Category Archives: SI-DAF Members

Jane’s Bio

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Jane is a Registered Dietitian of J. Oulton & Associates, providing Nutrition Consulting Services for Long Term Care facilities. She is also president of Diet Kontrol Inc., a company specializing in software for dietary departments in Long Term Care.

Jane grew up and went to school in Vancouver. She moved to Ontario in 1979 to complete a dietetic internship at North York General Hospital. Following that, she settled in Ancaster and raised her family. The children are grown and now off on their own adventures (the dog and turtle gone too). With her husband as a business partner, Jane is focusing on growing her business, but both take time to enjoy skiing, golfing, travel and time with family and friends. And of course, being a dietitian, all activities must involve food.

Jane at the Grand Canyon

Jane at the Grand Canyon

Jane joined Soroptimist as a charter member of the Dundas Ancaster club in 1987 (now Dundas Ancaster Flamborough). One day while walking with her daughter in a stoller on the main street in Ancaster, the owner of one of the shops approached her about Soroptimist. Eager to meet new friends and do some volunteer work in the community she signed up. Since then, Jane has held several positions including club President, Secretary, Treasurer as well as Secretary on the Eastern Canada Region Board.

“I have made some very special friends in Soroptimist and had the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of others, helping women and girls achieve their goals and dreams. Working together on fundraising and disbursement of monies to worthwhile projects and causes with a group of fun, hardworking and successful women is one of the things I like best. Our meetings and conventions always include food, fun, laughter and friendship.”

SPIN THE WHEEL AND FIND THE WINNERS!

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When Weeks of Waterdown gave the WHEEL OF CASH a big spin, many local community charities came up winners! A total of $4,125.00 was handed out to local groups as a result of various charitable fund raisers held by the long time Chamber member.

Drummond House, CHOICES, Interval House and Animal Adoptions of Flamborough all received $500.00 each: money from sales the of seasonal earrings, Zilch games & bookmarks; the Flamborough Food Bank $620.00 via proceeds from the Annual Staff Christmas party and the United Way $1,505.00 via the “Christmas Tree of Giving” promotion.

Wheel of Cash at Weeks of Waterdown

Wheel of Cash at Weeks of Waterdown

Pictured from the top centre is Hal Bushey of CHOICES (are you OK hanging upside down Hal?), Mary Lamb of AAF, Gail Bosma of Flamborough Food Bank, Debra Tigchelaar of Drummond House with Sandy Gray of Weeks, Darrel Skidmore of the United Way, and Clare Freeman of Interval House.

This article was provided courtesy of the Bottom Line, which was published in January 2009 (Volume 5, Issue 11) by the Flamborough Chamber of Commerce.

Holdin the Bag - 2007 Christmas giveaway at Weeks of Waterdown

Holdin the bag - 2007 Christmas giveway from Weeks of Waterdown

Ontario Leading Fight Against Breast Cancer

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Hamilton was selected by GE Healthcare to be the first site in the world to receive new prototype technologies for use in a molecular breast imaging research program. Hamilton researchers will design and lead clinical trials to evaluate new technologies which use molecular imaging probes that target breast cancer. This cutting-edge strategy has the potential to find very small tumours, leading to early intervention. Trials will be geared towards high-risk women who are not currently well served by mammography.

GE Healthcare chose Hamilton because of the combined strengths of the collaborative partnership among the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, the Centre for Probe Development and Commercialization, and the Oncology and Nuclear Medicine programs at McMaster University and Hamilton Health Sciences.

Quick Facts:

  • Each year in Ontario, 8,500 women are diagnosed with breast cancer.
  • According to the Mayo Clinic, when localized breast cancer is caught at an early stage, the survival rate is 98 per cent.

One promising technique is molecular breast imaging, an experimental approach to cancer detection that has the potential to identify very small tumours and also to reduce the number of false positive results [reference]. It is geared toward high-risk women with dense breasts, who are not well served by mammography.

The GE technologies are expected to be located at Hamilton’s Henderson General Hospital with the research and development work carried out by McMaster University and Hamilton Health Sciences. Through careful evaluation in clinical trials, researchers will determine the full potential of the molecular breast imaging strategy.

All clinical studies will be submitted to Health Canada and the hospital’s research ethics board for review. Technologies will be delivered and studies will start only after approvals from both Health Canada and the hospital’s Ethics Board have been received. For more information, visit: www.imagingprobes.ca/breast-imaging

Our club secretary and chair of PR, Brooke Gordon, is the Commercialization Officer at the Centre for Probe Development & Commercialization, Hamilton, ON. Her role is in business development where she seeks to identify and capitalize on new markets and commercialization opportunities in the field of Molecular Imaging.

Curves Foster Child

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Curves Foster Child

Curves Foster Child

We at each Curves location adopted a foster child. We sent her a package for Christmas and they sent us this lovely picture of her with her gifts.  It came just after the holidays with a letter that said she is doing well.

