Saturday, April 24, 2010

Calendar Launch June 2nd, 2010 at Nature's Emporium

The official launch of the calendar sales will be Wed, June 2nd, 2010 at 8am at Nature's Emporium in Newmarket, Ontario.  Please join us at the store for this wonderful event and support this project by buying a calendar or daytimer!

As the largest holistic market in Ontario, Nature's Emporium was a natural fit for the kick-off of the Faces of Courage calendar.  Andrew Muto, Food Director and Sherri Doak, Resident Holistic Nutritionist will be providing a nutritious and organic breakfast and will be on hand to answer questions about clean eating and natural health.

As the design wraps up, the photos have been selected and the women's stories written, we can now move on to the next, and most exciting part of the project, generating funds for Southlake!  Our goal started as a modest $40,000 but now with the addition of a daytimer version of the calendar, we have doubled our goal to $80,000!!!

So many people worked tirelessly on this project and I would like to take this moment to thank you from the bottom of my heart.

To Jen, our photographer, our visionary, I thank you for your time, your patience and your artistic vision.

To the gals in the calendar, I thank you for your stories, your inspiration and your friendship.

To my friends, I thank you for all of your support and encouragement and last, but certainly not least,

To my husband and family, I thank you for being by my side through my treatment, my recovery and supporting me in this rewarding journey.

Stay tuned for more details about sales venues, fundraising activities and more!

Julie

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Friday, April 9, 2010

We say goodbye to Janice...

This week I am sad.  This week I am reminded of the seriousness of the disease we have all come together to fight against.

Janice Sharpe was the first woman to join this project and in Dec, 2009, she thought she had beaten the disease.  Sadly, she learned only recently that it had spread and on April 4th, 2010, she passed away.


Eight months ago, 12 brave women came together as cancer survivors to create this calendar. We all had different experiences, different lessons to share, different perspectives.

But we all shared one thing - we had endured breast cancer, we had survived treatment and now we were to go on, through this project, to help others through their own battle.

It never occurred to me when I started this, that I would have to say goodbye to one of our own. That wasn't part of the plan. The plan was for us all to be survivors.

I am sad to loose a friend. I am humbled by the unpredictability of this disease and I am angry that cancer took Janice away from us, from her family, far too soon.

But despite my sadness this week, I have a renewed fire within me to make this project an overwhelming success. We need to make Janice proud. We need to let her know that she was part of something great, something worthwhile.

And we need her to know that she was as much a part of this as any of us, even in her absence.

Janice, I loved you and I will miss you. You brought me calm and comfort when I struggled in my own battle. You showed strength and courage in yours.

You are the reason we are here. You are our Face of Courage.