It really was home sweet homes.....

They came, they laughed, they ate, they built home sweet homes! We've got one more holiday party to serve up (this coming Monday night out in Scarborough) and I have to say that we are on course for setting record attendances at all the parties we have hosted for families this holiday season!

What an amazing turnout! It has really caught us by surprise and what's even more surprising is how our families embraced and absolutely revelled in the building of their own home sweet gingerbread homes. Talk about a blast! I have had nothing but kudos and exaltations of joy and fun from those who were there to enjoy. As Lyndsay noted in the previous blog families ate, they sang, they laughed, they shared and they completely got wrapped up in creating those gingerbread houses. Talk about tons 'o fun!

Stay tuned as we begin to post the pictures (like the one you see here) of the different houses and the families who built them. In the meantime, we've got one more party to prepare for so it's back to the kitchen for me!

Happy sweet holidays!

Christine

"Oh What a Night"

And oh what a night it was!!! On Dec. 3rd Mississauga families and FAME celebrated the 2008 Holiday season with a 'Home Sweet Home' party.

The gingerbread houses were nothing short of a spectacular idea and as the families settle down and started building away the candy and icing was flying. For many families this was their first experience building a gingerbread and they all did a remarkable job. Christine was a busy bee in the kitchen all evening and prepared for us a lovely meal of lasagna, pizza, salad, and meatballs; the families filled there belly's with nothing but the best. As the evening continued Paul and the newly developed FAME choir belted out 13 fantastic holiday jams; there was more then just singing, feet were a moving. A very special thanks goes out to Michelle, Mary, Paul and Christine for making the Mississauga holiday party the place to be. In our thoughts, Frank, Anie, Afrooz and Nicole who could not be with us.

And to the Mississauga families: Many thanks to you for your voices, hearts and warm thoughts. The 2008 celebration is one for the books.

Happy Holidays,Lynds

Jack, Steph and the Harpooners

Hello All,
OK, I have to admit all this turmoil surrounding our Parliment has got me stimulated and excited! Perhaps, Steven Harper and his arrogant party members are going to get their just desserts. Maybe this process will be similar to a family that has a crisis which brings the family closer together. I don't want to get too "political" but this excitement has stimulated me to put together a little poem:

Jack, Steph and Gil went to Parliment Hill bringing their own agendas
Stephen got cocky, made Parliment a mockery and his government came tumbling after

Frank

Never underestimate the power of donations

hi all,
I know your thinking " oh, Frank is out to get some more stuff, that is why he is blogging again". Well the Petro-Can gift sure was nice and maybe it has inspired me or twigged my imagination because something else has come to mind to share - but I am not expecting any stuff - just wanted to share an experience that affected me.

Recently, I was at a local musical event and ran into a couple that had come to one of my first Family Support Groups in Brampton. Although this couple did not use FAME services much afterwards they did come to the holiday party. At the party, the husband had won a door prize of a haircut that had been donated. I asked if he had ever gotten the haircut, suspecting that he may have had his own stylist and not bothered using the gift. He emphatically informed me that he had gone and has been going ever since and that he is very committed to stick with him because of the kind donation that the stylist had shown to FAME.

This experience opened my eyes to the fact that when a business person makes a donation to a worthy cause it can really reaps benefits back to their business. This is probably why I am again out soliciting businesses for donations to the holiday party. Also, I have a number of businesses that give donations each year, which makes it easier. I sometimes find myself emotionally panicking when I am about to go into a business to ask for a donation but afterwards I usually feel good even if I didn't get the donation.

That is all I had to say. These are my musings.

ciao,

Frank

Blog,Blah,blah

Hi,
All out there in cyberspace. Things are just zipping along out here in the far reaches of Peel. There are lots of families in need. The family support groups in Brampton and Bolton continue to be well attended.

I recently attended a one day workshop by Dr. Jonathon Prousky on treating mental illness through OrthoMolecular medicine, for professionals. There were many psychiatrists, MD's and Naturopathic doctors. The discussion was quite technical as you can imagine and often a bit beyond my understanding. Having an absessed tooth at the time also added to the challenge. However, I left the workshop believing that this method of treatment can be very helpful in many instances. My biggest challenge is being able to help family members get connected to Dr. P. or other professionals using the methods. Dr. P. did point out that if the consumer is on ODSP that each appointment is only $14. at the Naturopathic College. This was good to know.

So long for now,

Frank

Building A Home Sweet Home!

There is nothing quite home sweet home! C'mon out to the FAME annual holiday parties, bring along your family and you can build your own home sweet home! This year we are having a gingerbread building activity where we provide you with the kit and you work together as a family to build your holiday home sweet home! There'll be candy canes, gumdrops and licorice galore. After all, it should be sweet, right?

At the end of the night we'll judge the houses and give away prizes for everything such as the best lopsided house to the most candified cottage! Bring along some extra candy....we highly recommend Smarties, M&M's & ju-jubes. The best part of this all is that you'll get to take home whatever you create so you can enjoy this sweetness over the holidays!

Pre-registration will be required (so we'll know how many kits we'll need) and you'll also need to bring along a cookie sheet or some sort of board/cardboard that you can build your house upon so you can take it home.

So c'mon out, have some fun, some food and some sweet times with the FAME staff & volunteers as we celebrate the holiday season. Stay tuned for dates, times, locations. All of this information will also show up shortly in our annual holiday family cards that we are just about to mail out.

We look forward to seeing you!

Christine Cooper, Executive Director

An Organization Thanks You!

On behalf of the FAME staff and its board of directors, we'd like to take this time to thank those have given their life, those who have served, those who continue to serve and those who are commiting themselves to serve this country. We shall never forget.

Much respect,

Christine Cooper

Executive Director

Family Association for Mental Health Everywhere

magic in the music

We threw a great party (meeting) at the AGM on 22 Sept 2008.

I am tickled to play music at F.A.M.E. events as I get to use more parts of my whole self. Music is important to me and I want to share it -- it fits perfectly with my belief that music, the arts and recreation contribute to recovery and wellness. Bye for now.

Another successful event, AGM 2008

We had our 20th Annual General Meeting on Monday September 22, 2008 at World Vision Building. I'll write about the event later on. Just for sharing some memories I've posted some pictures.

And the peanut gallery speaks.... :)

See what happens, ya dangle a little swag like a gas card (vroom vroom) out for grabs and all of sudden it's a horserace on the blogspot. First off, I want to know who's this person writing under Stephanie's name and what have you done with her? My my, who'd have thought such a funny writer lay underneath that cool, I'm on it attitude of hers. Kudo's to you my little chickadee.

For that....I see gas card in your future....and I'm not talking about the kind of gas you say "ooops, excuse me....."

The Swag Gnome strikes again.....

of course though, there will be a smattering of treats in the office on Dundas Street.

Oh and Mary, Mary Quite Contrary. If can ever illicit more than a line out of you....you can count on an LCBO card. Nothing says loving like a decent little bottle of something to go with a lovely bbq steak. :) Make mine a double.

much respect to my staff,

The QD

Work or blog? Work or blog? What are the girls to do?

It's a TEAM THING!

The three girls working together to deal with the ever-present blogging dilemma.

Friday afternoon at the FAME office - working or blogging?

To blog or not to blog.... that is the FAME question.

Here we are frantically working to meet tight deadlines set for us by our ED and job demands and low and behold in walks the Temptress herself, enticing us with swag to blog.
Here is the dilemma - do we blog for gas cards, coffee, booze and/or chocolate OR do we complete our assigned tasks with the sole reward of personal satisfaction?

As you can see, we are easily motivated by the instant gratification of worldly pleasures!

Our eyes are on the prizes.....

the Hugger, the Ok-er, the Diva-in-training

Another year wrapped up...

What an exciting 2 weeks! 4 parties, 13 volunteers and staff, delicious food, creative family activities, engaging musical entertainment, and countless donated door prizes and gifts. I am so pleased to report that each event was thoroughly enjoyed by the participants and each one had its own creative flair developed by the event planning volunteers. FAME was so fortunate this year to acquire the assistance of 4 individuals with an event management background. Thanks to Rosanna, Rohan, Nicole, and Jacob for all your effort this summer.

These events are also a great opportunity for me to connect with our families across the regions and to work closely with each Family Outreach Worker. I look forward to them every year.

A big thank you to all the FAME staff and volunteers for working together and pulling off another successful year!

stephanie

past, present, future

Several attendees at the Scarborough FAME's Summer Social 2008 said that they enjoyed it immensely.  There were current and past FAME clients and Family Support Group members.   Several community members who regularly drop by Agincourt Community Services Association enjoyed themselves.  Colin Browne represented the Board and convincingly pretended to enjoy himself. 

We witnessed the debut of a new group of capable, creative and dedicated volunteers -- the future holds promise. 

The most significant moment for me was when a man who had spoken very few words all evening told me at the end that "it's good to find a place to relax."

paulopines

How the winner spent her gift?

OK. We'd decided to buy a DVD for us or for the kids and nothing else(We are squeezing our expenses to save a little bit for our upcoming trip in August). We went there, spent $150.00 on different things. $50 of that was just DVDs. I also got a small box of chocolate for the office in order to share my prize with the office as it is a staff blog. Thank you for the prize and hope every one enjoys the blog as much I do.

how sweet it is!!