Our family has had a foster child for years and we have never been given such a personal picture before (only the yearly updated photograph). It was nice to receive this picture and see that we make a difference and enjoy a smile on this childs face, just thought I’d send it brighten your day. Just wanted to share the joy (and her cute picture)!
Have a great day!
Shirley E

TECH2008

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Rosie the Riveter

TECH2008 took place at the new Mohawk STARRT Centre at the former Stoney Creek Campus on Wednesday November 26. Over 200 young women attend the event each year and there was a lot of excitement amongst the organizers since this was the 9th year!

This annual event is a one day interactive career information conference for young women who are 15-30 years of age. The activities focused on where the occupational shortages are: the skilled trades and technology occupations.

Their icon, Rosie the Riveter, is from the United States, representing the six million women who entered the workforce for the first time during World War II, many of whom worked in the manufacturing plants. Rosie and her slogan “We Can Do It!” is now considered a feminist icon and a herald of women’s economic power to come. This was clearly evidenced by some of the attendees hoodies and purses that donned the character.

Our Soroptimist member, Brooke Gordon, volunteered as a team leader for the day. The agenda included Marissa McTasney, Founder and President of Moxie Trades, as the keynote speaker for the morning. This was followed by “speed networking” as team leaders had 6 minute intervals to interact with each table of girls to share their education and work history as well as answer questions (mostly about salary). Then with eye protection securely fashioned, the girls headed off on a tour of the wood working workshops (true workshops, not the meeting kind, with state of the art equipment) on their way to the exhibition hall. There were Canadian Forces Women, horticultural specialists, and chefs in training with smoothies, appetizers and pasta primavera being demonstrated with tastings. Amazingly, one of the welders apparently can make over $600/hour because of his underwater skills!

Some of the hands-on demonstrations included repairing bath-tub faucets, assembling a y-joint with plumbing materials, hammering nails (hilarious to watch) and using a dry-wall gun.

After a box-lunch, the afternoon was taken over by Union Gas for a junk-yard wars style competition to build an air-powered car! A fan was started up and first place was given to the furthest distance. Second place went to the best team spirit. The materials included:

  • a styrofoam plate
  • a plastic bag
  • some masking tape and scissors
  • a popsicle stick
  • a file folder
  • some string and zip ties
  • 4 paper clips
  • 2 rubber washers
  • 2 CDs
  • 4 wooden wheels with 2 dowels
  • 1 block of wood with some pre-drilled holes
  • 2 blocks of styrofoam
  • 1 large metal nut

The only requirement was that the nut had to be on the car and there was only 20 min to design and build it.

Brooke’s team came in second for distance (over 40′) and stayed straight the whole way. One of the girls, a grade 12 student from Hamilton, who claimed “I don’t know what I want to do” during the networking session, thought “making cars all day and testing to see how they work” would be the coolest job ever!

It was an excellent day!

Drummond House Bakesale on Nov 22

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When they said deck the halls, Drummond House took is seriously! The hallways, eight rooms and third floor losft of Drummond House will be decorated for their open house, while four Christmas trees will twinkle throughout the house. Read the full story at the Flamborough Review.

The Drummond House Christmas Open House and Bake Sale will be held on Saturday, November 22 from 1p.m.-6 p. m. The facility is located at 67 5th Concession East in Waterdown.

Sales of bakery items were provided by SI-DAF and members of the Waterdown community. Sandy Gray conincided the club board meeting and collecting baked goods with her annual bake exchange last night. There were literaly dozens of treats covering her dinningroom table: fudge, meringues filled with chocolate chips, cookies, date squares, chocolate covered pretzels and more …

Sandy’s Bio

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Sandra Gray has been a Soroptimsit since January 2004, currently sits on the Board of Directors as Treasurer of the club and is proud to call herself a DAF’er!

Sandy & husband Steve will be celebrating their 30th Anniversary in April 2009. They have 2 grown children, daughter Erin (25) who is just completing studies in interior decorating as well as planning her own wedding for next fall & son Brandon (23) who is co-owner of a busy Active Green & Ross store in Burlington.

Steve & Sandy have been co-owners of Weeks Home Hardware in Waterdown since 1987. The business itself dates back to 1823 as one of the original general mercantile stores in the area and amazingly in 185 years the business has only been in the hands of 4 different families! Having been known as ‘Weeks’ since 1925 it became part of the Home Hardware buying group in the late 1960’s. The Gray’s moved the business from its original location on Mill Street when they built the ‘new’ location in 1989 on Hamilton Street, a 25,000 sq ft store that employs over 65 people.

