The “Stirring Memories” Cookbooks
may now also be purchased at the following locations/events:

UPDATE Jan 9th 2013:  Happy New Year! Christmas is over but you can still purchase the book as follows:

• at the front desk at Old Strathcona Antique Mall 78 Ave 103 Street
• or as follows:
  • order online at: www.ShopPageMaster.ca
  • or click here for how to contact them.

The GANG’s latest project, a food memoir, is complete and ready for your Christmas shopping list.

It will be available for sale at $20 each at a public launch on Saturday, November 24, at 1:00 – 4:00 pm at the Old Strathcona Antique Mall, 10323- 78 Ave. Edmonton, AB. The GANG will be there to sign and sell books.

Stirring Memories is a wonderful collection of 80 submissions, made up of stories and recipes remembering our family and friends. Stories are warm, funny,and sometimes heart wrenching but all honour our heritage and history. All proceeds after expenses will go to the Stephen Lewis Foundation in support of African grandmothers caring for orphaned children.

1. First it was with Ryan Jespersen at CityTV on the Breakfast TV show on April 4, 2013.
2. Next it was on Global TV Edmonton News on April 11, 2013.

Judy Hayman and Louise Barr were interviewed about how Grandmothers in Edmonton are helping Grandmothers in Africa and about the fundraising event they call the

“Fabulous Fabric Frenzy”

• Click here for more information about the event.
• Click below to view the two clips.

City TV Breakfast TV

Global TV Morning News

On March 21, 2013, five GANG members set forth in the blizzard, #YEGSTORM, to meet and assist in a classroom, grade 5/6, at Jackson Heights Elementary School. These students and master teacher, Karen Mosewich, would be creating African angels, as a culmination of their research on the countries that the Stephen Lewis Foundation supports.

Our first involvement with the students of this classroom was during Read-In Week in October of 2012. The books chosen gave students a glimpse of and a chance to converse about countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, about grandmothers, and the special needs of their global sisters. They heard about the work of the GANG in Edmonton, about the orphaned African children, and how the hearts and hands of Canadian grandmothers are reaching out to undertake meaningful and effective projects in 15 African nations through the Stephen Lewis Foundation.

By the grace of an engaged and globally aware teacher, we were able to together devise a program for her class. It would serve to encourage her students’ involvement, and address her own curriculum plans.

The students chose one African country (from among the Foundation-involved countries) to develop a report with subtopics and expectations outlined. This research paper was important as an indicator of their language arts research skills, their ability to express themselves in writing, and in developing their presentation skills in sharing their finished product. This work was also a valuable evaluation tool for their teacher.

The students accomplished their task over a period of time, with a variety and significant amount of learnings clearly demonstrated. The projects were ultimately proudly displayed in a school showcase.

The culminating activity was making African angels – the exciting and creative activity that proved to be both engaging and fun. With five GANG members as assistants (special thanks are due to Joyce Madsen, Jan McGregor, Judy Dube, Diane Stewart, and Vivian Pich), and some volunteer parents, the students spent a half-day creating angels. The extensive preliminary work done by Karen, their teacher, was paramount in the success of this endeavor.

The students’ angels turned out beautifully. Among the many creative designs and expressions was a set of “Triplet Angels”, identical in garb, but distinctive in bling. They were created by three boys who collaborated both in and out of school. They epitomized the genial and fun atmosphere of this creative day.

Now the angels will be sold to parents and, hopefully, at other community events. The students have a huge sense of pride and exhibited so much joy in being able to express their passion, global awareness, and engagement. They all recognize that they can and do have a personal hand in assisting African orphans and grandmothers.

For more information, incuding how to purchase the book: Click Here.

Dianne Linden talked about the book

Stirring Memories: Reflections and Recipes

while Joan Knesh demonstrated her submitted recipe for

 Croissant Bread Pudding
with Rum Sauce

Yum!

• Click here for more information about the book and how to obtain a copy.
• Click the below image to view the clip.

Kids Christmas Shoppe

Saturday, December 8
10:00 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Old Strathcona Antique Mall
10323 78 Avenue
(780) 433-0398

Kids, come and Christmas shop for your parents at the Old Strathcona Antique Mall in a special area set aside where

NO PARENTS ARE ALLOWED.

All gifts will be between 5 and 20 dollars with no GST.

Grandmothers from the GANG (Grandmothers of Alberta for a New Generation) will assist you with choosing, paying and wrapping your present before re-joining your parents.

The Edmonton School Boards promote Read In Week every fall and encourage representatives from the community to come in and read to classes of students. This year the theme for the Edmonton Public School Board was ‘Read the World’ which we felt was perfect for us. We have been reading in schools for several years now – it connects us with the grandchildren in our community and provides an opportunity for us to share the work we do. Several schools over the years have partnered with us and done special projects to raise money for the children and grandmothers in Africa through the Stephen Lewis Foundation.

