Happy International Volunteer Week!!!

Volunteer Profiles/Survey:
At Beauty Night Society we create a safe space in the frame work of health and wellness. Through this we create a space for the women to make friends and become leaders in their own community. We could not do this without you. Thank you for all that you do! For International Volunteer Week, I wanted to interview everyone of you to talk about why you volunteer. I wanted to get some quotes to do some volunteer profiles on the website. I have put together some questions on survey monkey. If you feel comfortable having your responses posted, please add your name in there. If you would like to give general feedback, this is possible too. http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/27S5MCC

Kid’s Club:
Our mandate for the child minding component of programming is the offer 20 minutes of physical fitness for every hour of programming. Thanks to Franny Varty, Vivian Dong, Lina Marin Chan and Christen Young, we have exceeded that total. Jumping, skipping, hopping and running as they play tag, sing and so many other things keep huge smiles on their faces. Last Monday, I got a workout of my own as I tried to keep up with Courtney Krause, Laura Volpatti, Franny Varty and the children. Spinning, playing tag and other activities kept the children engaged and enthused as their parents participated in the programming. When it was time to say good bye, there were a few tears and struggles from a few of the children who wanted to continue to play.

* A few of the mothers have told me that the act of getting the kids to sleep seems easier on nights that they come to Beauty Night.

Release Your Royalty:
Tonight we welcome Taaja. Taaja will be teaching a “royalty” workshop for our participants. The program description for the participants read: Learn how to be “Your royal princess every day”. Taaja will teach you how to walk down the red carpet and Own the Room with confidence and grace. A fun and interactive workshop!!
6-7pm tonight
www.taajainc.com

Ready, Set, Go!!!
Womyns Gym participants are counting down the days until May 9th. On May 9th 7 of the participants will be walk/running the Sun Run. “I cannot express how excited I am to have our women complete a monumental goal,” says Womyns Gym Program Coordinator, Tyla Flexman. We are thrilled to have the support of Lynn Kanuka, the walk/run coach for Sport Med BC. Lynn, a long time supporter of Beauty Night Society is sponsoring the participants through web coaching and Sport Med BC is sponsoring 7 of the women for the Sun Run. The feedback from both our trainers and our participants has been positive. “Her web coach support has also been excellent, the inspirational tips and forums are very helpful. With the help of daylight savings we are now able to walk / run outside every session. We have built up to 40 minutes outside 20 min of which are running, ” says Tyla when asked about how the training has gone.

Womyns Gym Clothing
We had an overwhelming response to our last newsletter. At press time, Womyn’s Gym Program Coordinator, Tyla Flexman and I were trying to get clothing for our Womyns Gym participants. Some of the participants were wearing jeans and flip flops to work out in. Kerry Parsons and the wonderful community from Cranbrook pitched in and have collected tons of atheltic wear for the women. Tyla and I are delighted. This way the participants will have clothing right at the beginning of the program. Many women do not know their sizes and we have found it difficult to preorder the clothing for the particpants.

Huge thanks to Christen Young of North Face. Christen volunteers for Kids Club on Wednesday Nights. She responded immediately to the newsletter to let us know she has spoken North Face about contributing outfits for the women to wear for the womyns gym program. North Face responded favorably. Last Monday, we handed out the new outfits including sports bras. The women were delighted.

Every Woman in the World
5 Womyns Gym participants took part in www.everywomanintheworld.com on the weekend of March 27th. Huge thanks to Lynn Kanuka for sponsorship to this amazing event. The next www.everywomanintheworld.com will be in Whistler on May 14, 15, and 16th. Every Woman in the World supports Beauty Night by holding a silent auction. Half of the proceeds from the auction are contributed to Beauty Night Society. Every Woman also sponsors a Beauty Night participant to enjoy the action packed weekend at Whistler.

For those who would like to contribute an auction item, please contact Kerri at info@everywomanintheworld.com. If you are interested in participating in the Every Woman Experience, you can get $50 off by putting in the promo code: BN.

At the Movies:
Huge thanks to Jacqui Ellis who shared her love for film with our Beauty Night participants by contributing passes to the http://www.womeninfilm.ca/WIFF_2010.html this weekend at the Vancity Theatre. Thank you to Anna Greczmiel who offered to take some of the women to enjoy films by women. The women enjoy being inspired by film. Several months ago, Beauty Night had the honor of having local filmmakers Chris McDowell and Moira Simpson screen their film Under One Sky at PHS LifeSkills Centre. The film focuses on the Pacific Association of Women Martial Artists camp. A variety of martial art instructors shared their craft and talked about how martial arts strengthened them. One of the martial arts who appeared in the film came on site to teach the women some self defense.

Toronto:
Volunteer coordinator, Saafi Warsame facilitates her last Beauty Night event on April 29th. Saafi will be sadly missed by Beauty Night volunteers and participants. She has been a fantastic part of our team both in Vancouver as well as Toronto. Saafi’s humour and sincerity have helped shape the Toronto events. We wish her well and can not wait to welcome her back when she has time to volunteer again!

AGM:
Mark your calendars for May 19th. Our annual general meeting will be held that evening. AGM package will be available on April 19, 2010.
Please let us know if you would like to attend.

Treasuer
Christie Gray has resigned as our Treasurer. If you are interested in serving on the Beauty Night Society board, please let us know. Please email us for more information. We will send you the board member package and upcoming meeting schedule if you are interested in running for the Treasurer position.

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Beauty Night… because dignity is beautiful