Last night’s family social in Scarborough went off with a hit and we were thrilled by the unexpected abundance of sweets! We were so fortunate to have such an array of desserts, trust me, the sweet tooth inside of me was not complaining. Nicole, the talented volunteer event planner for the evening, baked delicious cupcakes and she left the decorating up to us! Everyone really enjoyed the activity; we just didn’t get to see the finished product before they were all gobbled up. And then there was the delivery of the timbits from a family member who couldn’t stay for the evening. AND another family generously contributed brownies and delicious macadamia tarts. Thank you to all for your kindness and participation, and to the volunteers for pulling the event together. I know I had a nice sugar buzz going by the end of the evening.

And on the other side of the city, an equally enjoyable and more intimate event took place two nights ago in Brampton. It’s always so encouraging to hear the success stories of our families and to see the familiar faces. Thank you to Rosanna for coordinating the evening and receiving full donations for the dinner and door prizes.

Next Week: Mississauga and Brampton

We've got a winner!

The winner of the first official swag for famestaff bloggers goes out to Afrooz! She snagged
herself a $20 retail gift card!

By the way, the gnome has left the building....it's on the road. :)

Christine

Mary, Mary Quite Contrary....how does your Garden grow!

Mary, you just absolutely crack me up, really you do.

Hi Everyone,
Good to hear from everyone. What fun this will be.
Busy with my work.
Have a good week.
Mary

Hurray...it's me! (A little Blackadder humour)

I'm known as the Hug Queen around the office...simply because I hug at just about every opportunity I get, someone got this crazy idea that I like to hug...weird...

I'm also known as the new fameKids Coordinator. Well...new around the office for a whole 2 weeks until Lynds came and stole the title...now she's been "the new girl" for the past 2 months! :P

Last night was the last fameKids session for my first fameKids group (bet you can't say that fast 10 times in a row!). It was, of course, a little sad to see them go but I'm so proud of my first little group of "graduates!" I look forward to welcoming the next batch (in less than 2 weeks!) and continuing to learn from one another.

That's all for now (until the next gnome rolls around...)!

Anie

hello from the frontier

hey all,
It's little ole me way out in the frontiers of Brampton/Caledon. What a creative idea doing a staff blog! I've read blogs before but never engaged in one. Things are just hopping out here - exciting and a bit tense at the same time. Lots of families in need, doing case conferences/family meetings/final fameKids night tonight, Brampton summer social tommorrow night...yahoo, giddy up!!!

blog yah soon,

Frank

p.s. congrats to Peaches for winning the mystery prize
1

family socials begin this week...

Wow, so FAME has joined the Blogosphere! This is exciting for us and I look forward to sharing FAME news in a new medium. One of the many hats that I wear at FAME includes the coordination of volunteers and I feel that this site will enhance the communication among the extended FAME family. For the time being, my post will be short and sweet as we are preparing for our upcoming family summer socials.....
This week: Brampton, Wednesday July 23rd and Scarborough, Thursday July 24th. Thank you to the volunteers that have been working hard to pull together these entertaining evenings for our families.
I look forward to seeing everyone over the next couple of weeks!

More to come....
Stephanie

49 hours til Scarborough's Social BBQ so not so many opines today.

Mississauga represents...

I am the new girl on the block at FAME and have been welcomed with open arms. The day Christine (our E.D.) offered me the job she said, "we'll Lynds make sure you talk it over with your honey, because it is a big change to your family". And I did. A week later I arrived home from my first week at FAME with an arm full of stuff from our annual Simply Diva's fundraiser (a women's sized t-shirt, beautiful necklace, buttons). Later that evening I was getting ready for some sleep when my partner was knocking at the bathroom door, saying that he needed to get in there for something. A little irritated, I reluctantly opened the door to see him wearing my way too small Simply Diva's t-shirt and some cat ears that I wore for Halloween!! He said, "if your looking for a Diva next year keep me in mind". I don't think that I had ever laughed so hard.

In the last couple of months here with the most amazing families in Mississauga I have come to realize that keeping your humor and remembering to laugh every once in awhile is so up lifting. This is a lesson that my partner reminded me of before I started, is something that my FAME family practices and is what Mississauga families share with me everyday.

Many Thanks.

p.s. Pictures were taken and I promised to never show them to anyone. But a FAME posting might be the most appropriate place!!!

Accepting the invitation

So, that's how you surprise your staff!!!!!!! I'm ready for all the changes and challenges you bring to the organization. I think that's how our family members deal with their lives and with their beloved ones. Of course this one is not comparable with theirs, but still it is a challenge for me to write, especially when I know every one is able to read it. You tagged me and I'm ready.