As in the past, Glacier Grannies came together to make Christmas door swags. This year our creations were made in a Glacier Granny’s husband’s workshop, and many Grannies contributed by dropping off lovely holly and festive greenery gathered from their properties and the forest. The swags were stored outside in a soon-to-be under construction chicken coop.

Thank you to Jane Sigurdson for hosting us, and to Claire Donovan for writing an article for the local paper. This resulted in many swags being sold at the Comox Mall on December 3 - thank you to the Grannies who made emergency runs to the chicken coop to replenish stock. Sales were slower at the Driftwood Mall the following week, due to a snow storm, but members of Comox United Church were happy to buy those that remained.

Thank you to the managers of the Comox and Driftwood Malls, and Comox United Church congregation. The total raised was $1552.

To mark World AIDS Day, an enthusiastic group of Glacier Grannies and Merville Grand Mothers performed two flash mob dances to the song “Sisters are Doing it For Themselves” sung by the Eurythmics with Aretha Franklin and Annie Lennox. The song symbolizes the resiliency of African grandmothers, but also stresses that they should not have to do everything alone: We need to continue to support their work through the community-based organizations that assist them.

The dancers performed with energy, passion and joy! The event was videoed and will be sent to the Stephen Lewis Foundation to be part of a compilation of about 40 videos from Grandmother Groups across Canada. The result will be shared on social media.

A big thank you to Lynn Robinson’s grandson, Austin Morgan, who provided the music, James Taylor and Kate Morgan who videoed the event, Yvonne and Ron Racine who took still photographs, Claire Donovan who wrote articles for the local papers, and Virginia Philipson who distributed World AIDS Day cards to the public.

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Ida shared stories of her experiences with African grandmothers as she visits many of the Stephen Lewis Foundation supported projects. Carrie passed on news of what is happening in the Foundation office and her experiences with Canadian grandmothers.

Much of what is happening is so much more hopeful than 10 years ago, but there is still work to be done. Thank you to all who turned out to give Carrie and Ida a lovely warm welcome to the Comox Valley.

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It was a huge privilege to sell our crafts along with 40 other local and global organizations with their fair trade products from Asia, Africa, Central and South America.

Saturday bustled with energetic buyers, while the very rainy Sunday was quieter. Sales reflected the number of shoppers:

Saturday raised over $2225.20, while Sunday was a more modest $976.50, for a total of $3201.70.

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Rain and more rain was the order of the day, so at 8am we were very happy to find that the fair had been moved indoors to the upper floor of the Cumberland Museum. There was no need to set up the canopy and worry about ‘sides’ to keep out the rain. The atmosphere was warm and inviting, but there were not as many shoppers as we had hoped. Our volunteers were kept happy with home baking nearby and coffee downstairs.

Thank you to all those grannies who helped out on our tables. We had a total of $173.00 in sales.

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Many other Glacier Grannies assisted in getting the cyclists and their support team fed and back on their journey down island. Tina Filippino led a singing round to see them back on the trail. Maxine Bowen and Cathy Nelson from Courtenay and Sally Gellard of Merville proudly represented our area.

Please feel free to continue to donate to the cyclists at Victoria Grandmothers for Africa.

The lunch raised $335.33 for the Stephen Lewis Foundation.

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This meant we didn’t have to move tables under the one roof with sides every night, and could leave things well set-up for the next day. Set-up on Friday afternoon went smoothly bar a missing roof to one of the tents, but all worked out well in the end. Our Granny volunteers came out to help sell with enthusiasm.

Many thanks to all who participated.

The final amount for the weekend sales was $1178.00, with Saturday making $484, Sunday $526, and Monday $168 (the weather had changed).

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In brilliant sunshine Dianne Wade Co Chair of the Glacier Grannies welcomed the Grandmother Riders for lunch in the shade under the riverside trees,commending them for their enthusiasm and endurance.
During the lunch we were entertained by a group of nine Grandmothers from Japan,singing and playing music on a flute sounding wooden triangular instrument .We all then joined together to sing one of our favorite songs" We Shall Not Rest"

After sandwiches of egg,fresh salmon, ham and cheese along with veggie plates fruit and honey peanut little rolls all were refreshed to carry on this first day of three to Qualichum as their goal on the way to Victoria.

Lynn Erskine displayed the Rosemary Brown Award that the Grandmother Groups  of BC were awarded in 2010 for their efforts to help The African Grandmothers.She also thanked the Glacioer Grannies and presented us with a cheque for $250.00 which will go with funds raised for by guest lunches to Stephen Lewis Foundation a total of approximately $300.

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