Posts Tagged ‘Vancouver’

At Beauty Night, we have been thinking about Christmas since July! During the warm summer months, many a afternoon was spent in brain storm sessions with Laura Mah, Blair Lockhart, Nancy Black, Revel Kunz, Christie Gray and Tiffany Telford. The questions we kept asking were:

We have been doing the annual Xmas stocking drive for 8 years, what is working well?

What do we want to change?

How can we get more community members involved?

How do we get the message out?

How do we know if we meet the needs of the community?

What worked well was the dynamic community response to the Xmas Drive.  Seniors, industry professionals, parents, children, youth and tweens wanted to contribute their time, energy, money and resources. Through word of mouth and positive media coverage this event has more volunteers wanting to get involved.

To increase word of mouth, Christie and I spent several afternoons with Knit Fit volunteers. Our training sessions included:

• Social media training. How to use facebook, twitter and word press to share their stories of volunteering
• Christie Gray created accounts for the volunteers who were interested in blogging. They have been contributing their stories on this blog about the Knit Fit and Stocking Drive.
• Board member, Bill Nevison created a video of last year’s Xmas Stocking Drive celebration and posted it on You Tube. We encouraged the volunteers to use the video to show people what we do. People get 90% of their information from what they see and 10% from what they hear. Sometimes pictures work well – especially seeing the distribution of the stockings and scarves.
• Public Speaking. I have heard that some people fear having to speak in front of people more than death. The volunteers prepared a speech about Knit Fit and Stocking Drive. Like monologues, we worked through the speeches. We worked on the key messaging, breath work, completing the thought and the writing. We work-shopped the speeches to make sure each speech felt like it sounded like the person who was delivering the speech.
• Policy & Procedures. Together we discussed leadership techniques and guidelines for working with children and peers. We discussed how to create a safe and enjoyable space for volunteers to feel empowered and become actively engaged in the projects we are creating. Working together, we came up with some fantastic ideas and put them into motion.

What we are doing is working. Last weekend when Beauty Night Society volunteer, Denise Von Gorkum and I took several Beauty Night participants to the Models of Inspiration Filmathon, we ran into one of the parents of our Knit Fit volunteers. She thanked me for being a good role model for her daughters and their friends. She asked if we needed more volunteers for our Kids Club program. She offered to drive the girls who wished to volunteer to and from our location.

I am thrilled that people want to get more involved with the programming. This week we have been having meetings with volunteers and community members who want to offer other programs for our participants. Digital story telling, inner beauty boot camp, blogging, yoga classes and nutrition classes are some of the program options we are considering. While we continue to create opportunities for our participants, we keep the line of communication open with our participants and community partners. We want to make sure what we are offering is what the women want and that starts with asking for feed back.

Thanks to DJ Joe, our participant facilitator we have been able to ask for feed back from our participants.  The general consensus is positive. Thanks to DJ’s constant queries, we are making some adjustments in our times and days for programming to make sure we are giving the women what they want.

The participants love the concept of joy and celebration. We have managed to include that in our regular programming. This past week’s programming included Beautilicious Halloween Celebration, Mom & Tot pumpkin carving sessions and pumpkin fitness classes. Through innovation and constant feedback, we continue to evolve our programming as we work together with our contributors, volunteers and participants.

As for our Xmas Activities, the women love the stockings and the Knit Fit scarves.  What they would like to see is a way they can help with the planning. We have started inviting participants to our stocking cutting sessions. Although the participants have not attended these sessions, they seem to enjoy being asked.

Volunteers from York House School, Churchill Secondary, Kwatlan College – Fashion Design Program, Van Tech Secondary, Little Flower Academy, and individual sewers have stitched up stockings. Stocking Coordinator, Blair Lockhart has been collecting the sewn stockings and dropping them off to groups of children to decorate them. Sparks (5-7 year olds – before Brownies), Brownies and Girl Guides are getting together to decorate and in some cases fill the stockings.

Last year Revel Kunz opened up her home to the Rangers (one of groups of children who sewed and decorated stockings). The Rangers spent one Monday evening filling 130 stockings! By encouraging children and youth to get involved, I believe it helps them understand that we can impact someone’s life. When we work together, we can change the world.

I hope you enjoy the Halloween festivities. Stay tuned for our Xmas Wish List for our 8th Annual Xmas Stocking Drive.

Beauty Night Makeup Artist Volunteer, Ella Bak poses with DJ JoPurity and Diane

When we asked Beauty Night Society (BNS) volunteer and participants what they would like to experience, celebration and joy was something that everyone wanted. On October 26th, we put our Halloween committee’s concepts into action. Our decorating committee (participants, volunteers & board members) came in early to set the stage for the event to follow.

