Author: Chinook Staff

The Chinook Lesbian and Gay Fund committee is pleased to announce the date of this year’s fundraising event.  We hope you will mark the evening of Thursday 23^rd October on your calendar.  We are in the final stages of completing the arrangements for this year’s event and we are planning something a little different…. a cabaret at Calgary’s original cabaret location, Wine Ohs. We hope to see you there.Your donations over the last few years have been able to grow the fund to just over $167,000. The fund does not use its principle to give grants as all donations are invested with the Calgary Foundation. Grants are made up of the income generated by this investment. Donations will therefore produce yearly grants forever. Our hope is to keep increasing the fund and thereby keep increasing our yearly grants. Thank you for making this possible.

Grant Report

Calgary Outlink’s Beyond Borders immigrant support program is in it’s early stages.  Our grant assisted in the set up of this needed program. Already the program has helped people from Pakistan, Russia, Ghana, Kenya and Venezuela. The program registered its first refugee claimant, and others are being assisted in the process. Many more seek information about immigration procedures. Other types of services delivered include: peer support, immigration procedure information and referrals to Legal Aid, Calgary Legal Guidance and Immigrant Services Calgary for assistance with the application for permanent residency and the language bank.

Third Street Theatre grant helped spark the development of original theatre in Calgary. It was a small grant, but it leveraged considerable work. Third Street Theatre was able to develop ‘The Passion of Sergius and Bacchus’.  This is a story of two openly gay Roman soldiers who were secretly Christian. They were wed by church officials in a private brother-making ceremony called Adelphopoiesis, and were later executed for their religious beliefs. The remainder of the Chinook grant will assist them work with a dramaturge to further develop the script for ‘This Is How I Left’ during the 2014-2015, a play that touches transgender issues.

Fairytales Presentation Society’s Queer Youth Media Program received a grant to assist youth to make film for the Fairytales Film festival. This also initiated the original creation of 2 songs for the films. The youth film makers were at the festival and spoke to the impact of the grant on their ability to make film in their schools – they called their opportunity “transformational” in their lives as gay and lesbian youth.

Keep an eye out for your official invitations to our fundraiser.  If you know of anyone who may be interested in attending and making a meaningful contribution to our fund that may be off our radar, then please let us know.  Remember, your donation goes to an endowment fund where the principle is not touched, but the income generated goes to support the GLBT community of Calgary.  This truly is the gift that keeps on giving.

Martin Harvey, Advisor
Chinook Lesbian and Gay Fund Committee

Thank you all for helping the Chinook Lesbian and Gay Fund to grow. We are thrilled to announce that we exceeded our fundraising goals in 2013 by raising about $42,000 from your donations.

For those who attend our 3rd Annual Fundraising Dinner on 17th October 2013 at The Bar C Restaurant, thank you!   The event was a great success in many ways.  Our dinner guests were incredibly generous, with 70 in attendance giving on average about $600 each. Thanks to you, our fund balance is just over $155,000.

Dinner was provided by Courtney Aarbo Barristers and Solicitors and drinks provided by Dr. Martin Harvey and Fernie Getaways. Their support ensured that 100% of your donation was deposited into the Chinook Fund’s Calgary Foundations account.  By now you should have received a charitable receipt for the entire amount of your donation issued by from The Calgary Foundation (should you have any questions about your receipt please contact Kelly Ernst at info@calgarychinookfund.ca).  We also wish to thank Bar C and their staff for their professional, friendly and efficient service.

It was an honour to introduce the first recipient of the Chinook Hero Award.  The award gives thanks and recognition to a member or group in the Alberta LGBT community who has helped improve the LGBT community over a period of years.  The Hero Award is given to no more than one group or person per year and there is no financial award given. The 2013 recipient was Delwin Vriend, who challenged the Alberta Human Rights Act in a Supreme Court case after he was fired for being gay. He won the case and as a result “sexual orientation” was read into the Canadian constitution. He helped change the laws in Canada so that we could all enjoy equal rights, something that is being modeled in many countries worldwide.

In 2013, income from the fund enabled us to issue three grants for the first time, a sign of the growth the fund has been able to make. Grant recipients were Calgary Outlink’s Beyond Borders Program, Fairytales Presentation Society’s Queer Media Program, and Third Street Theatre in association with Alberta Playwright’s Network.  The Beyond Borders Program funding is to support the development of resources to assist LGBT immigrants to Calgary access services. The Queer Media Program is supporting youth to produce visual media that explores concepts of queer identity, facing challenges and overcoming obstacles. Third Street Theatre funding was for the development of 2 play scripts with subject material exploring issues relevant to the LGBT community.

We hope as the fund grows to be able to provide more meaningful amounts to other worthy causes. It is important to stress that the fund’s principle is never touched; grants are made from the income generated by the fund, making this truly a gift that keeps on giving.  We do plan on continuing to keep our donors informed about the Chinook Fund through a periodic news email and by posting information on our website, found at www.calgarychinookfund.ca.  We encourage your further involvement as well as your assistance in informing others about it.

For those of you hearing about the Chinook Fund for the first time, or those inclined to provide ongoing support, we remind you donations can also be made to the Fund either through the Calgary Foundation at: https://pHYPERLINK “https://payment.csfm.com/donations/calgaryfoundation/”aHYPERLINK “https://payment.csfm.com/donations/calgaryfoundation/”yment.csfm.com/donations/calgaryfoundation/ or directed to the Fund through the United Way Annual Campaign (direct your donation  through the Calgary Foundation to the “Chinook Lesbian and Gay Fund”).

