Category: humour

Lulu gets serious!

 

When I turned 70 on November 21, 2017, people asked how I wanted to celebrate. Would I like to have a party, go on a trip or just mark the occasion with food, wine and cake? The question gave me pause. What could I do that would give more profound meaning to a major turning point in my life?

https://www.vancitycommunityfoundation.ca/give/donor-advised-funds/lulu-fund

So, the idea for the Lulu Fund was born. Why Lulu? Well, many old friends and family know me as Lulu! And I like it, so, I decided to celebrate the big event by setting up the fund through the VanCity Community Foundation.

The Lulu Fundprovides small donations to Vancouver-based community arts and social justice organizations. In particular, the fund supports organizations or groups that focus on issues of marginality – community theatre, senior citizens, Indigenous and other youth, women’s equality and the environment.

Some of the organizations the Lulu Fundsupports include: 411 Seniors Centre, Vancouver Moving Theatre (community theatre based in the Downtown Eastside), Urban Native Youth Association, Pivot Legal Society, Women Against Violence Against Women (WAVAW), WISH Drop-in Centre, the Firehall Arts Centre and the Pacific Salmon Foundation.

Today, as I near the beginning of my 71st year, I’m following up on the question of how I want to celebrate my entry into a new decade.

Since this is also the time of year when many people think about annual charitable donations, I’ve decided to invite you to celebrate with me by considering a contribution to the LuluFund. You would receive a tax receipt for donations of $20 or more. Here’s the link!

https://www.vancitycommunityfoundation.ca/give/donor-advised-funds/lulu-fund

Donors contributing in 2018 will receive a tax receipt from the Lulu Fundfor this year. All donations will be added to the fund.The fund accumulates interest as it goes along, which will help to increase the total amount available for the donations the Lulu Fund will make in 2019 and beyond.

Thanks for considering the Lulu Fundas part of your 2018 charitable giving.

With love and hope for a more equitable future for all,

Lulu

P.S. If you’d like to read more about the organizations the Lulu Fundsupports, here are some links to check out:

 

411 Seniors Centre www.411seniors.bc.ca

Vancouver Moving Theatre http://vancouvermovingtheatre.com/

Urban Native Youth Association https://unya.bc.ca

Pivot Legal Society http://pivotlegal.org/

Women Against Violence Against Women (WAVAW) http://www.wavaw.ca

The Pacific Salmon Foundation https://.psf.ca

WISH Drop-in Centre  wish-vancouver.net

The Firehall Arts Centre http://firehallartscentre.ca

Dental clinics are one of the many services offered free of charge to seniors through 411 seniors centre
A tour behind the scenes at the the Hotel one of many excursions organized at no charge to 411 members!

 

 

 

 

 

Weaving Reconciliation: Our Way Vancouver, Penticton, Toronto, Winnipeg

Cast and Crews
Cast, writers, directors, designers, producers — the whole crew of WROW

Last Thursday night the long-awaited production of Weaving Reconciliation: Our Way, a play co-written by Renae Morrisear\, Rosemary Georgeson and Savannah Walling and directed by Morriseau opened at the Vancouver Aboriginal Friendship Centre in East Vancouver/Coast Salish Territories to a circle bursting with friends and guests.

The play cum multi-media performances including  storytelling, traditional and personal songs as well as drumming and games–one game in particular Slahal–features some of the finest actors from various parts of British Columbia and across the county.

Stephen Lytton, Sophie Merasty, Jonathan Fisher and Sam Bob join Delhia Nahanee, Latash Maurice Nahanee, Tai Amy Grauman, Tracey Nepinak Vern Bevis and Tania Carter in sharing  life experiences and and the stories of how one Indigenous family’s healing process defines reconciliation.

Its not what some might expect if people are looking at the play to shed light on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s proposals about reconciling between First Nations and Canada.  Weaving Reconciliation: Our Way  (WROW)is deep and its personal. it is more about how one Indigenous family’s healing process defines reconciliation

Morisseau says this about reconciliation “As Indigenous people we have been ‘reconciling’ for a long time within our own communities and in our families. We are living with the impact that Canadian policy and legislation has had on us. It’s generational and continues today.”

And (WROW is funny.  As with many communities, sometimes you just had to be part of it to get the humour but the uproar at various parts of the play hit the heart and the funny bone of every single person in the house.

Sam Bob Slahal

And audiences in every performance since opening night have been raving.

 Here are just a few early responses: 

Amazing, amazing AMAZING.  So SO powerful.
I felt lucky to be in the room.”

Excited to experience indigeneity in this way. Please keep up the amazing work. THIS IS CANADIAN HISTORY.”

Thank you so much for this beautiful, humorous, tragic, hopeful tapestry.

Watching the play, I believed that each story represented the lived experience of each actor. The sharing of the stories, intertwined with other stories, intertwined with past injustices, intertwined with other injustices, give light to the complexities of the process of reconciliation with Indigenous families.

Awesome play. Funny, sad – the actors are great!”

The show continues in Vancouver until May 26 with performances at 7:30 each of May 24 and 25 and one performance at 2:00 pm on May 26.

Weaving Reconciliation: Our Way travels to:

Penticton/Sylix Territory  for a performance on Thursday May 31 at 7:00 pm and a Friday matinee at 12:30 pm at the En’owken Centre

Toronto/Treaty 13 on June 6-9 Wednesday through Friday 7:30 pm and Saturday manatee at 2:00 pm Aki Studio Theatre

Winnipeg/Treaty 1 and Metis Homelands June 13 -16 Wednesday through Friday 7:30 pm and Saturday matinee 2:00 pm Theatre Circle Molière

 

Don’t mss Weaving Reconciliation: Our Way!

Tomorrow i’ll post another piece on Les Filles du Roi  (the King’s Daughters) an extraordinary musical/drama about the 800 women famously sent from France to “populate” the New World between 1663 and 1673.  Staging, music and story extraordinaire.