Posts Tagged ‘tyla flexman’

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.

Beauty Night Society’s fitness program, ‘Womyns Gym’, has just wrapped up it’s 10-week program for the 2009 season. The sessions ran twice a week every week from September to December. It required a heavy commitment by our clients and trainers, and we managed to find the perfect group. Although our number of participants varied in the initial few weeks, we were able to finish our sessions with 5 very committed and enthusiastic women.

A few changes were made to increase participant’s satisfaction as well as to increase adherence to the program. With the help of our up beat trainers we ran a circuit style workout. Circuit style allowed each trainer to teach 2 or 3 specific exercises to every client while still maintaining a one-on-one relationship. Based on the laughter, smiles and encouraging slogans being heard throughout the gym it was obvious this was a successful change.

Another great addition to Womyns Gym was the childcare we offered to our participants. Not only did this increase the accessibility and adherence to the program, it also introduced the children to a healthy lifestyle at a young age. Fostering an interest in exercise is extremely valuable and helps make it a natural occurrence in their lives as they grow up. As it turns out, the kids loved playing with all the exercise equipment and were frequently trying to mimic the exercises ‘Mommy’ was doing. This reminded us that exercise can and is meant to be fun – maybe we should think of it more as adult play time?!

As I reflect on the past sessions of Womyns gym, I am reminded of one workout that was particularly enjoyable. The trainers decided to surprise the clients with a themed workout… Retro Style! All the trainers brought out their neons, spandex, headbands and leg warmers for a jane fonda inspired workout session. The music consisted mostly of Madonna, David Bowie, Donna Summers and Billy Idol to name a few. Everyone’s heart rates were high and faces flushed as we danced around between exercises – I think it may have been the hardest workout, and yet it was an absolute blast!!

After the Christmas season Womyns Gym will resume it’s programming, however the sessions will most likely be in a drop-in format to start. Our current participants as well as our wait –listed clients are eagerly awaiting our January start date. As the program coordinator, my Christmas wish list is to recruit 10 women to workout twice a week and to have everyone complete the Vancouver 2010 Sun Run!

Womyns Gym is only possible with hardworking and enthusiastic trainers who create a fun, invigorating atmosphere to workout in, as well as inspired and enthusiastic participants, so thank you to all who were a part of Womyns Gym 2009! Also a huge thank you to Telus for allowing us to create a sustainable program that provides quality training.

Thank you everyone and have a fit and fantastic New Year!

- Tyla Flexman, Womyn’s Gym Program Coordinator

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].

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!

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.

From Caroline MacGillivray:

Although we have been running the makeover program in Toronto for over 6 years, many people are surprised to hear about it. Ann Roche, who ran the Toronto programming resigned in December. It is going to be difficult to replace Ann. She has been a wonderful asset to Beauty Night.

I am in Toronto until April 8th looking for facilitators to run two makeover programs each month. I can be reached at 647-995-4526.

We are also looking for storage space for our supplies that have been stored at CAMH. CAMH is renovating their space and we are looking for new storage space in the downtown Toronto area. Please let us know if you know anyone who might be willing to donate space.

The Toronto events this week are:

Saturday, April 4th
Massage by donation
Aradia Fitness Toronto
721 Queen Street West
2-4pm
Females only
* I am still looking for volunteers for this event

Sunday, April 5th
CAMH
1pm Moving our supplies from one space to another
* CAMH has generously donated space for our storage and drop off location for supplies. We will be sorting and dropping off donations to other organizations that might need it. We will also be sorting through supplies that are older and need to find homes.

Monday, April 6th
Volunteer orientation
6pm
Starbucks Chapters.
We will be meeting at the Starbucks in Chapters at the corner of John and Queen Street West. If you have friends that might be interested in volunteering, please have them email or facebook me.

Although I am in Toronto working on Toronto Beauty Night, things are still active in Vancouver. Katie Benjamin and Tiffany Telford are running the makeover events in my absence. These two dynamic volunteers are busy in their own right.

Tiffany spearheaded the Xmas Beauty Night in Prince George and runs the monthly Beauty Nights in Coquitlam and at the Health Contact Centre. This month, she will be running the makeover program with CHIUS (community health initiative by university students) at Urban Native Youth Association. For these events, we are still looking for volunteers. Please facebook or text me if you are able to attend.

Wednesday, April 1
Health Contact Centre 6-9pm
166 East Hastings Street

Thursday, April 2
Kinsman Hall (Partnering with Soroptimists)
Port Coquitlam
6-8pm
The address for Kinsman Hall is 2175 Coquitlam Ave, Port Coquitlam, built in Aggie Park. The map is on the link below, and your team of volunteers may want to get the directions from the link.

http://maps.google.com/?q=2175%20Coquitlam%20Avenue%2C%20Port%20Coquitlam%2C%20BC.

Wednesday, April 8th
UNYA * please email for addresss
6-8pm

Katie Benjamin, a long time volunteer for Beauty Night has created her own initiative, Womyn’s Gym. Funded through Telus, Womyn’s Gym creates one on one personal training opportunities for Beauty Night clients. Together with Tyla Flexman and Miranda Landry, Katie has been training kinesiologist students to work with our clients. This initiative is in it’s third week. Goal setting, nutrition and fitness are key components of this wonderful program that runs on Tuesday and Thursday evenings.

We are looking for child minding volunteers for the participants children. Alexa Fox has been coordinating the child care. We are in need of volunteers that have their criminal records check, extended first aid, current CPR, and enjoy working with children. Early childhood education is a huge asset.

We are also looking for green space in the Downtown Eastside to start a gardening project. We have had a donor offer donate apple and fig trees to this project. We just need somewhere to plant them. I am hoping this project will harvest food for our nutrition and fitness programs as well as a strong sense of community for the women. Perhaps if this happens before summer, we will be able to move our yoga classes under the shade of the trees.

On April 14th, we are adding our Chillaxing Wellness Nights to our existing programming. We will have a foot care clinic (pedicures) run by health care students and professionals; reiki, massage and reflexology. We are looking for more volunteers for this program. Orientation will be April 13th (Easter Monday). If you are a current volunteer, just let me know your availability.
The night will run in conjunction with our yoga classes, womyn’s gym, child care and women’s writing group that run on the Tuesday evenings. Thera Wise has donated product for our foot clinic and Sage has donated products for the relaxation services.

Thank you for everything that you do.

Sincerely,

Caroline
778-885-4526
647-995-4526