The Launch of our Student Club!

Please join us!
Today, we meet to celebrate the launch of our new student-led social justice club!

VOCALIZE:
Student social justice advocates

February 27  

2:30pm

in The Lounge
(Right above the Lion’s Den!)

New Student Club: Official Launch!

"We are students in conjunction with the Lambton College Centre for Social Justice.  We create platforms for students to become actively involved in environments, events, projects and assemblies to advocate and inspire awareness, empowerment, and activism within the realm of social justice."

For more information, contact socialjusticeawareness@gmail.com

Sarnia Justice Film Festival

Did you know that there is a free monthly film festival in our community?

The Sarnia Justice Film Festival screens one film each month, and each of the featured films has a social justice theme. 

The next film, Project Wild Thing, encourages its audience to think about the connection (and sometimes the lack of connection) between children and nature. You can find more information about the film here: http://projectwildthing.com/film

Project Wild Thing will begin at 7pm on Saturday, February 21 at the Sarnia Library Theatre.

For more information on this series, email justicefilm@sympatico.ca

Upcoming Films:

March 21, 2015 - Return of the River: Freeing of the Elwa River in Washington from Two Salmon-blocking Dams http://www.elwhafilm.com/

April 25, 2015 - Divide in Concord: The Bottled Water Ban Battle http://divideinconcord.com/

Dignity for All: Campaign for a Poverty-Free Canada

Last week, a coalition called Dignity for All released a "national anti-poverty plan for Canada." 

We've invited Kelly Chappell Finch, a member of the Centre for Social Justice Advisory Committee, to tell us a bit about this plan:

This is an important document to move the poverty reduction agenda forward from a grassroots perspective rather than it being directed by politics. The Dignity for All: Campaign for a Poverty-Free Canada offers solutions for the many components of poverty from child care to income security to housing security to food security to health care and employment. This robust approach to poverty reduction is the only way to move people out of poverty. 

See the full document here: 

http://www.cwp-csp.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/DignityForAll_Report-English-FINAL.compressed.pdf

Kelly Chappell Finch works with the Circles Program at Lambton College, a group committed to eliminating poverty in our community. She also teaches in the Human Service Foundation Program. 

Empty Bowls 2015

This past week at Lambton College has been a busy one. Two different groups of people here at the college led two very successful, well-attended events. The first, as I've posted about here, was the Round Dance. Just a few days later, many of us were back in the Lambton College Event Centre for a second celebration: Empty Bowls.

Last Tuesday marked the eighth annual Empty Bowls event here in Sarnia. The evening was enormously successful: both the 5pm and the 7pm dinners were sold out, and the event raised over $9000 for The Inn of the Good Shepherd and Lambton College's own food bank.

Our volunteers ladling soup and passing out bread to the guests.

The entire evening was organized by Beth Turnbull-Morrish, our tireless ceramics instructor at the college. She plans and prepares for the evening with help from the local potters guild and ceramics students, and with the support of many helpful local community organizations. She also had the help of many enthusiastic student volunteers.

Local potters made and donated the beautiful bowls, about a dozen local restaurants donated soup, and several bakeries donated bread. Everything was delicious!

Some of the attendees, with their beautiful new pottery bowls: Crystal Fach,
Kari Roos, Joe Cannon, Katie Horvath, and Ruth Geurts

Thanks to everyone who made this night such a success. I'll let you know when we have a date for Empty Bowls 2016!

The Round Dance

The drummers and singers begin the first song.

The Aboriginal Students' Council hosted the first ever Lambton College Round Dance on Friday, January 30. 

Everyone in attendance was treated to a full meal before the dance began. Members of the Aboriginal Students' Council and local aboriginal communities volunteered to greet and serve guests, and many of Lambton's international students were also there to help. 

The crowd joins in!

Once the drumming and singing began, many from the audience came out to join the dance itself. The dancing was open to all, and the steps were easy to learn: everyone held hands and stepped continuously to the left.

The night was a wonderful chance to learn more about this tradition: the Round Dance has always been valued for the social connection and individual healing it provides.

I'm sure this will be the first of many Round Dances at the college. Thank you to the organizing committee for all of the work that went into this event!