Cob webs, orange and black streamers adorned the ceiling, drawers, and walls of the room.  The buzz of excitement filled the entire centre. Together our decorating committee worked together to create an environment of fun that our make over volunteers could still work within.

Make up Artists Tiffany Telford, Ella Bak and Amanda Gangoso met the requests of our volunteers and participants. Hairdresser, Gary Smith created hair for “Mili Cyrus” to zombies, vampires and many more. At our nail station, Margo Dalinghaus and Kate created glamour girl nails as easily as claws for the various types of claws that people wanted.

Participant Facilitator, DJ Joe and Kerry Parsons filled the cups with hot tea while Stephanie Scott and photographer, Aaron Chung offered chocolate treats to participants who wanted to pose for our Halloween photo shoot. Posing with their children, with their friends, the women playing in front of the camera. “Aaron Chung creates a safe space for the women to enjoy being captured on film. Together with our amazing group of volunteers, participants and board members – our Beauty Night Society (BNS) celebrations are a pleasure for all involved!” explains National Executive Director and Founder, Caroline MacGillivray.

Thanks to Make Over Program Facilitator, Tiffany Telford, the children included cookie decoration as part of their activities in our Kids’ Club activities. Kids’ Club Program Co-ordinators, Alex Fox and Sophia Hughes supervised the decoration of bat shaped cookies as well as creating Halloween Masks. In the past two months, Hughes and Fox have worked together to create a fantastic program geared towards our participants’ children.

“Originally Katie Benjamin (Founder of Womyns Gym) wanted to offer child care for our Womyns Gym program participants. When we moved Womyns Gym from Tuesday and Thursdays to Monday and Wednesdays, I felt we needed to offer child care to our other program participants’ children. It wouldn’t be fair to only have it for one program. Alexa and Sophia have created a program that the kids can call their own. I am thrilled to have such amazing program coordinators. When I asked if we could create program to foster healthy self esteem and incorporate 20 minutes of physical activity every hour, Alexa and Sophia went above and beyond what I asked for. I know Kids’ Club is a huge benefit to the kids and to their parents – who participant in our other programming.”

Although we planned pumpkin carving and face painting as part of our Mom & Tot Nutrition program, the children were included in the photo shoot and face painting during the festivities on the 26th. Some of the children came dressed in costumes as did our volunteers. The rooms were filled with kangaroos, cats, vampires, zombies, and witches.

For those who did not bring costumes, Denise Van Gorkum and Amanda played fairy godmother. There women and children created magic wands, crowns, necklaces and witch hats. The opportunity to create their own costumes was incredibly fun and empowering. Watching faces filled with dejection due to forgetting a costume change to delight as they created their own was heart warming.

We were thrilled to have Womyns Gym volunteers get cat noses & whiskers or moustashes painted on their faces before training the women. We were thrilled to welcome Katie Gove from Telus’ Community Giving to our festivities. Beauty Night Society’s Womyns Gym is a proud recipient of Telus Community Giving.

The only dark spot in the evening was the fact that some of the numbers were down. When we followed up with participants the following evening, concerns of swine flu kept some of our participants at home. Although we would have loved to have seen more of our participants (we had about 25 participants throughout the entire night), we are glad that they are abiding by health policies that Beauty Night Society has shared with volunteers and participants. Rest and time to heal is vitally important during the cold and flu season!

Huge thanks to all of our volunteers, community partners – especially the PHS Life Skills Centre, Telus Community Giving, and of course our participants! When we work together, we can make a huge impact in our communities!

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.

Beauty Night Board Member Dave Dickson’s article about Cut off Supply of Kids is in today’s Province Newspaper. For those of you who wonder what we can do to help in Vancouver’s Downtown East Side, Dave shares his highly informed opinion.

Hope is such a powerful word. One definition reads “To look forward to with confidence or expectation.”

Hope is something many of our clients seem to lack. Hope is something that we at Beauty Night try and inspire, in our clients, our volunteers, and other people in the world. We love to tell the story of how we have helped other people be inspired and create their own cause, as is the case in Womyn’s Gym and Jen’s Kitchen.

Something that has me hopeful is seeing the youth in our community working towards making the world a better place. As is the case with Knit Fit, or some of the people I met who are involved with The Third World, it re-instills my faith in a powerful way.

No one is too young, or too old, to make a difference. Beauty Night appreciates your support, and we hope to bring some help in the lives of those who need it most.

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!

Beauty Night Programming Sept 28 2009 – Oct 4 2009

Caroline and Dawn

We have another week full of great activities.

