Celebrating Success and Continuing the Conversation

On January 31, 2012, we celebrated the end of our volunteer trainng program with a potluck lunch; a chance to recognize the hard work and commitment of all of our volunteers, and to continue our conversations about how voluteers can support their peers in the challenges they face.

We were very happy to be abel to invite the Harmony Interactive Theatre Troup of Kitchener-Waterloo to join us for this event. The Harmony Troupe is a seniors-only volunteer threatre troupe that offers short interactive plays followed facilitated discussions about elder abuse. This was truly a wonderful opportunty for seniors to talk with seniors about elder abuse. The performance touched many Project Wisdom volunteers very deeply and they were then able to talk about their reactions to the abuse in the play with their peers from our training and with the characters in the play. The talented Harmony facilitator guided our discussion which brought together many issues that were talked about in our earlier trainnig sessions including how to approach a situation when you suspect abuse, what to do to support someone who is facing abuse, and who you should call for help. 

Following the performance and facilitated discussion, the conversation continued over a delicious pot-luck lunch. Our volunteers are now truly launched on their way to building groups for older adults in their communities, bringing with them the lessons from our training and the new connections they have formed with each other. We wish them luck and wisdom in their work.

Here are some photos from our final gathering together:

 

Training is Complete!

January 17 marked the final day of training for our intrepid band of volunteers. We have come a long way as a group since the beginning of this training. We have talked about planning meetings, sharing leadership, planning and implementing outreach, developing our ideas into reality, and how to help our friends and neighbours who may face abuse or mistreatment. We have learned from eachother and learned through our conversations in the training.

What's Next for these energetic and commited volunteers? They will go out into the wide world and  work to bring seniors together in ethnocultural communities. They will try to create more ways for seniors to connect to eachother and through eachother, to connect to the broader community.  For the next few months, volunteers will work one-on-one with the project coordinator on their own projects.

Look for new opportunities to get involved soon! Or, contac the project coordinator for more information: Ella Henderson, 519-836-2222 ext. 257.

Here are some photos from our training session on January 3.

Happy New Year!

 A very Happy New Year to all!  

Project Wisdom's hard working volunteers have only two more training sessions before they are ready to test their wings in their communities. Over the past three training sessions in November and December, volunteers have developed some wonderful ideas for groups to start for older adults in their  apartment buildings, places of workship, languages, and neighbourhoods.

During January we will polish these ideas while we continue to discuss how best to support older adults in our communities. Topics to be discussed in Devember include how to share leadership, and how to recognize and help a person suffering from elder abuse.

To all our volunteers: keep up the excellent work. To all other community members: keep a look-out for a new group in your area and if you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact the project coordinator (ehenderson "at" is-gw.ca).

Here are a few photos of our training so far: