Screening: Under One Sky

Monday, January 25th kicks off with a screening of Chris McDowell and Moira Simpson’s film (screened at VIFF 2009) Under One Sky at 6pm. We are excited to have the film makers in house And one of the martial artists from the film (Please see information from Inside Douglas College Newsletter below) offer a demo and a mini workshop with the women. Photographer, Ken Villeneuve will be taking photos of the women in their favourite martial arts pose. Our makeover program and Kids Club will run as scheduled starting at 6pm.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2009
Media tech’s film featured at VIFF

“This film is a testament to every woman who has fought back.”

Womyns Gym Program Coordinator, Tyla Flexman and National Executive Director, Caroline MacGillivray thought the film would be a great way to inspire more women to explore the different tools for healing offered through physical fitness. With our 2010 Womyns Gym session starting on February 9 on Monday and Wednesday nights, we wanted to remind our participants of the different tools that can be used to create life makeovers.

For the 2010 session of Womyns Gym, Flexman and MacGillivray aim to have several women complete the Sun Run on May 9, 2010. We will be coordinating a running clinic for the Womyns gym participants who would like to complete the run.

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.

On November 27th, we launched our Mom & Tot nutrition program. “Our mission is to provide marginalized women and youth tools to make positive life style choices and heal themselves and our community. Since we value dignity and respect for everyone, we take an innovative approach to educating our participants. There are some wonderful programs out there but ours has the interactive educational component to it.

The pumpkin carving concept of launching this program is one example of how we incorporate education and entertainment in all our programs. Everyone who attended our first session devoured the pumpkin soup and to figure out how we could meet the needs of the community we serve. We had our good meal bag program previously ran at transition homes. Dietician students led by Dietician Heather Lovelace would create a meal, serve it and discuss aspects of nutrition that could benefit each participants’ wellness. After the meal, participants were given the ingredients to recreate the same meal for up to six people.

To bring this program to Vancouver’s DTES, we needed to meet the needs of the participants. One of the key concerns were the lack of kitchen facilities; monies to purchase the ingredients and how to use nutrition for preventative health care. Through the different night’s meals – many that embrace different cultures and nutritional components are presented in a fun way to participants. By educating our participants to become engaged with our programming and actually using the information they learn, we believe it will create a healthy approach to food and life style choices; a great way for the women to bond with their children, break down generational barriers based on poor nutrition and make cooking healthy foods fun.

Beauty Night Society’s Mom & Tot Program Coordinators Alexa Fox and Christie Gray sat down with me to discuss how we could make this program fun and interactive.

Apapting a concept from Home Instruction Program for Preschool Youngsters (Hippy)’s literacy program - by teaching the children, it can strengthen the familly.

This program is  great way to involve and engage the community.  Little Flower Academy and Churchill Secondary School students’ Foods 12 class are creating recipes for us that can be cooked on hot plates or in a coffee maker.  Students who are volunteering to do the research for Beauty Night Society’s Mom & Tot Nutrition Program are developing leadership skills and becoming empowered as the research they develop will have a direct positive impact on someone’s life.

The flu season is upon us, and everyone everywhere is being more aware of their health and staying healthy.
Beauty Night realizes that healthy eating is not about strict nutrition philosophies, staying unrealistically thin, or depriving yourself of the foods you love. Rather, it’s about feeling great, having more energy, and keeping yourself as healthy as possible.  Which is one reason we are starting a course for moms and tots teaching healthy recipes that they can prepare with the  tools that they have (often only hot plates) and the food that they have avaliable to them.  We would love to hear your suggestion of recipes!

Eating poorly conributes to stress and many other side effects, such as:

• Blood Sugar Imbalances: When we don’t eat enough food, or don’t eat healthy enough food (too little protein and healthy carbohydrates, too much sugar, etc.) we can experience blood sugar fluctuations. These fluctuations can lead to mood swings, fatigue, poor concentration and other negative consequences in the short term, and greater health problems like hyperglycemia in the long run.
• Caffeine Side Effects: Too much caffeine can lead to poor concentration and decreasef effectiveness, sleep disturbances, and increased levels of cortisol in the blood.
• Poor Health Outcomes: Poor nutrition can also lead to lowered immunity so you’re more susceptible to illnesses, both minor and major. As you can imagine, this can lead to other problems, including increased stress levels.

We feel that helping our clients make great food choices, they will start to feel amazing and make great life choices as well.

If you can help, please email info@beautynight.org, leave a comment or donate!

I love getting feed back. When it is negative, it helps the evaluation process. When it is positive, it feels like looking the tooth fairy came to visit. This morning, I opened up my email and found an email from a new volunteer, Margo Dalinghaus. Margo is the founder of Liberty Education. Next weekend (November 7 & 8, 2009)  several of our Beauty Night volunteers and participants are participating in her Amazing Women Weekend.

