LiveWorkPlay News NOVEMBER 2007 (Archived)

1) GOLF TOURNAMENT SCORECARD
2) HALLOWEEN/HOLIDAY FAMILY FUN
3) NEW YEAR’S EVE IN OTTAWA UPDATE
4) ANNUAL FAMILY CONFERENCE NEWS
5) SMILE TRAVEL UPDATES
6) JOURNEYS LOOKS AHEAD TO ACES
7) SMILE MINI-BANQUET SET TO GO
8) CONGRATULATIONS MEALS ON WHEELS
9) UNITED WAY/CENTRAIDE OTTAWA CAMPAIGN

GOLF TOURNAMENT SCORECARD

The numbers are in on the first annual LiveWorkPlay golf tournament organized by O.B Villeneuve Insurance and Quelmec Loss Adjusters. Thanks to 144 golfers and more than a dozen business supporters including major sponsor Marcomm Integrated Business Solutions, an incredible $20,000 was raised! The organizing team has already started work on the 2008 tournament, which is Thursday, September 25, once again at Greyhawk (we’ll switch to the Talon course for this one). The online registration is already available and additional major sponsors, contests, and prizes can be expected!

HALLOWEEN/HOLIDAY FAMILY FUN

LiveWorkPlay Halloween Family Fun Night took place on October 26, and there were lots of changes for this year’s event. Most important was the switch to a larger venue at Good Companions Centre so that everyone could share the experience together in the same room. The massive turnout had staff and volunteers scrambling for tables and chairs, so for the December 14 Holiday Family Fun Night there will be seating for 100 ready to go!

Families can help organizers better prepare for this event by registering online for FFN, and every other LWP event. Be sure to visit the online registration page to sign up! It’s fast, it’s fun, it’s easy!

NEW YEAR’S EVE UPDATE

The New Year’s Eve In Ottawa party in the ballroom of the Crowne Plaza Hotel is more than 25% sold out and ticket orders are coming in every day. This includes some large orders, most notably a group of 15 coming all the way from Mexico! This is the first LiveWorkPlay New Year’s Eve event to feature a full live band, and Sticks ‘n Stones are ready to rock the house!

The ticket sales campaign is just getting started, with A-Channelworking on a public service announcement that will hit the airwaves before the end of the month, and daily mentions on The BEAR 106.9 FM that will also start in November.

Do you have your tickets yet? Don’t delay, buy today!

ANNUAL FAMILY CONFERENCE NEWS

The Second Annual LiveWorkPlay Family Conference “A Good Life Includes Sexuality” on November 17 drew 35 participants from Journeys and SMILE and 40 parents for a total of 75 delegates!

Topics included everything from healthy communication to legal rights and personal values. There was a lot of territory to cover, and not one of the three breakout sessions managed to discuss every topic on the agenda.

The key outcome from “A Good Life Includes Sexuality” was identifying that more needs to be done. The participants were just warming up and getting truly comfortable with the topic by the time the day was over!

SMILE TRAVEL UPDATES

Travel has been an important part of SMILE for more than five years. There are three trips targeted to different groups of participants scheduled in the next 16 months! After that, there will be a new routine with everyone invited to take part in a single trip every year, most likely in the month of February.

First up in the current series of trips, SMILE-TNG is off to Santa Monica in February. At the end of July everyone is invited to take part in a summer excursion to the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Finally, in the winter of 2009 the SMILE-TOG group is off to Florida!

Why travel? In brief, it’s an incredible way to learn and practice everything that SMILE is all about: self-advocacy, planning, organizing, self-reliance, interdependence, coping, and of course learning more about the world! Participants returning from SMILE trips typically report feelings of improved self-esteem, confidence, and pride. It’s a lot of work for all concerned, but well worth it!

JOURNEYS LOOKS AHEAD TO ACES

With the tremendous success of SMILE trips, it was only a matter of time until Journeys participants started to say “What about us!?!”

The response? The ACES (Active Community Experiences in Summer) program will be adapted this year to feature two sessions of travel to Montreal!

Participants will spend five days planning activities and learning about their destination, and then enjoy three days and two nights of travel.

SMILE MINI-BANQUET SET TO GO

Details for the December 11th SMILE Mini-Banquet were announced today. About 30 participants are expected for the private party at a west end Ottawa restaurant, where they will share stories about their challenges and accomplishments and gear up for the winter.

The September-December session at SMILE has been jam-packed with steps big and small in the pursuit of a good life. This includes new paid and unpaid work, transitions to new homes, and other achievements that will be marked at the banquet.

CONGRATULATIONS MEALS ON WHEELS

The annual Meals on Wheels Ottawa banquet on November 14 was attended by a full table of LiveWorkPlay volunteers past and present. The highlight and also most difficultmoment of the afternoon was paying tribute and saying goodbye to Pauline Uston, the Manager of Volunteer Services who has retired after more than two decades of service. Pauline has always been a key figure in the partnership with LiveWorkPlay.

It was only fitting that Lucas Rodgers, the first SMILE participant to ever volunteer with Meals on Wheels, should receive his thousand hours of volunteer service pin on the same day that Pauline’s retirement was celebrated. Lucas and Ian Murphy both volunteer weekly with Meals on Wheels volunteer drivers, while other SMILE participants are part of a team that serves a route every Wednesday with a LiveWorkPlay staff driver.

UNITED WAY/CENTRAIDE OTTAWA CAMPAIGN

On September 21, 2007, United Way/Centraide Ottawa announced its largest fundraising goal ever of $29.7 million for the 2007 campaign. LiveWorkPlay is helping out in various ways including participation in the Speaker’s Bureau. CEO Keenan Wellar and SMILE self-advocate Jennifer Harris have thus far made 3 visits to local workplaces to share stories about how LiveWorkPlay is making a difference and the importance of United Way support.

You can direct all or part of your United Way contribution to LiveWorkPlay. Please click here for a donation form.

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