Saltspring Grapevine

Seeds for Malawi on Saltspring Island sent out this newsletter in February.

Click on the image to enlarge.

AGM

African Aids Angels AGM


Thursday, May 28th

7pm

James Bay New Horizons

Fundraising

New Fundraising Initiatives

We have benefitted from a variety of fundraising initiatives in the past few weeks.

Ursula Adams of Crystal Lagoon Jewelry has generously made us the beneficiary of a percentage of her jewelry sales.

Maryl, a long time volunteer, invited us as guest presenters at a successful fundraiser at St. Aidan's.

Cathy, Kathyrn and Jeep presented Aids Angels at a large student gathering at Belmont School.

If you have an opportunity to bring Angels to a local craft fair or community gathering we can support you with posters, pamphlets, and angels. Email your plans to africanaidsangels@gmail.com and we will arrange for you to pick up our Angel Fair tub with all the equipment you will need.

New Group

Welcome Cordova Bay United Church

Cordova Bay United joins us as a new Angel Making center.

This group is open to everyone, especially the community in the Cordova Bay area.

Join them on

3rd Wednesday of the month

1-3 pm

at 813 Claremont
(between Wesley and Del Monte)

Angel Making Sessions

James Bay Community Project: 547 Michigan

Monday, Feb. 23rd: 12:30 -2:30 pm


Cordova Bay United Church 813 Claremont

Wedneday March 18th 1:00 -3:00 pm

A note from Malawi

Teddy Phiri's email

Email has been down for most of that last 3 months between us and our group in Malawi.

We have just had a brief note from Teddy describing the progress of crops that have been planted with support from African Aids Angels.

"The rains are falling except that in some of our areas where we have beneficiaries it (the rain) is erratic but generally it is good. They should be able to get food security. As usual these people are very grateful. Sometimes we feel embarrassed how they express their gratefulness knowing that the people who deserve it are far far away in Canada."

What happened to my angel?

5000 angels were made in Victoria in 2008.

4000 were made by "Out of Town" volunteers

By Dec. 31, 2008 in Victoria there were less than 100 angels still available. Those were intended for an earlier craft fair but it was cancelled due to the snow.

Every angel counts!

Where do your angels go?

Some of the angels have made their way to the prairies and to Nova Scotia. We have three new groups getting organized because they were inspired by your angels.

Angels 2009

Angel Changes

The Angel Board is exploring ways to spread the workload and share the responsibilities of creating and displaying African Aids Angels.

We'll be posting these changes over the next few weeks so keep watching for the details.

Here are a few:


Pick up Points for Angel Bodies

There will be two pick up points:

at the homes of Vic Parsons and at Mary Bomford.

Send a note to africanaidsangels@gmail.com to say you how many bodies you need.

We'll let you know where to pick them up. They can be left at the door so pick up times are flexible.

Bodies come packaged in 10's or 20's complete with tags, glue gun glue and raffia.



Fabric, Bling, Ribbons etc.

Mary will continue to store these materials. Gail assist in sorting and maintaining the collection.

You can make an appointment to come to the angel "free store" and collect materials for yourself or your group during the second week of each month.

Please plan ahead. Mary needs to be at home for these pick ups.



Angel Independence

Many groups are taking almost complete charge of their operation.

They collect their own fabric and bling with occasional support from the central supply.

The next step will be to find volunteers within your group who can begin to take responsibility for putting hair on the group's angels. Currently there is a very heavy load on 3 volunteers who do most of the angel hairdressing. We appreciate those volunteers who already do their own hair.



Angel Bodies

We will continue to supply bodies that are sanded, painted and glued. We are always in need of volunteers to glue bodies together.



Straight scissors and Pinking Shears

Gail and Erin, two board members, are working hard to find sources of donated shears and scissors.

Pinking shears are very expensive and we don't expect members to buy them. However, they are key to cutting fabric. We will let you know as they become available. Please let people know we are need of good quality second hand pinking shears.

Thanks

Cloth Castle donates scissors

Thanks very much to Cloth Castle on Goldstream Ave. in Victoria for the donation of much-needed pinking shears and fabric scissors.

If anyone else would like to donate scissors or glue guns for angel-making sessions, please send an email to africanaidsangels@gmail.com.

From the Heart, Quilt Project

From the Heart

Embellished Quilt Project

Auction and Sale
Sunday Feb. 8

Thanks to the organizers for including African Aids Angels in their very successful fundraiser.