What do grandmothers from the Comox Valley, Beltone Hearing Care Centre and grandmothers in Africa have in common?
A special fundraising dinner event called One Meal One Future, which will be held Sept. 23 at d'Esterre House in Comox from 5 to 8 p.m.
This ethnic dinner will feature authentic African cuisine with a variety of menu choices including vegetarian dishes. Proceeds from the evening will support the Stephen Lewis Foundation's Grandmothers to Grandmothers Campaign.
The Grandmothers Campaign has projects in 15 different countries, offering community level support programs in places severely affected by the AIDS/HIV pandemic. Many African grandmothers are mourning the loss of family members, struggling to raise their grandchildren.
These community programs provide food, housing grants, and opportunities that help to establish economic independence. They also offer grief counselling, and school fees for grandchildren.
As part of the One Meal One Future fundraising event, Glacier Granny Lynn Robinson will share some of her experiences in Africa, where she visited two of these Stephen Lewis Foundation projects.
In addition to delicious food and inspiration, the Glacier Grannies will also have copies of the evening's recipes available for sale and a 12-ingredient Berbere spice mixture.
Beautiful handmade crafts have been donated for the silent auction, and to add to the authenticity of the African theme, the Glacier Grannies will demonstrate how to wrap beautiful head scarves like those worn by grandmothers in Africa.
Jeff and Sharon Germain, owners of Beltone Hearing Care are pleased to be sponsoring this event, which values these generational family ties and supports an organization that brings meaningful change to people's lives.
“We own a family business that has been operating for 70 years, and we work with a lot of local seniors," the Germains say. "We're very mindful of the way that values are passed down through generations. We also see how something as simple as a hearing aid can ease the challenges of daily life in one person and have a positive effect on the whole family. It's a very rewarding career to have.”
The theme for the evening was taken from the textile art work called One Bowl, One Future, created by Val Hazelton from Winnipeg.
The Comox Valley Glacier Grannies hope that their ongoing fundraising efforts will help to improve the lives of African grandmothers and their grandchildren.
Tickets for this special culinary event are $25 each and are available at the Courtenay and Comox Beltone Care Centre locations, or by contacting Lysbeth McCrone at 250-338-0806 or Jan Harding at 250-338-4677. Liquor tickets will be available at the venue for an additional charge.
For more information about the Glacier Grannies, visit www.glaciergrannies.org or Facebook event page www.facebook.com/events/448705125170171.
— Glacier Grannies