being finished by the minute! Please join us in completing our goal and create a warmer community for everyone.

Also Recent News: Knit Fit had its first orientation held at Beaconsfield Elementary to teach students at the school how to knit scarves! Thank you to our wonderful volunteers for taking time out of their busy schedule to teach these little fellas to knit scarves.

For those of you who are curious what a Beauty Night looks like, you can see it with your own eyes.

Over 200 women attended last year’s annual Christmas Stocking Drive.

Beauty Night Society events in Vancouver are a fusion of visual art and theatre. Tonight we start off at Robert Held Art Glass where the artists will be auctioning off pieces for Beauty Night. We can watch Robert Held create a piece that will be auctioned off for Beauty Night.

Here are the details:

Vancouver, BC…Robert Held Art Glass is pleased to announce their annual Sale & Gala Event, November 20th from 5pm – 9pm.  Get into the holiday spirit early with this festive annual holiday Sale and Gala Event. This amazing collective will not only feature some of the work by BC’s best talents, but will provide the opportunity to shake hands with the artists themselves, including Robert Held, Richard Scheib, Katy Pattison, Jeremy Day Morris, Melanie Rowe, Lynne Chapelle, Joanne Andrighetti, and many more. The artists will entertain with beadwork demonstrations, glass demonstrations, create a collaborative holiday piece as well as have their popular ‘cooking with glass’ showcase with some tantalizing treats for our guests. While nibbling on the glass cooked food or sipping on the fine wine, you can also peruse the gallery and find some fantastic deals for your holiday shopping. With up to 50% off Robert Held Glass, a wide selection of jewellery, glass sculptures, beads, and fused glass work, you’re sure to fill your stockings!

The artists will also be providing pieces to be auctioned off for Beauty Night Society. Beauty Night provides marginalized women and youth tools to change their lives and heal themselves and their communities. Beauty Night National Executive Director & Founder, Caroline MacGillivray will chat about the what Beauty Night Society does and why. After that Robert Held will create a piece on site and auction it off to raise funds for Beauty Night Society. The Gala event is open to the public and the Pre-holiday sale continues all week from November 21 – 28, 10am – 6pm so come down to get the fires burning.

After the event, Beauty Night volunteers will be escorting Beauty Night participants to see tonight’s performance of Demon Voice. More details to come about the world premiere of Shawn McDonald’s play… tomorrow.

Have you been good or bad this year? By helping Beauty Night Society you will definitely be good!

Yaletown’s hottest club, Bar None hosts the “All I Want for Christmas” Fashion Show fundraiser.  On December 3rd, 2009 make your way to 1222 Hamilton Street where you can be Naughty while being nice to Beauty Night Society.   Featuring pin-up designs by Nancy Black. Tickets: $10 advance, $15 at door.  Dress code: Your choice of suger or spice. Contact: Caroline McGillivray 778.885.4526 or visit www.beautynight.org  to learn how this holiday gathering will get you to the top of Santa’s list as you help women and children in Vancouver’s downtown eastside with the tools to make positive lifestyle changes.

“Be a part of our cause, not a part of the problem”

Bring your credit card and cash.  There will be lots of opportunities to give and receive with a   silent auction items, raffle tickets, photos with Santa and his sexy elves. Vancouver’s leading pin-up fashion Designer Nancy Black, Luscious Dance and Sexy in Vancity dancers have donated their time to keep the cost affordable and enable you to bring your friends to kick off the season right.  Book ahead as our venue has limited space.  It is sure to be an amazing show and it is for a great cause: to provide marginalized women and youth tools to make positive life style choices to heal themselves and build healthy communities. The more money raised, the more people we can heal.

For 9 years Beauty Night Society has used makeover and development programs
To heal women and youth in our community. With outreach offices in Toronto , Vancouver and Victoria Beauty Night Society is proud to boast recently celebrating its 10,000th makeover.  Over these years what started as a place to heal the spirit now provides fitness, nutritional, educational programs and the community needed to make positive lifestyle changes a way of life.  We hope to see you there.

Last night I spoke with Knit Fit founder and program coordinator, Laura Mah. On Monday afternoon, Laura headed to White Rock Elementary to talk about how we can work together to make a difference in the lives of many.  Ten year old, Katie Dalinghaus and her class spent the afternoon knitting scarves for Knit Fit. Several parents were on hand to help the kids knit the scarves that we will be handing out on December 14th and on Christmas Eve.

