Archive for the ‘Christmas Stocking Drive 2008’ Category

Beauty Night Turns 8!
Date: Monday, December 15th, 6 -9pm
Location: Life Skills Centre at 412 East Cordova.

“She’s growing up,” says Beauty Night Founder, Caroline MacGillivray.
On December 15th Beauty Night celebrates its 8th birthday. “It is
amazing how far we have come,” says MacGillivray.

In 8 years, the award-winning non-profit program has provided 10,000
makeovers to marginalized women and youth in Vancouver, Victoria, and
Toronto. Beauty Night’s Monday makeover night on December 15th will
include some North Pole notables-Mrs. Claus and her elves handing out
Christmas stockings designed by Nancy Black. “This is the sixth year of
our annual stocking drive,” says MacGillivray. “Every year we make 500
stockings and hand most of them out on Xmas eve as well as during the
events leading up to it.”

Typically, Beauty Night’s Monday makeover night at the Life Skills
Centre unites an impressive roster of Lower Mainland volunteers.
Hairdressers, makeup artists, estheticians, massage therapists, plus
many more volunteers join forces to offer services for the women. On
December 15th, the “tea” ladies from Teldon Publishing will also be on
hand offering hot tea and healthy snacks to Beauty Night clients. Lush
Cosmetics will be offering mini facials.

The community has kicked in to help. Spearheaded by Beauty Night’s
Stocking Coordinator, Blair Lockhart and Product Coordinator, Revel
Kunz, many more volunteers throughout the community have helped make
this event a reality. Students at York House School, the Rangers (youth
girls group), Sharon Hong and many more helped sew the stockings.
Canada Trust, Carrie Wheeler Talent Management, and Blanche McDonald
have been collecting donations of skin care, makeup, nail, dental, body,
and hair care products to fill the stockings with. Other donations
include gloves and toques.

Beauty Night is excited to include Knit Fit as part of the festivities.
Founded five years ago by Laura Mah at the tender age of 11, Knit Fit
has been teaching youth to knit and Beauty Night Clients reap the
benefit. On December 15th, 16 year old Mah and her cohorts will be
handing out hand knit scarves to the Beauty Night Clients.
Beauty Night Birthday party will also be making spirits bright for both
volunteers and their makeover subjects with Christmas movies and other
Xmas goodies.

For more information about donating product, snacks or money, please
contact Caroline MacGillivray at 778-885-4526. Media welcome. Beauty
Night’s 6th annual stocking drive will be collecting new hair, nail,
skincare, dental care, gloves and socks before December 14th.

Change starts with creating awareness. Paige 18’s production of In the Boom Boom Room brings the vicious cycle of the sex trade front and centre. “Our main goal was to produce a thought provoking piece of theater that gets people talking,” explains In the Boom Boom Room director, Jennifer Copping. It may start with talking. This provocative play will definitely get the buzz going.

Paige 18 Productions talking about it. They are putting their money where their mouth is. $1 from each ticket will be donated to Beauty Night Society. Donations for for the Beauty Night Christmas Stockings can be dropped off in the lobby. “By including your charity we have a perfect and direct relevance that is benefiting the women of the downtown eastside and getting awareness out there in a positive way, that these problems still exist but people like you are doing something about it,” says Copping. The show opens November 19th and runs until the 29th.

There isn’t a better way to celebrate Ms. Caroline’s birthday(Founder of Beauty Night Society). The ultimate Sex in the City girl wants you to doll up and watch “SEX AND THE CITY” with 75 of her closest friends.

Photo by Kimberly Faye

It’s time to doll up in labels and love and enjoy a girls’ night out at the exclusive Campoverde Social Club (www.campoverde.ca, 1660 West 1st Avenue). There is no cover charge BUT only 75 can attend.

Please respond directly to Caroline at [email protected] as it is first come first serve.

For those on the list (who have RSVPed to Caroline), doors open at 7pm. Come early and discover what people all around the world love about social clubs. Good food, great socializing and better quality of life. Five star meals for under $20.

In typical Caroline fashion, this Sex in the City girl proves once again that you can have fun and make a positive difference in the lives of others. Proceeds from a raffle will be going to Car’s favourite charity - Beauty Night Society.

Campoverde Social Club is generously letting us host L Before M in their space. Partial proceeds from Cosmos (the classic Sex in the City girl cocktail) will be donated to Beauty Night.

Please bring your check book to sponsor a Beauty Night stocking or scarf in Caroline’s name for her birthday. You can sponsor stockings and scarves in people’s names for the holiday season.

* Tax receipts for donations of $25 or more will be available.

This year’s stocking is designed by Nancy Black. The stockings are being sewn by the Rangers (level above girl guides) and students from York House School.

The scarves are created as part of the knit fit project spearheaded by Laura Mah (see yesterday’s post)

Meet Laura Mah, founder of the Knit Fit Movement. Knit Fit is creating 200 scarves for Beauty Night clients by the December 25th. Laura has been running Knit Fit since 2003 at the tender age of 11! Present day, this vivacious 16 year old continues to do what she can to make a difference in the lives of women in the Downtown Eastside. about Knit Fit.