With her daughter, Katie, Margo started volunteering for Beauty Night Society’s Knit Fit.

“Wanted to send you a blurb re the huge impact Knit Fit has had on my life so far in such a short time. Many, many gifts…

When I heard about what you were doing – as I mentioned – I was covered with “truth” bumps and got tears in my eyes. I definitely felt called to participate. GIFT OF EXCITEMENT AND KNOWING.

I was quick to get to your Open House to meet you GIFT OF INSPIRATION and also took my 10 year old daughter to a Knit Fit orientation with Laura. Learning about your organization has led to a series of very bonding and life learning moments for myself, my daughter and our family at large.. right away Katie and I set up a “date” with Grandma so that Grandma could teach Katie to knit and little Katie was so excited and proud to tell her Grandma and Grandpa why she needed to learn. And yes – they were very proud of her.GIFT OF PRIDE AND ESTEEM. So mom (me) and Katie got to spend a wonderful evening with Grandma- and Grandma got to feel purposeful in teaching us what she knew. Watching Grandma show Katie with such patience and love was a gift and reminder re the importance of legacy in our childrens lives. GIFT OF LEGACY.

Then Katie and I decided that this was a great opportunity for Katie to be a leader and leave her imprint on her classmates re the importance of giving back… GIFT OF LEADERSHIP AND GIVING. Katie asked Laura and Jennifer if they would come to her class to help her teach her classmates to knit – so that as a group they can have a “challenge” to do as many stockings as possible for marginalized women and children on the downtown eastside of Van. They said YES – GIFT OF MENOTRSHIP,RECEIVING and CHALLENG.

In preparation, Katie and I have been knitting together where we might not otherwise have spent such quality time. When we knit we get the chance to talk and share. GIFT OF CONNECTION. And we have a new rule that we cannot watch TV unless knitting…. GIFT OF QUALITY TIME and PURPOSE.

When the class works together on their scarves, I know that the children will receive many gifts too… I imagine they too will see the value of :
FRIENDSHIP
COMMUNITY
MAKING A DIFFERENCE
SERVICE, AND
LOVE….. to name just a few!!

Thank you for doing what you do.” Margo Dalinghaus.

We are thrilled to be participating in the Amazing Women’s Weekend and hope to offer the Inner Beauty Boot Camp to our Beauty Night participants!

There are a lot of things going on with Beauty Night over the next week.

Tomorrow is the Models of Inspiration Filmathon you can read about here. We are very excited to be education and empowering some of our participants through this Filmathon.

Sunday we have a Knit Fit event at Brittania from 1-3pm. There is also a stocking cutting session at Nancy Black’s house in the afternoon, and a volunteer orientation from 4:30-6:30 as well. Please email info@beautynight.org for more information.

Monday is the Beautilicous Halloween Event, with face painting, halloween make up, manicures and a photoshoot!

(art work by the very talented Tiffany Telford)

Tuesday we have the Mom and Tot Halloween Festivities, with pumpkin seed roasting, pumpkin carving, face painting and the start of our Mom and Tot cooking series.

The next 4 days are filled with fun and exciting programming. If you want to help, email info@beautynight.com and we will find a fit for you!

Have a great weekend everyone

It’s hard to believe that Beauty Night Society is almost 9! A lot has changed as we have grown, and a lot more will change as we continue to grow.
The Vancouver Sun wrote this story about our 8 year anniversary.
Since then, our programming has continued to expand, with thanks to our generous volunteers and supporters. We really couldn’t do this without you!
We’re at the start of our busiest season. If you’re interested in volunteering, please email info@beautynight.org to see about opportunities. If you would like to donate yarn or knitting needles for Knit Fit, that would also be wonderful.
We are trying to raise funds to buy products to put into our Christmas Stockings as well.  Having funds allows us to buy in bulk, which is beneficial to the women. We love product as well, but it does have to be unused and unopened to ensure our clients feel dignified.  Just think, would you like to receive a half used bottle of shampoo in your stocking?
We are also gearing up a Mom and Tot nutrition program, where we will be teaching Moms how to cook simple, healthy recipes under the constraint of it having to be prepared on a hotplate since that is the tools they have available. If you would like to donate crockpots or other kitchen supplies (such as tupperware), we would love that too!

I’m excited about what the future holds for Beauty Night, and I can’t thank you enough for making all of this possible.

Behind each Beauty Night Society (BNS) Program, there is a fantastic program coordinator. Without these ladies, our programs would not benefit our communities through the vast diversity. Each program offers a piece of the body/mind/spirit puzzle that many of us struggle with.  Each program coordinator is a leader in her own right and inspires our participants and volunteers.

