GRANNIES ON
A MISSION
Local G-Mom’s make raising funds
and awareness of plight of African
grandmothers, a fun filled event

Tinie Evans and Joyce Eull, seated, of the G-Moms of Port Perry with some
of the items up for auction this month.

The G-Moms of Port Perry want to make you an offer you can’t refuse.
On Saturday and Sunday, March 19, 20, Scugog residents will have the opportunity to purchase beautiful antiques, art and household goods, a sale that will help break up those winter blahs, and turn the tide against HIV and AIDS in Africa.

The estate sale, featuring a warehouse full of home furniture and fixtures, will be hosted by the local G-Moms at 16050 Old Simcoe St. (right beside Curves) from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. “Every cent of the sale,” explains G-Mom chair Tinie Evans, “goes to the Stephen Lewis Foundation.”

The goods offered at the estate sale were donated by an elderly Bowmanville woman who is moving into a senior’s residence and wanted her lifetime collection of furniture, art and smaller items to have a positive impact on the world. She chose the right organization to do just that.

G-Moms of Port Perry is part of the Stephen Lewis Foundation’s Grandmothers to Grandmothers Campaign, launched in 2006. “Stephen Lewis gathered 100 African grannies and 200 Canadian grannies in Toronto at the AIDS conference, explains Tinie, “We had these 300 women, and the Canadian women were hearing their stories for the first time.”

The stories were of a generation lost to HIV and AIDS, of African grandmothers standing in the gap, raising sometimes a dozen or more grandchildren with little to no support.
Lewis’ idea, to link women from different continents together who have lived enough life to be wise and able, has grown to 240 grandmother to grandmother groups across the country. They have raised over $10 million for grass roots projects in 15 sub-Saharan African countries.

Five members of the G-Moms of Port Perry, from left, Judy Luke,
Marilyn Baker, Joyce Eull, Dini Page and Tinie Evans, show off some of the
thousands of items that will be auctioned off later this month
to raise funds for grandmothers in Africa.

The projects, which vary from country to country, typically help grandmothers with things like food, school fees for their grandchildren and grief counselling.

“They raise funds at the grass roots level and send it directly to grass roots,” explains Tinie, who visited South Africa and Swaziland in 2010 to see some of the projects for herself. “You realize that you have such a profound impact and you’re really driven to work even harder.”

Port Perry G-Moms are a hard working group indeed, with an annual yard sale, a Canada Day peameal bacon on a bun booth, an annual Spring gala, and even a belly dancing fundraising ‘dare’ thrown in for good measure.

The group has grown to about 30 women since its launch. “You can be a grandmother or a grand other, we have women who aren’t grandmothers. And for the girls who have husbands, the men work alongside us, when we have to move tables, they are there,” laughs Tinie.

The Port Perry G-Moms bring together women from a wide range of professional and personal backgrounds to help fight the devastation of HIV and AIDS in Africa, “We’ve had successful careers, we bring a whole bunch of skills and strengths, and we absolutely see the difference we are making.”

“We have grandkids, and we can help them,” adds Tinie, “But these African grannies, they do it without resources, to feed them, to clothe them, to send them to school. We relate so closely to them, and, we have also come through a time in our lives when you know what really matters - your family and your grandkids are precious.

“Our big purposes,” adds Tinie,“ are to raise awareness, raise funds, and to do advocacy. There is nothing, she adds, that makes you feel better.”

G-Moms of Port Perry performed belly-dancing for the residents of Port Perry Villa last November, raising $4,400 for African grandmothers. Local G-Moms were taught to
dance by Janet Dunkley. From left, Pippa Schmiegelow, Marylynn Dean, Tinie Evans,
Laura Micklewright, Pat Sparling, Janet Dunkley, Cathy Williams, Dini Page, Judy Luke,
Linda Fletcher and Marg Ferguson.

When the Grandmothers to Grandmothers campaign began just five years ago, the official slogan was “ease the pain,” because there was no shortage of that. Now, it has evolved to “turn the tide,” because as the passion of Canadian grandmothers to make a difference has been unleashed, African grandmothers have been empowered. And if anyone can turn a tide — especially one heading straight for their grandchild — it is a grandmother.

By Karen Stiller
Focus on Scugog