Beauty Night: Tell us about Knit Fit.

LM: Knit Fit first started in 2003, when I came up with the idea of getting a group of kids together in my elementary school to knit scarves for the less fortunate people of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. In our first year, we had about 40 kids get together and when Christmas came along, I had received 60 gorgeous scarves to give away at Caroline MacGillivray’s amazing organization, Beauty Night. Knit Fit continued until 2006, when the group decided to take a short break.

Now, here in 2008, Knit Fit’s back and we want to take this group to the next level. We currently have about 30 ambitious volunteers and the group is definitely growing.
Knit Fit is all about giving back. Though we may be making a small difference in our world, I believe we can make a significant difference in our community.

Beauty Night: What was it like as an eleven year old handing out scarves in the DTES.

LM: I remember the first day handing our scarves at Beauty Night! The experience was incredible. There was another time…it was close to Christmas time and it must have been my second time handing out scarves at Beaty Night.

I was standing there at my little scarf table and one of the security guards gave me a letter and he said that it was from a homeless man who was standing outside. I opened up the card and it said “Thank you, you have a way of touching other’s lives with your thoughtfulness. From the people of the downtown eastside. Merry x-mass and happy new year.” I still have the card! So to answer the question in short, I loved and still very much love volunteering.

Beauty Night: You have been involved with Beauty Night for a very long time. Tell me about the funding proposal you did for school.

In the Spring of 2008, many of the Grade 10 classes at my high school, Vancouver Technical Secondary, were asked to do a project for the Toskan Casale Foundation. This foundation had created a program called the Youth and Philanthropy Initiative. This program basically gives students the opportunity to work in groups and as a team, research and interview a particular non-profit organization. When the project is all finished, the students then have to present their organization infront of a set of judges, one of which is a representative from the Toskan Casle Foundation. The winner is then awarded with $5000 to donate to their organization that they presented!

I, along with 3 of my classmates, Kaja McNeil, Sadie Herbold and Tammy Nguyen, worked together and we proudly represented Beauty Night at the presentation. We made a short video which had clips of when we interviewed Caroline during a Beatuy Night, a poster, and a pamphlet. Although we did not end up winning the $5000 for Beauty Night, we all had such an amazing experiance while working on our project. We not only learnt about philanthropy, and Beauty Night, we also learnt so much about ourselves and each other.

Beauty Night: Why do you think Beauty Night is important?

LM: Where to start? Beauty Night provides so much more that just make overs and hair cuts. Literacy programs, fitness programs, and health programs are also programs that are apart of Beauty Night. These programs provide the women of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside with not only skills and services, but also with fun and confidence.

Beauty Night: Why do you think the women like the scarves so much?
LM: I think the women like the scarves because they provide warmth during our harsh winter season. But aside from that, the scarves that we make are pretty good looking! Right now, I’m working on two scarves, one for Knit Fit, and one for myself!

Beauty Night: What can people do to help out?

LM: We are currently in need of knitting needles and yarn. Donated knitting needles, yarn or money would help us help others.

Beauty Night: What about people who have no idea how to knit but would like to get involved?

LM: New knitters welcome! even if you don’t know how to knit, it takes about 15 minutes MAX to learn.

Beauty Night: How can people find out more information about this project?

LM: As terrible as it sounds, I rely A LOT on facebook. Join the group ‘KNIT FIT.’ and check out the recent news. I always send out messages to everyone about a week advance before our meetings. If facebook is NOT an option, but you are interested in volunteering, I constantly check my e-mail and my phone is always on!

Beauty Night: I don’t think that is terrible - facebook is a great marketing tool. Beauty Night Society has it’s own facebook group.

Laura Mah, founder of Knit Fit can be reached at [email protected] or778-386-3851.

Although Halloween has yet to come and go, Beauty Night Volunteers are gearing up for the 6th Annual Christmas Stocking Drive. On December 24th, Beauty Night volunteers dress up as “Ms. Claus” and hand out 500 Christmas stockings to women living in the Downtown Eastside. “This is one of my favourite events, ” says Beauty Night Society founder, Caroline MacGillivray, “I love how the entire community gets involved.”

This year’s stocking has been designed by Vancouver fashion designer, Nancy Black. The first batch of Christmas stockings have been cut and will be sewn by students at York House School. Already donations of beauty products, dental care, and gloves are pouring in. “I think it is fantastic that so many people hold office drives and events to raise money and product for the women,” says MacGillivray.

This year people can sponsor stockings and hand knit scarves for the women. For a fifty dollar donation, the donor will get a card designed by Nancy Black that states: ” ________ sponsored a Holiday stocking in your name for a Beauty Night client.” Donations of $25 will sponsor a scarf for a Beauty Night client.

The scarves are created by Knit Fit. Knit Fit is an initiative spearheaded by 16 year old, Laura Mah. Since the tender age of 11 years old, Mah has been teaching youth to knit. The scarves created by the volunteers are given to Beauty Night clients. Knit Fit is aiming to create 200 scarves for Beauty Night clients.

For More information, please contact Caroline at 778-885-4526