Thank you for giving us the opportunity to introduce the Chinook Fund to a growing circle of supporters and donors.

Although most people receiving this newsletter will be aware of our existence and probably attended our October fundraiser, please feel free to forward this notice to friends and loved ones that you think might be interested in learning more about our efforts.

We are pleased to announce the date of our 3^rd Annual fundraising dinner event, this one we anticipate to be our biggest yet.  Please keep the date of October 17^th, 2013 free on your schedule. You will receive your official invitation in the early part of September. Like past years events, our event expenses will be covered by sponsors, meaning that 100% of your donation will go to the Fund. The only obligation for each person attending the event is to make a donation. The fund remains managed by the Calgary Foundation who will issue a charitable receipt in their name for the entire amount.

Due to the generosity of our past donors, we have been able to grow the Fund to over $118,000. Our ultimate goal is to collect much more over time to create meaningful grants to support the GLBT community. It is important to stress that the principle is never touched; the grants come from the income generated by the Fund, making this truly a gift that keeps on giving. Last year grants went to Outlinks, and Camp fYreFly which helped to establish the first GLBT camp for coming out youth. For more information please visit: http://www.fyrefly.ualberta.ca/Calgary/

In other news, we have two new members of the Advisory Committee.  We are very pleased to welcome Pam Krause and Sue Cress, who both bring many attributes to our committee, including their many years of working in the community in leadership roles in the fields of GLBT sexual health education and awareness, anti-homophobia and work with GLBT youth.

We are now seeking grant applications from the community.  Grants are only issued to registered charitable organizations that are concerned with providing any or all of the following services for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered support, education, and resources.  This year we have funds to provide two grants of $2,500, however we are willing to accept an application for $5,000 should an application of outstanding merit be made. Application criteria online at:

http://www.calgarychinookfund.ca/ChinookFundGrantCriteria.pdf

Additional details about us can be viewed at: http://www.calgarychinookfund.ca/ .

Thank you all for a very successful 2012 and welcome to 2013. This newsletter is a follow-up from our dinner in the fall regarding our efforts to build Calgary’s “Chinook Lesbian and Gay Fund”.

We held our 2nd Annual Fundraising Dinner on 25th October 2012 at Pulcinella Restaurant in Kensington.  We set ourselves a target of finishing the evening having reached the $100,000 mark in terms of the total fund. We are thrilled to announce that we exceeded our goal by having raised about $42,000.00 from donations by attendees at the dinner, on-line donations from supporters who could not come, and from the committee.  Our dinner guests were incredibly generous, with the 50 in attendance giving about $25,000. Thanks to you, our fund balance is just over $104,000.

On behalf of the steering committee of the Chinook Lesbian and Gay Fund, I want to thank all who attended for their participation in this years fundraising dinner, and also many thanks to those donors who were not able to attend the event.  We are glad to report that the cost of the event was paid from the remaining surplus funds from the North American Outgames held in Calgary a few year ago.  This means 100% of your donation will therefore be deposited into the Calgary Foundations account being invested by them for our Fund.  By now you should have received a charitable receipt for the entire amount of your donation issued by from The Calgary Foundation (note should you have any questions about your receipt please contact Kelly Ernst at kellyernst@telus.net ).  We also wish to thank Pulcinella and their staff for their professional, friendly and efficient service.

This year the income from the Fund enabled us to issue two grants to help young people, after much debating as to who the recipients should be this year. The first grant was to assist the establishment of a “Camp Fyrefly” in Calgary.  This is Canada’s largest, volunteer-based, summer leadership retreat for sexual minority and gender variant (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans- identified, two-spirited, intersexed, queer, questioning) and allied youth http://www.fyrefly.ualberta.ca/index.htm .  The second grant was issued to help pay part of the cost of the “Inside Out” youth peer support group which is run by Outlinks   http://calgaryoutlink.ca/insideout-youth/ .

The amounts we were able to donate were $1500 to each organization, however the additional donations received at this years dinner should allow our Fund’s grants to increase by about 65% next year.  We hope as the Fund grows to be able to provide more meaningful amounts to other worthy causes. It is important to stress that the principle is never touched; the grants come from the income generated by the Fund, making this truly a gift that keeps on giving.  We do plan on continuing to keep our donors informed about the Chinook Fund through a periodic news email and by posting information on our website, found at  http://www.calgarychinookfund.ca/ .  We absolutely encourage your further involvement with the Fund as well as your assistance in informing others about it.

For those of you hearing about the Chinook Fund for the first time, or those inclined to provide ongoing support, we remind you donations can also be made to the Fund either through the Calgary Foundation (https://payment.csfm.com/donations/calgaryfoundation/) or directed to the Fund through the United Way Annual Campaign (direct your donation  through the Calgary Foundation to the “Chinook Lesbian and Gay Fund”).

Thank you for giving us the opportunity to introduce the Chinook Fund to a growing circle of supporters and donors.

Although most people receiving this newsletter will be aware of our existence and probably attended our October fundraiser, please feel free to forward this notice to friends and loved ones that you think might be interested in learning more about our efforts.

Yours sincerely,

Martin Harvey, M.D.Volunteer, Chinook Fund Advisory Committee