While she and Jenny Tran embarked on the process of wrapping 300 hand made scarves, I asked Laura to fill me in on how many people have been involved in the Knit Fit portion of our annual Xmas Stocking Drive.

This morning, Jenna sent the following update to post:

Knit Fit has been busy getting out the word for why Knit Fit was established. In the past 2 weeks, Knit Fit has already visited 3 different schools to teach students how to knit and show them the importance of giving back. So far, Knit Fit has met Lord Beaconsfield Elementary, Lord Strathcona Elementary, and Chief Maquinna Elementary.

At Lord Beaconsfield, Knit Fit spoke with 2 different classes, and again will be visiting Wednesday to teach the kids how to knit.
At Lord Strathcona, Knit Fit organized a club for students who were interested in knitting. These meeting are held each Monday at lunch. At these meeting students will come together and knit, while enjoying their lunches and having good conversation.

At Chief Maquinna, Knit Fit attended their Peace Concert held in respect for Remembrance Day. Here Knit Fit talked about the background of Knit Fit in front of the Maquinna neighbourhood community, while also sharing some personal stories of how   Knit Fit has affected them.

When I did the math, I realized Knit Fit is actively involving hundreds of kids, youth, parents and teachers. When you combine those volunteer efforts with the volunteers that have been sewing and decorating the 600 Xmas stockings, we have a community effort that not only impacts the Beauty Night Society participants who receive the warm scarves and stockings, it also affects all of the people who contributed their time, energy, skills and money to make this project happen.

When I was interviewed by Telus Television last Monday, I was asked how many volunteers do we have and what the demographic of our volunteers are. I realized we have thousands of volunteers. Some who work directly with our participants. Others who constantly fundraise and create events to raise awareness and contributions so we can continue to provide tools for disenfranchised women and children to make positive life style choices and heal themselves and the community. Many who mentor the children in our community who teach them leadership and how they can impact someone’s life with their actions. The children and youth who believe if we give from our hearts, we can heal the world. When all of us work together, we  change lives.

In regards to working together, it is important to recognize that we learn things from everyone. Through laughter and love, we can combine the leadership development and contributions to change the world. When women wrap the warm scarves around their neck or when their eyes light up as they open up the stocking decorated especially for them, I believe it does the human spirit a great deal of good.

2009 Beauty Night Society is having its annual “All I want for Christmas” Fashion show featuring pin-up designs by Nancy Black and silent auction. This is an invitation for you to participate in the wonderful event. “All I want for Christmas” brings forward collaboration between art, imagination and originality. Guests get to check out pin-up fashions by Nancy Black, performances by Luscious Dance and Sexy in Vancity dancers, whilst raising funds for Beauty Night Society’s makeover and development programs for women and youth in the community.

Beauty Night Society works with under-privileged women and children on the Downtown Eastside and other troubled areas across Canada. It was founded in 2000 by Caroline MacGillivray, and recently celebrated its 10,000th makeover. Beauty Night Society provides women and children with the tools to make positive lifestyle changes. Come out for your chance to be both naughty and nice. In the spirit of the holidays, show your support to Beauty Night and allow us to give to those who need it most!

Tickets are $10 in advance & $15 at the door. Please bring your cheque book and be prepared to bid on silent auction items. * As we collect the silent auction items, we will add as pictures on the event with starting bid.

Dear Friends,
On December 3rd, 2009 Beauty Night Society is having its annual “All I want for Christmas” Fashion show featuring pin-up designs by Nancy Black. This is an invitation for you to participate in the fantabulous event. “Be a part of the cause, not a part of the problem”
“All I want for Christmas” brings forward collaboration between art, imagination and originality. The anticipated 200+ guests will experience an exquisite evening showcasing some of Vancouver’s most talented individuals. Guests get to check out pin-up fashions by Nancy Black, performances by Luscious Dance and Sexy in Vancity dancers, whilst raising funds for Beauty Night Society’s makeover and development programs for women and youth in the community. The main sources of income for the evening will be: ticket sales, silent auction items, raffle tickets, photos with Santa and corporate sponsors.
Have you been good or bad this year? By helping Beauty Night Society you will definitely be good! We are looking for help in three areas: 1) Sponsorship, 2) Silent auction items and 3) Monetary donations. 100% of the proceeds will go to Beauty Night Society. Beauty Night Society works with under-privileged women and children on the Downtown Eastside and other troubled areas across Canada. It was founded in 2000 by Caroline McGillivray, and recently celebrated its 10,000th makeover. Beauty Night Society provides women and children with the tools to make positive lifestyle changes. Your generous contribution will give back to those who need it the most.
The event details: Date: Thursday, December 3, 2009 | Time: doors at 7:30pm, show 8pm Tickets: $10 advance, $15 at door | Dress code: Naughty or nice Location: Bar None, 1222 Hamilton Street, Yale Town Event Contact: Caroline McGillivray 778.885.4526 More info? Go to www.beautynight.org