• Tonight, September 28, we have our regular Beauty Night makeover session at the Lifeskills Centre. We are in need of hairdressers, if you are a hairdresser and have been wanting to come out, tonight is the perfect night!
  We are also having a volunteer orientation session tonight at 5:30 for those who are interested. If you’ve always wanted to know more about Beauty Night, and to see how you can help, we would love for you to come see what we’re about. The orientation will also be at the Life Skills Centre (412 E Cordova).
  Children’s Programming will also be occuring so that the mommies can fully relax while being pampered. Spread the word!
• Tuesday, September 29 – Stroller Disco! This is a super fun way for moms to get fit while bonding with their child.
• Wednesday, September 30 - Closed Board Meeting
• Thursday, October 1 - Womyn’s Gym Training
• Sunday, October 4 – Stocking Cutting Session – we are in need of people to help sew, cut stockings and knit scarves and more. If you’re interested in coming out, please email info@beautynight.org. If you click on this button, it will add the event into your google calendar for you!

We are still in need of fabric and wool for our stockign drive. If you are not able to help in that way, perhaps consider donating some funds to help our programming. Or your valuable time!

We love to hear feedback, what you would like to see featured on the blog, ideas you have for programs…even if you would like to suggest areas we could improve on, we always love to hear from you!

Happy Monday everyone!

That doesn’t mean our programming has stopped though!
We have a busy weekend ahead of us.
First we have Knit Fit Orientation

Also on Sunday is our Xmas Stocking Cutting session number 3.
Sunday: Xmas Stocking Fabric Cutting 2pm, please email for directions info@beautynight.org

We are also in need of fabric, sewers, wool and knitters for our many projects. If you can’t help in that way, consider donating some funds instead.  Every bit counts!

Photo by Aaron Chung

Hope you all enjoy your weekend!

I’m really excited to be part of the Christmas stocking design again this year for Beauty Night.
Last year I did a boot with a heel and thought of going in a new direction. That’s where the idea came for a more feminine looking stocking.

Beauty Night Stocking 2009 Pattern

I’m was trying to go a an elegant foot in a panty hose idea but that may have gotten lost when the size was made much bigger than the average ladies leg. hahaha

We’ve had 2 cutting sessions with fabrics donated by local Vancouver residence. We started by transfering the original pattern onto manila and made 6 patterns. It was great having everyone busy at their own section tracing and cutting away. We had a couple of people take turns ironing the material as well. We decided to bundle them in sets of 10 making it easier to keep track of how many and to give them out to sew. I sewed up a few at the end of the day so that we could have samples for the students to see.

Beauty Night Stocking 2009 before they are sewn

The following cutting session we didn’t have as much fabric but somehow managed to get about 80 stocking cut from what we had. There were lots ladies helping which made the day go by much quicker. We’re at around 300 stockings already cut, just waiting to be sewn.

With new fabric donations coming in this week we are all getting together again this weekend to have an other cutting session. Stay tuned for some photos of all of us at work so you can keep track of the whole process!

Beauty Night Stocking 2009

Knit Fit is a non-profit organization founded in 2004 by Laura Mah. Volunteers donate their time to knit scarves which are distributed to the marginalized women and children on the Downtown Eastside.

Knit Fit plans to knit 100 scarves by this coming winter. Along with the scarves, Beauty Night and Knit Fit will be sewing stockings to stuff with scarves and other items for distribution on Christmas Eve.

One the many scarves created by students

During October of last year, Knit Fit had its first ever meeting at Chief Maquinna Elementary School. About twenty students came bustling into the library, all carrying a plastic Ziplock bag of two needles and a ball or two of yarn. After a few minutes, the knitting of scarves was in full force. There were those familiar to knitting, and many of those who were not. Nonetheless, all these kids took it upon themselves to grab a pair of knitting needles and make a scarf that would be used to keep someone warm during the cold winter. These students took the first step in making a positive change for their community. These students were ten years old.

This fall Knit Fit is expanding its horizons. With participants from many different High Schools, Elementary Schools and Universities in the Vancouver area, Knit Fit is working toward full force. Knit Fit welcomes people of all ages, from 8 to as old as 108; any volunteer can participate and make a difference. With Beauty Night and Knit Fit working together, an ambitious goal of 100 scarves and 500 stockings to hand out this winter has been set. However, we can only accomplish this through the help and support of our volunteers. Help is always welcome, from sewing stockings to knitting scarves, and donations are greatly appreciated. There are a variety of opportunities to give back, and we hope that through your help, this winter can be special for everyone in Vancouver.

December 2008 scarves were handed out during the Christmas Season

Knit Fit shows the importance of giving back and provides a chance for everyone to look inside themselves and lend a helping hand. It all starts with just two needles and a ball of yarn. By taking the time to knit a scarf, we send out a message that as a community we can and will work together to make a difference, one scarf at a time.