fbpx

Blog

SparkFest: A night of celebration – by Chris Gay

May 1, 2012

Kate Maurice, the Mentor Supervisor for the Pass It On female teen mentorship program, held us intimately and passionately in a circle of gratitude during an evening of entertainment on Sunday April 29th at the Harbour House Hotel. The event was a fundraiser for the Pass It On program as well as SWOVA and it sparked a love fest of appreciation for the female mentors in our lives. Sparkfest was created by Kate as a way to celebrate the women in our community and to honour their talents by showcasing a variety of artistic contributions women make on a daily basis on Salt Spring Island.

Sparkfest was an amazingly brilliant success! All of those who attended – THANK YOU! All of those who performed – THANK YOU! All of you who sponsored – THANK YOU! All of you who organized and planned – THANK YOU!

First and foremost HUGE bouquets of love and hugs to Kate Maurice and James Cowan for all their organizing and planning and of course to all the mentors of Pass It On and friends who chipped in and helped out at a moments notice.

The official sponsors made this event possible and they are Harbour House Hotel, People Powered Productions, Living Water Media, Barnyard Grafix, and SWOVA – we are eternally grateful for your support. In addition, all the businesses that donated to the silent auction – THANK YOU!

And finally overwhelming thanks and appreciation to the many Salt Spring Island female artists that simply blew us away – Billie Woods, Naomi Jason, Phoenix Lazare, Ahava Shira, Barbara Slater, Tara, and international recording artists from Vancouver, Hey Ocean!

To quote the prophetic words of Tara, it was a night of “openness, courage, focus, and gratitude.” Simply put, it was a night to remember. We can hardly wait until next year.

By Chris Gay – Pass It On Coordinator

 

 

Guy Talk

One of the most important reasons why I work with youth around gender, stereotypes and healthy relationships, is that I get the opportunity to engage in complex and thought provoking conversations with young men.  Speaking of self- esteem, emotions, conflict...

Bridging The Distance

Jennifer Quam is the Mentor Supervisor for the Pass It On Project in Valemount/ McBride, British Columbia. McBride has a population of 710 while 90 kilometers away is Valemount, with a population of 1100. The school population for both communities hovers around 100...

It Is So Emotional To See These Girls Shine

The Pass It On Project - Phase II is occurring simultaneously in 5 communities throughout British Columbia - Salt Spring Island, Uclulet, Valemount/McBride, Prince George and Kamloops. Kamloops is in the Southern Interior of the province with a population of 85,000....

The Pass It On Project Goes on the Road in British Columbia

This winter, I had the privilege of traveling around British Columbia delivering workshops with rural girls and young women as part of Phase 2 of the Pass it On project. These workshops were originally written for youth here on Salt Spring Island and thanks to the...

Exciting News at SWOVA

We recently found out that the Department of Justice Canada is funding us to work in partnership with the Musqueam Indian Band.  As part of their Justice Partnership and Innovation Program - Access to Justice for Aboriginal Women, we will look at existing data from...

It’s Like Being Matched with Themself at That Age

As Pass It On Phase II is being implemented across the province, young middle school girls are meeting up with their high school mentors.  When asked to respond to 3 questions, 2 mentor supervisors from our most Northern communities involved in the project and 1 from...

Even Mentors Need Mentoring

What makes mentoring work for young women and girls? - having a supportive network. The 10 young female high school mentors on Salt Spring Island had their opportunity to test out their own expectations of what mentoring is this past week. Of the 10 mentors, half were...

R+R Program evaluated in International Journal

We're pretty proud of SWOVA’s R+R program and it turns out that we have reason to be.  Recently a review of the evaluation results for our program by Buote and Berglund, was published in the international Journal of Education, Citizenship and Social Justice.  The...

Name(Required)
Email(Required)
Please let us know what's on your mind. Have a question for us? Ask away.
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.