Helping the community welcome people with intellectual disabilities
Ottawa, ON K1J 7T2
613-235-9550
Recipe for Success April 12
The Recipe for Success Culinary Adventure and Charity Auction for LiveWorkPlay is almost here: Thursday, April 12 at St. Anthony's Banquet Hall.We are thrilled to announce that one of our most important event traditions continues: our first and only title sponsor for the past 12 years has been MBNA Canada Bank, and now as TD Bank the tradition is continuing!
Also back (for their second year) as co-auctioneers we are thrilled to see the return of Sandy Sharkey from 93.9 Bob FM and Derick Fage from Rogers Daytime!
Also back as major prize donors are VIA Rail and WestJet with travel packages that will be featured in the live auction. By April 6 you will be able to see the entire silent and live auction program at http://recipeforsuccess.ca!
Celebrating National Volunteer Week (April 15-21)
It's always difficult figuring out how to honour the wonderful volunteers at LiveWorkPlay. So we are grateful to Volunteer Canada for helping us organize a very special guest to help us out: His Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston Governor General of Canada!
On
Monday, April 16, LiveWorkPlay is hosting a special volunteer
recognition event at the Canadian Museum of Nature. The purpose is to
recognize years of service."It's something we've always wanted to do," says Fran Childs, Volunteer Coordinator. "We have many volunteers with multiple years of service and we would like to acknowledge and celebrate their dedication."
Due to space limitations, tickets (no charge) are available only to those who have received an invitation. All LiveWorkPlay members and their families are invited to attend. If you are a LiveWorkPlay volunteer we definitely want to see you at this event, so contact Fran for more information!
Foolish Family Feast March 30
After the long (but not so hard) Ottawa winter it was great to see a big turnout of 120 for the Foolish Family Feast at St. Anthony's Banquet Hall. Everyone comes out of hibernation at this time of year, and it's a great way to launch the exicting spring season at LiveWorkPlay!
The theme for this event used to change every year, but after a last-minute decision to have a "silly hat" theme in 2011 that proved wildly popular, it's now an annual tradition!
The hats were silly, the food was delicious, and the company was friendly and engaging! The evening was short on ceremony, but included presenting those who took part in the LiveWorkPlay Caribbean Cruise with some photo enlargements from the trip.
Recognition, Welcoming, Work!
The Foolish Feast offered a chance to recognize Alison Sochasky (pictured below left) who is nearing completion of a successful student placement with LiveWorkPlay as part of her Developmental Services Worker program at Algonquin College. Alison spent much of her time learning about Employment Supports with Jen Boswroth, but was also very active in supporting Recipe for Success. You will have a chance to thank her on April 12!Jen and Ali have been very busy working on the new LiveWorkPlay summer jobs initiative! Fortunately some great partners have been enlisted, including funding support from United Way Ottawa and in-kind partnerships with the Youth Services Bureau and Rotary clubs of the Ottawa region. Our growing partnership with Rotary now includes a new LiveWorkPlay corporate membership.
Celebrating World Down Syndrome Day (March 21)
On this day, let us reaffirm that persons with Down syndrome are entitled to the full and effective enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms.
Let us each do our part to enable children and persons with Down syndrome to participate fully in the development and life of their societies on an equal basis with others. Let us build an inclusive society for all. ~ United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moonIf this announcement reminds you of LiveWorkPlay's vision, mission, and values statements, it's not because the Secretary-General is borrowing our ideas. It's actually the other way around: our statements were strongly influenced by the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities!
It was great to see LiveWorkPlay member Paul Knoll contributing to the celebration of this international event with a speech at his workplace, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.
Staff Retreat: Focus On Progress
The Board of Directors undertook an enormous strategic exercise in 2010-2011 that result in the new mission, vision, and values adopted by members at AGM 2011. In 2012 the board is now tasked with setting a course to realize those objectives over the long term.
It is with this backdrop that the staff team set aside a weekend in March to spend time together and reflect on how well their work is contributing to that mission. This included evaluating progress towards helping the Ottawa community be more welcoming and inclusive, helping members with their individual life goals, and discussing the staff relationship to the financial and strategic position of the organization itself.One of the tools the team used is the document 9 Key Traits: Next Generation Organizations to consider LiveWorkPlay operations in the light of these Next Generation nonprofit characteristics:
2. Finance and Business Savvy
3. Continuous Learning
4. Shared Leadership
5. Wired for Policy Advocacy
6. Multicultural/Culturally Competent
7. Ambiguity of Work-Life Boundaries
8. Constituents as Thought Partners
9. Boards as Value Add
Check out the rest of the document and tell us what you think: is LiveWorkPlay traditional or next generation? You can answer this question as part of our Facebook poll.
LiveWorkPlay Golf Tournament 2012
Big news! By request the tournament has been moved up to August 7 to avoid the busy times that September brings.More big news! ClubLink has offered the opportunity to host this year's tournament at the Kanata Golf & Country Club, 7000 Campeau Drive. After many years at ClubLink GreyHawk, it will be fun to try something a little different!
Report On The Ontario Budget
With information from Community Living Ontario, LiveWorkPlay has prepared a brief report on the March 27th Ontario Budget with information specific to the potential impact on Developmental Services.
How Do You Like Us Now? A Lot!
If you have been a Facebook follower of the LiveWorkPlay page
(or if you'd like to be) please "like" us again (or for the first
time). The page name "LiveWorkPlay" recently became available and we
remove our followers to claim it. So, we need to invite you back again!
Please go to facebook.com/liveworkplayfans and click the LIKE button at the top. Be sure to invite your friends to do the same! In other news, we have upgraded our page to the new Facebook timeline format, and people really like it, as you can tell from this visual analysis! We are already back up to 350 fans!
LiveWorkPlay also recently celebrated three years on Twitter! Be sure to follow us @liveworkplay!
New Office (And Old Number) Ready To Go
Last edition LiveWorkPlay was just getting settled into our new office at 301-1223 Michael Street, K1J 7T2. The minor renovations have been completed, and our old phone number is back up and running as well. You can reach us at 613-235-9550 or 613-702-0333.
Donate To LiveWorkPlay
If you like what we are doing and you can afford a financial contribution, donate online and choose from a selection of options such as a one-time contribution or monthly donation. Just $10 a month is a great help!
Great thinking.
ReplyDeleteVolunteer travel