This Weekend: Art Walk!

Head to downtown Sarnia this weekend to check out Art Walk!

You'll be able to support the Lambton College students' fundraising efforts for Haiti by purchasing something from their display:

Handmade Haitian art -- the items have been purchased from Haitian artists, and further profits
are directed to future student awareness trips.

You can also visit "The Gift Box," an interactive display that aims to teach participants about the realities of human trafficking. The display, sponsored by the Sarnia-Lambton Committee Against the Trafficking of Women and Children, was built by students at the Ontario College of Art and Design.

"The Gift Box" will be set up outside of Sarnia's city hall until June 7.

Art Walk runs from Friday, June 3 until Sunday, June 5. Admission is free. Visit their website to learn more: http://www.sarniaartwalk.com/

Welcoming Syrian Refugees to Sarnia

Our panel discussion on Thursday, which focused on Welcoming Syrian Refugees to Sarnia, was interesting and memorable. Many community members braved the cold and snow to join us.

Lambton College graduate and former refugee William Moshe shared his story of arrival
 in Canada. Roxanne Gilroy-Machado, of the YMCA Newcomer Services, described the
services offered to new arrivals and the many challenges of culture shock.
Photo credit: Barbara Simpson

Thank you to our presenters: William Moshe, Roxanne Gilroy-Machado, Emily Fortney-Blunt, Art deGroot, and Nikki McVitti. The stories and information that you shared helped us all to realize our connections to the issue.

Thank you to Barbara Simpson from the Observer for the story on the event:
http://www.theobserver.ca/2016/02/25/lambton-college-hosts-panel-discussion-on-welcoming-syrians-to-sarnia-lambton

To learn more about how you can help, visit the 

Lambton Refugee Sponsorship Network

or find them on Facebook.

Welcoming Syrian Refugees to Sarnia

On Thursday, February 25, the Centre for Social Justice at Lambton College will hold an event called "Welcoming Syrian Refugees to Sarnia." We'll be joined by a panel of local experts, and we'll have the chance to learn and to ask questions. Here are some of the topics we hope to address:

• What services are offered to refugees in the Sarnia area?
• What challenges do newcomers face?
• What history does Sarnia have with welcoming immigrants and refugees?
• What plans are in place to help refugees arriving from Syria?
• How can we help newcomers to feel at home in our community?

The event is open to everyone, and we'd love to have you join us. We'll meet in A223 (in the South Building) from 11:30-1 on February 25. While this session won't provide all of the answers, we hope it will be the beginning of a conversation.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me: Erica.Kelly@lambtoncollege.ca

Festival of Good Things

For the third year in a row, the Festival of Good Things will be a chance to celebrate the creative and positive energy that seems to be growing in our community these days.

The folks behind this festival work hard to make sure that it's fun and free. There is a charge for admission to evening concerts ($10 per night), but entrance to the rest of the day's events is by donation. There will be music, vendors selling handmade goods, and this year, the Run of Exploding Colour, a chance to fundraise for your favourite charity. There are lots of activities for kids and families, and all are welcome.

I really admire the idea behind this event. The organizers decided they'd like to see a festival in Sarnia, and they made it happen, and they made it free. If you're in support of creative events like this one, you might consider volunteering to help ensure the festival's success.

The Festival of Good Things takes place on the Friday and Saturday of Labour Day weekend (September 4 and 5) at the Sarnia Bay Marina. To learn more, visit the Festival of Good Things.

Another Awesome Win!

A hardworking team of people from Lambton College had the chance to pitch an idea to Sarnia's Awesome Foundation last week. Though they'd had only a few days' notice before presentation day, they'd been working on their idea for weeks. The team put together a creative and impressive proposal, and . . . . they won!

The pitch: help ensure the success of the second annual Global Citizenship Summit, to be held at the Lambton Event Centre on November 18, 2015. You may have read about last year's summit--the night, which featured interesting speakers, wonderful food, and the chance to learn about many different cultures, was a huge success, and this year will be great again. You can read more about the goals of this year's Global Citizenship Summit here. 

The winning team accepts the Awesome Foundation funds,
which will be used to support this year's Global Citizenship Summit.
Thanks to Alisia Esene for the photograph.

Thank you to the wonderful and dedicated team--Kari Roos, Katie Horvath, Suhail Babwani, Amy Weiler, Zackery Roos,  Bonnie Szeto, Tunji Ibidunni, Emily Fortney Blunt, Rebecca Marshall, Ruth Geurts, and more--who worked so hard to make this happen in such a short amount of time. 

Thanks also to the generous folks behind Sarnia's Awesome Foundation. You may have read about the Awesome Foundation on this blog before, since Lambton College's Aboriginal Student Council won Awesome Foundation funding to host the Round Dance last January. 

Stay tuned for more information on the Global Citizenship Summit!