Sandy has sat on the Board of Directors of the Flamborough Chamber of Commerce for 5 years & was the president of that organization in 2006/07. SI DAF also happens to be an active member of the Flamborough Chamber of Commerce. She has been nominated for many awards recognizing community contributions including an Athena Award nomination & many Chamber of Commerce awards. Having won and been nominated for the FCC Community Service by an Individual Award so many times, that organization has since renamed that award in her honour.

Some of Sandy’s many past times include sharing the love motorcycles and old cars with husband Steve. They both ride their own Harley Davidson Motorcycles, she currently rides a 2008 FLHX. Sandy earned her motorcycle license way back in 1981 when seeing a women riding a motorcycle was a rare thing indeed! They also share the passion of restoring old cars having quite a collection of vehicles that they rebuilt together. Sandy is also one of the lone golfers in the SI DAF club, along with Blanca Pena. Incidentally Sandy accompanied Blanca to Cali Colombia in November of 2007 in efforts to start a Soroptimist club there!

So why did she choose Soroptimist International? Sandy is very passionate about helping others and has assisted many community organizations through her business, but she wanted to find something of her choosing that she could apply her energy to. Having always felt fortunate to never feel there were any barriers to achieving anything she wanted, she realizes that not all women have those same opportunities. To Sandy, Soroptimist International is ‘Women at their best, helping other women achieve their best’ and there is nothing better than realizing that you have truly made a positive difference in someone else’s life.

Annual Cruzin’ Night

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Monday August 25th was the 2nd Annual Cruzin’ Night ~ Car Show at Alexander Place long term care facility on Parkside Drive in Waterdown. Claire Collison, the Activation Co-Coordinator for Alexander Place, rounded up all the volunteers & BBQ facilities (& food) for the event.

I handled inviting all of the car owners for the show, we both scrounged for door prizes, Claire primarily for the residents & myself for the car folks. I designed the ‘dash plaques’ (2.25″ x 3.25″, printed on aluminum plates), which were given to all of the car owners as well as the residents (they could stick them on their wheelchair, walkers or in a memory book as they desired).

Coincidentally, I received a humorous set of lyrics that same day done by Julie Andrews, which she sang to the tune of ‘My Favourite Things’ (my_favourite_things). I printed copies & rounded up those who could sing to entertain the crowd by singing this a cappella!

Sandy’s Hot Air Balloon Adventure

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Wow!  What a day!  Steve & I were sleeping in a bit, we are still on holidays.  It was after 8 am we were still in bed; but awake & the driveway dinger went off, shortly followed by the door bell.  As Steve got up to answer the door the phone rang too which I answered.  (it was Frank, PS: Liz, the following is why I didnt’t stop by to see you in the morning as I had suggested to Frank that I would). 
 
Steve came back to the room to say that the REMAX hot air ballon team wanted to launch their balloon off of our front lawn; of course he said ‘sure, go ahead’.  I grabbed my camera and went outside to take some up close pictures of the set-up procedure.  I started chatting with the guys & told them they could use our lawn anytime they wanted & if they ever needed some ‘ballast’ I would be happy to go along too someday.  After a bit more chatting, the pilot Hal asked me if I could be ready in 15 minutes or so…..can you say ‘fastest shower ever’!  They were only planning on a short flight, about 1/2 hr or so.
 
So the rest is history,  I took a ton of pictures, Hal took the one of me with our home below, Steve took the ones from the ground perspective.  Stop by sometime & I will bore you with my pictures!  (we flew over towards south Cambridge, south of the 401 before touching down in a farmers field off of Gore Rd, nearly 1 hour later)
 
HOW COOL IS THAT! (& how lucky am I, a hot air balloon flight courtsey of the REMAX crew!  I have always dreamed of doing this but never acted upon it)

The touch down was interesting, on ‘paid for tourist’ flights there is always a ground crew there to make sure all goes smoothly. This was just the two of us with no crew to help control us; Hal know what he is doing but we are still somewhat at the mercy of the wind gusts. The basket had set down on its bottom but wanted to either tip or skip along as the winds had gotten gusty. It kept trying to pushing us over so Hal dumped the air out of the balloon rather quickly & the envelope laid down real nice. The basket was now on its side I was hanging on to two of the struts on the high side with my foot pressed into the opposite side of the basket between Hal’s legs otherwise I would have been on top of him. Just like Hal’s said ‘no elegant way to get in and no elegant way to get out!’

Suffice to say, I am ready for my next flight! Who else is game? Liz was looking into this recently, looks like it is about $500.00 each in a larger rig that takes up to 6! (I got my flight courtesy of Hal but trust me, it is worth it!) Can you say “ooohhh, look at those fall colours!”

Did you also know that I am now officially an aeronaut? Look it up in the dictionary; it is good to learn something new every day! 
Sandy  ~:)
 
PS: Turns out Hal has been chosen to represent Canada in next years ‘World’s Hot Air Balloon Competition” in Austria!  Appears I was in good hands!