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From the desk of.... March 2013
I know, I know, hard to believe I am getting this out in the first week of the month ... but here it is! All the news that is the news.....
First off, Spring arrives on March 20th and I for one am ready. Enough with the snow, the melt, the massive puddles, the freeze and then the snow again... I mean you'd think it was winter or something here in the nation's capital LOL :)
Hope you have been having a good one. I personally had a great winter. I even made it to the canal a few times for a skate, with my Jack, who, in his own words is a better skater than he thought. Went with my dad a couple times too - brought back memories from when I was a kid, except now I'm the better skater (sorry dad!) I do love the canal.
Our GATHER group had its first ...well gathering! Don't forget we meet on the first Tuesday of the month at the Maplesoft Survivor Centre on Alta Vista. We are aiming to incorporate some guest speaker/presenters and I am currently organizing for a Reiki master to come and speak about the benefits of this type of stress reduction and relaxation as well as a Holistic Nutritionist, and I have just connected with a Naturopathic Doctor, so that may also be coming soon. The big thing though is this get together is for you parents - so come on out and share your experiences, gain some helpful insights and strategies from other parents and maybe make a new friend!
On February 20th, Candlelighters co-hosted a Focus Group with some of the CHEO Oncology Leadership Team with some of our parents. The purpose of the groups was to identify those aspects of care that CHEO performs well in addition to understanding those areas where CHEO can improve the patient experience. I'm thankful to all of you who took part in Candlelighters on-line survey - the responses from that were brought forward as well.
I'm sure the others who attended were encouraged by the openness of the dialogue and the real commitment on CHEO's behalf to address the needs and concerns of oncology parents. I'm very happy to have been apart of it and look forward to working productively together with the CHEO Foundation and CHEO staff on the valuable projects the invaluable feedback identified. A big thank you to everyone who participated. PS - I will be posting Candlelighters Survey Report on our website over the next few days , we had a hacker wreaking havoc on our site this past weekend :(
Whose running in the upcoming Tamarack Ottawa Race Weekend? You? Someone you know - like a friend, colleague, neighbor, relative? Consider supporting Candlelighters by getting pledges. Its easy ...everything you need to do is at this website: candlelighters.net/events-and-activities/ottawa-race-weekend/
Help us reach our goal of 50 runners on TEAM CANDLELIGHTERS.
Not a runner? Don't understand how they do it? I'm with you. I couldn't run to the corner, never mind even 2 km.... I tried 5 kms once and I lived to tell you all about it. Won't be doing that again anytime soon. BUT perhaps you ride a bike? CN Cycle for CHEO comes up on Sunday May 5th. Congrats to Isacc, Aimee and Eric - this year's Dream Team. Candlelighters is a beneficiary of this event and it sure is a great way for you, your friends and family to spend a spring Sunday morning www.cncycle.ca
Chipping In For Charity celebrates its 10th Anniversary this year! Hard to believe ten years has gone by already. We are so grateful to TeraMach Technologies for their continued support of Candlelighters - they have been presenting sponsor of this event for the whole 10 years. This year, Chipping In will have raised half a million dollars in support of Candlelighters since 2004!!! Thank you to everyone who has made that possible - check out www.chippinginforcharity.com!!
We're very excited for our new website design... seeing the sneak peaks from Cory and Laura has been really fantastic and I can't wait to announce it's being launched.
Speaking of being launched... RED APRON Candlelight Dinners officially launched on Friday March 1st - of course you already knew that since you follow us on Twitter and Facebook! (so quick ... do it now and go to the Facebook and Twitter icons and like us and follow us) ... Red Apron www.redapron.ca has donated a coupon worth $50 for all newly diagnosed families. The coupon can be redeemed for delicious, healthy fresh or frozen meals to take home or to have while in-patients; whatever works best for your family. Thanks to Jennifer and Joanne at Red Apron, and to Dev Jude, who connected us all together.
There are lots of exciting things going on and being planned (lots!! ) and you can be right on top of it all- it's as easy as following us on twitter, facebook and checking us out a www.candlelighters.net Our goal is to have 500 followers on Twitter and 750 likes on Facebook by the summer. Help us!! Retweet us, Share our posts... and keep informed about all the news that is the news here at Candlelighters.
That's it for me for today...enjoy this last little bit of snow as we get ready to bid winter 2012-2013 goodbye. OK. Maybe not "enjoy it". Not me anyway. I'll try and miss it when its over. Ha, not likely I will miss it either #gettingreadyforsummer (ooops, was that a twitter thing here?)
And .... don't forget to check out Camp Trillium's site & newsletter for dates when planning your summer holidays!!!
http://files.camptrillium.com/newsletter/newsletter-2013-spring.pdf
Okay, over and out everyone. Until next time..... JL
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