Tyla Flexman
Womyn’s Gym Program Coordinator

Tyla Flexman is a recent kinesiology graduate of the University of British Columbia. She is very interested in the health and fitness field and is a personal trainer as well as a community field hockey coach. Tyla has six years of coaching experience including coaching high school sports, development camps and provincial high performance teams. Her hardworking attitude and determination is what makes her a positive role model for young athletes in the community. She is a strong advocator of women in sport and strives to encourage female participation in exercise. She began volunteering for the Beauty Night Society in 2008 and is now the program coordinator for the Womyns Gym Program. She currently plays on the Canadian Women’s National Field Hockey team and was the 2008 recipient of the Gail Wilson Award, given to a female varsity athlete displaying leadership on the field and in the community. Tyla is excited to be a part of The Beauty Night Society and hopes to run the Sun Run this year with Womyns Gym clients!

Alexa Fox
Kid’s Club Program Co-coordinator
Mom & Tot Nutrition Program Co-coordinator

Christie Gray
Mom & Tot Nutrition Program Co –coordinator

 Christie Gray has been a Vancouver resident for a year and a half. With a strong belief in helping people reach their potential and feel good about themselves, Christie finds Beauty Night Society(BNS) a great place to help make a difference. Christie is a Registered Natural Health Care practitioner with a love of cooking and formulating healthy, nutritious recipes. Christie believes that there is a strong connection between eating well and health in mind, body and spirit and hopes to help more people understand that connection through her work with BNS.

Sophia Hughes
Kid’s Club Program Co-coordinator

Caroline MacGillivray
Group Fitness Program Coordinator

Laura Mah
Knit Fit Program Coordinator & Founder

Laura Mah is currently in her final year of high school at Vancouver Technical Secondary. In 2004, Laura was strongly inspired by her cousin and the Founder of Beauty Night Society, Caroline MacGillivray, and created a knitting club at her elementary school. Now known as Knit Fit, this small group has transformed into a diverse program made up of individuals from all around Vancouver. The goal of Knit Fit is to knit scarves for the homeless and less fortunate people of Vancouver’s Downtown East Side and at the same time, to teach people the importance of giving back to our community through a fun new skill and hobby. This year, Knit Fit has expanded to elementary and high school. Six schools in Vancouver have been involved in Knit Fit so far. Every year, Knit Fit hands out scarves at Beauty Night Society’s annual Christmas Stocking Drive event, and we are in highly anticipating this year’s event! Laura cannot wait to see what Knit Fit has in store for the future. Laura is also largely involved at Vancouver Technical Secondary, and has served on the Student Council for the last 5 years; this year, serving at the council’s President.

Tiffany Telford
Makeover Program Facilitator (Vancouver)

This Blanche MacDonald Make up Program graduate started volunteering for Beauty Night’s makeover program in February 2008. She had just moved to Vancouver and was looking for a volunteer opportunity and “loved it”. Tiffany loved it so much in December 2008, she brought Beauty Night to her home town. She facilitated a Christmas make over night in Prince George. When she came back to Vancouver, Tiffany became Beauty Night’s Outreach facilitator. Since May 2009, Tiffany facilitates our makeover program events on a weekly basis. Her fresh innovative ideas help strengthen participant relations, volunteer coordination and creating posters for our events. When she is not at Beauty Night, this makeup artist works on film and television projects shooting in Vancouver.

Saafi Warsame
Makeover Program Facilitator (Toronto)

Saafi has recently relocated from Vancouver and is helping facilitate Beauty
Night events in her new city of Toronto. She truly enjoys interacting with
Beauty Night participants, from sharing life stories to discussing the best way to apply nail polish. Saafi is also a volunteer with North York Women’s shelter as well as a couple of organizations that run in the Somali
community. In her spare time, she reads a lot and is looking to become a
lawyer.

It’s that time of year for Canadians where we gather with our family and friends and reflect upon what we are thankful for.  This is the time to acknowledge the positive aspects and influences in your life.

Beauty Night Society has many wonderful people to thank, for honestly without your support we wouldn’t be here.  I am also going to give a huge thank you to Caroline for all of her very hard work, dedication and the love she puts into the organization.  Iam thankful for being able to work with our wonderful clients and see just how thankful someone can be for something as simple as a hair cut. It reminds me of just how lucky I really am, and that everyone can make a difference.

What it is that you are thankful for?

Hosted by The Pacific Palisades Hotel, every WOMAN – Vancouver: A Day of Activity will be taking place this Saturday, October 3.  The registration and welcome will be occurring on Friday afternoon.

Inspiring through physical activity, every WOMAN: A Day of Activity is a one-day conference offering an opportunity for women to try new activities in a comfortable and supportive environment. The classes are geared to a beginner level so everyone can enjoy.

BeautyNight is pleased to have 6 of our participants be sponsored by everyWOMAN. These lucky ladies will be able to attend workshops such as Kundalini Yoga, Nutrition – Every Day Healthy Eating, and
Nia.

Our volunteers will also be able to receive a discount if they wish to attend the event.

everyWOMAN has proven to inspire women to make healthier life choices.

Are you going to be participating? Let us know!