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