Please let me know if you are able to donate a silent auction item, or be a sponsor of the event. I look forward to hearing from you at 778.885.4526 or carolinem@beautynight.org . Have a great day!
Sincerely,

Beauty Night Society’s “All I want for Christmas” Committee

When Margo Dalinghaus of Liberty For Success invited Beauty Night Society Volunteers and participants to her Amazing Women’s Weekend, I was thrilled. I thought it would be a fantastic opportunity for our participants and for our volunteers to develop leadership skills and for personal growth. Margo had offered to teach her inner beauty boot camp workshop to our participants and I wanted to have a frame of reference for the workshop before offering it to our participants.  After participating in the weekend intensive, I believe all women should take this workshop! It was one of the most exhilarating intensives I have ever participated in.

Although seven of us from Beauty Night Society had signed up – volunteers, participants & myself, only three of us showed up at 7:30am on Saturday, November 7th. Together we sat in a cluster in a circle of women that we did not know. Women sat quietly looking at each other. We would smile politely across the circle. Many of us too tired to be nervous and wonder what journey we were about to embark on.

Perhaps if we knew how intense the work would be, we may have run. Thankfully we did not. Margo is a fantastic facilitator who guided us through the work. Many of the exercises released laughter, pain, sadness and anger. Through structured research based workshops, she guided us through visioning our future self  to where we came from, to forgiveness, to where we are right now, and offered us tools to create our future selves.

Many of the women made some startling realizations and were able to release a great deal of rocks that they have been carrying for a long time. When we did a circle where Margo would ask questions such as “Were you a child when your parents got divorced?”, the production team would set up and give us a bead to slide onto a ribbon. By the end of that section, many of us shed tears. I found strength in realizing that many women carry their own string of beads that represent events they have experienced in their lives. One of the key factors of that was realizing that we are not alone. Many of us have gone through traumatic experiences. Some of us are crippled by those experiences where sickness manifests in our bodies. Others turn to drugs and alcohol to numb the pain. Others bury our pain under a to do list that is so long it would take 10 lifetimes to achieve all that we drive ourselves to do.

Through my acting school experiences, I have done a great deal of work to release emotions attached to specific events in my life. One key thing about the Amazing Woman Weekend that made a profound difference to the emotional release work was that Margo is a trained therapist who was able to create a safe space. Instead of feeling like Humpty Dumpty at the end of the weekend, I was givwn the glue gun to put the pieces back together again. In the process of gluing, I felt stronger than I did before the weekend.

One of the women who attended the workshop was a former Beauty Night participant. Through the work she had done with Margo, she was able to forgive herself for some of the trauma she has experienced. Through healing, she was able to move away from the pattern of addiction and homelessness. For one of my Beauty Night participants, this was very healing to see how someone was able to heal and move forward with her life. For another woman in the circle, the weekend inspired her to leave an abusive partner. For a mother and daughter who attended, they were able to forgive themselves for a sibling’s death. The work was intense and deep. The relieve and joy experienced was profound.

For myself, it was an opportunity to see how this work can make a huge difference in the lives of all women. That statement includes myself. This weekend taught me that I need to open myself up to receive in my work with Beauty Night Society and my personal life.  Although I love feeling like Santa Claus when I watch people’s eyes light up because of a direct impact of something that my contributors and I have created, it empowers other people when I receive what they want to give me. Perhaps this will open me up to believing that money can really help propel our mission forward.

For one of my Beauty Night participants, she was able to start to forgive herself for not being a good mother to her children. Through seeing that so many women have experienced addiction, abuse, childhood violence, sibling rivalry, poverty, eating disorders and much more helped her realize that she wasn’t alone. When she realized that many of us carry our own string of beads of trauma – including myself, she realized that there wasn’t such a divide between us. We are women and we do the best we can with what we are being given.

At the end of the workshop, we debriefed over dinner. One of the things we talked about was starting to save some money so we can do the Amazing Woman workshop in Mexico – together, as a team. Next on my to do list is to bring Dave Chen from DC Complete Financial in to talk to the women about how they can start dreaming bigger. After that adding Inner Beauty Boot Camp on our program schedule.