We contact the schools through a member who works at the School Board, through our many connections, and through our grandchildren and the schools they attend. The books we use are from our GANG library, the public library and our personal collections. We try to ensure that the books we use have a connection to the African continent.

After we have made some connections, we have a ‘how to’ session for those who are going out to read. This gives us an opportunity to ensure that the message we deliver is consistent and helps to make everyone more comfortable with reading to the students. We sign up for the schools and books we want, find our teammates and generally share in the excitement of this project.

We were presented with several copies of the theme book, For Every Child, which expressed the UN rights of the child in words and pictures. It was a great book to highlight the differences between living in Canada and living in other countries where children don’t have what we have. In many of the classes we had children from many different countries, so the questions and comments were very rich.

Each class was different – sometimes we just read one book and moved on, and in others we had a full 45 minutes with the class. In one class we had an interpreter for the deaf. In many classes there were aides to be with children with special needs.

We make a point of sending a thank you to the schools and we follow up with an invitation to learn more about us.

This year our plan is to provide a soup lunch for the teachers at the school along with a presentation about the work of the Stephen Lewis Foundation. Our hope is that several of the schools will accept our invitation and develop a project to help raise funds.

Click the below image to view the clip! (after a short commercial).

Thanks to Grace Hamilton for taking these photos.

This was our display at Chapters Whyte Avenue on September 22nd .

Here we are participating in the Edmonton AIDS walk on September 23rd.

Here we are participating in the Edmonton AIDS walk on September 23rd.

Thanks to Candice Jackson for taking these photos.

Garden party

Garden party

Louise at garden party

Group at garden party

Food and chat at party

Click the below image to view the clip! (after a short commercial).

And see you at the event!

Update Nov 25: additional information has been added, including some new events and availability of the Stirring Memories cookbook.
See anywhere there is text in italics below.

Paola Gianturco is an internationally acclaimed author and photojournalist.

Her 5th book is Grandmother Power: A Global Phenomenon. She is dontating all her author royalties to the Stephen Lewis Foundation Grandmothers Campaign. The book profiles activist grandmothers in 15 countries on 5 continents who tell compelling stories about fighting courageously and effeftively against poverty, disease, illiteracy, environmental degradation, and human rights abuse – all to create a better world for grandchildren everywhere. It is about how an unheralded grandmothers’ movement is changing the world.

Paola Gianturco visits the GANG:

The Alberta Grandmothers Gathering took place in Camrose on Sept. 7 & 8th. She was our guest speaker on Saturday morning. She was phenomenal. It was a privilege to be able to hear her speak.

Also, Paula was interviewed on Edmonton’s Breakfast TV show Sept 7th.
To view the clip, please click the below image.

We invite you to be a part of a unique fundraising event with proceeds going to the Grandmothers To Grandmothers Campaign, Stephen Lewis Foundation in support of African grandmothers caring for orphaned children.

The GANG is collecting recipes and related memories for a cookbook journal to be published in time for Christmas gift giving.

If you’re interested in contributing, please send us:

• a recipe that has significance to your family,
• a short [250-500 word] piece with any anecdotes / memories attached to that particular story and
• a related photo [optional]

by Aug. 15,2012 to Grace Hamilton.

As one project within this designation, the school partnered with the Education Committee of The GANG. Each October many GANG members reach out to schools in the district to read to students during Read-In week. Through the contact of member, Judy Dube, and her initiative during Read-In week, 2011, she brought awareness of how African grandmothers are raising their orphaned grandchildren and their dire need for assistance. As well, a video presentation illustrated the vision of our group; it provided a glimpse of the extreme needs of children in the African community.

The students and staff of Evansdale responded with a very creative idea to assist in this global endeavor. Each student was given a bracelet. Whenever $5.00 was raised in the classroom, a bead was added to the bracelet of each child in that class. As a result, $650.00 was presented to the GANG for the African projects of the Stephen Lewis Foundation. How amazing! Moreover the students grew remarkably in recognizing global need. How very heart-warming it was to hear parents tell us that their son or daughter explained to them why it was so important to bring some money to school to help children across the world.

The project is not over. Now the children are engaged in selling red shoelaces — a project that was initiated by a school in Halifax.

The Education Committee members were invited and participated in the school’s Multicultural Week at their Taste of Evansdale.

Bring your antiques, vintage items & collectables to receive an appraisal

“For What It’s Worth”

Saturday
June 9

Old Strathcona
Antique Mall
10323 – 78 Ave.

Hosted by the GANG

Grandmothers of Alberta for a New Generation

Click the below image to view the clip!