Archive for the ‘knit fit’ Category

Since the tender age of 11, Laura took giving back to a whole new level. This year, she spearheaded the movement that had over ten schools and hundreds of volunteers involved in knitting scarves for Beauty Night participants. On November 22nd and Christmas Eve, volunteers walked through the streets in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside handing out scarves to people who needed to be warm.

9 years ago, Caroline MacGillivray held the first Beauty Night at WISH Drop in Centre in Vancouver, BC. 14 volunteers took care of 73 women who attended the event. Many of the attendees live in poverty and experience violence. The opportunity to be in a safe space is something that is valued. The opportunity to be treated with dignity and respect made them feel good.

What started off as a special Christmas make over party, became a way to reintroduce touch to victims of violence. When attendees saw the physical change, they started to believe other types of change were possible. They attended literacy classes to show off their freshly painted nails, visited the health clinics to talk about how good they felt and walked out with an extra bounce in their step.

Working directly with the attendees, helped change the perception of many of our volunteers. One of our volunteers told us, “I go past these women every day on the bus but I don’t see them. Tonight I laughed and hugged so many of them. I can’t go back to not being able to see them.”

Last night we celebrated Beauty Night Society’s 9th birthday in Vancouver & Prince George. In Vancouver, the festivities started off with Christmas caroling. Volunteers, participants & their children sang Christmas tunes while creating Christmas cards. Thanks to accessing karaoke via youtube.com, we were able to get everyone singing and dancing.

Women and children gathered around the table with their children cutting and pasting ribbon to card stock. Womyn’s Gym coordinator, Tyla Flexman helped the women find stickers & pens as they sifted through the mountain of art supplies. Through words and art they found different ways to say thank you on paper. These cards were given to many of our volunteers.

Thanks to sponsorship through Liberty Wines & the the creative genius of Stacey Dallyn, the Beauty Night room was transformed into a winter wonderland. Wood land creatures sat under a White Christmas tree. Decorated in silver and gold, the words Beauty Night leapt out the fluffy snow that coated the walls.

Founding vice president of Beauty Night Society, Carly Teng was on hand as a roaming photographer. Carly captured pictures of the festivities of the evening. When our photography team was stuck in traffic, Carly stepped in and began to snap pictures of the women & Santa Claus.

Beauty Night board member, Dave Dickson’s eyes twinkled like St. Nick as women & children posed with him. Ten year old, Santa Helper, Katie Dalinghaus smiled pretty for the camera as she handed out the Nancy Black designed Xmas stockings to the women and children.

Stuffed to the brim with warm gloves, tooth brushes, dental care products, skin care, hair care, and body care products, the brightly coloured stockings Katie handed to the women. Like the first Beauty Night makeover event, the stockings contents came from stocking drive from individuals, churches, and businesses that wanted to contribute to Beauty Night’s 7th annual Xmas stocking drive. Led by Stocking Coordinator, Blair Lockhart, BC Hydro, TD Canada Trust, Ch2M Hill and Carrie Wheeler Talent Management and many more collected monies and products for us to fill those stockings.

Hundreds of high school students from York House, Little Flower Academy, Prince of Wales Mini School, Van Tech Secondary, Churchill Secondary School, Kwantlan College and many members of our community stitched the stockings. 5 - 7 year olds in sparks & brownie troupes decorated the stockings with their own personal flair.

Photographers Bruce & Sarah Culver set up the shots. Beauty Night volunteers & participants mugged for the camera. In the Beauty Night room, Tiffany Telford led the make over program. Carol Hogan, Ella Bak, Olivia Cammie, Meagan Stowe, Denise Van Gorkom, Margo Dalinghaus, and Amanda offered make up lessons, hair styling, manicures, mini massages and reiki.

Under the guidance of Kids Club coordinators, Alexa Fox and Sophia Hughes, women and children continued to create cards and occasionally break into a game of “jingle” tag.

While all the laughter- filled activity filled the room, Wendy Shuen and her volunteers bustled from room to room offering delectable goodies to the Beauty Night participants & volunteers. Almond cookies, fruit cake and mouth watering capicino chocolate biscuits satisfied our taste buds and our stomachs.

Throughout it all, DJ Joe, Tyla Flexman, Stacey Dallyn, Margo Dalinghaus, and Tiffany Telford bustled around making the event run smoothly.

Before the women headed out the door, Katie Dalinghaus gave them scarves created by Knit Fit Volunteers. Over 300 scarves were created by students from Elementary schools and High School students around the lower mainland. Spearheaded by Knit Fit founder & program coordinator, Laura Mah, hundreds of youth, seniors and children developed leadership skills and created scarves to keep people warm as they headed out into the snow.

In Prince George, our Beauty Night makeover event took place at Elizabeth Fry Society. Belly dance and self defense classes were held while women were offered make up application, hair styling, mini facials, manicures and much more.

Tonight - in Vancouver, we continue our celebrations at BC Women’s Hospital. Tiffany Telford, Ella Bak, Tyla Flexman, Caitlin Naylor and Lindsay McMillian will be handing out Xmas stockings and offering our makeover programming to the women in Fir Square.

As we head towards the end of the year, we have a few more events this week. In Toronto, the Xmas stockings & makeover program runs of December 17th - while Vancouver volunteers and contributors celebrate Beauty Night Society’s 9th Birthday on a Boat.

Beauty on the Boat enbarks at 7pm on December 17th. An evening on the sea with the music of Greg Cockerill and evening jaunt along the Vancouver coast. Tickets are $50 - proceeds to Beauty Night Society. For more information, please call 778-885-4526 or [email protected].

* For those who still have contributions to give, we are still handing out Xmas stockings and scarves on Xmas eve. Please contact us at [email protected].

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.

Have extra scarves or yarn that have you in a tangle?

Come to Britannia Community Centre on Sunday November 8 between 1-3pm because we’d gladly take these messy strings off your hands. Or if you’d like, we can teach you how to knit it into something wonderful, like a scarf for the homeless.

What are you waiting for, come and join us!

See you there!

With the cold Halloween over, Knit Fit has realized that this winter season is going to be a cold one. Knit fit is knitting in full gear, working to reach the goal of 200. But this goal was already surpassed when Chief Maquinna Elementary knitted a remarkable amount of 260 scarves! So our new goal has been set to 400! But this cannot be done without the help of our community and friends. Thank you to everyone who is working with us to accomplish this goal. Knit Fit is always looking for new volunteers. Join us on our next session which will be held on November 8 from 1-3pm at Britannia Community Centre. New knitters are always welcomed. See you there!

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!

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.

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 [email protected] for more information.

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

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 [email protected] 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 [email protected] 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.