During the month of February, Aunt Leah’s Society will be having a number of guest speakers come to our ILFFY workshops and speak with our youth about Legal Resources available to them in the community. We are excited to welcome back Jim Mandelin from the John Howard Society and look forward to new presenters from Cameray Child and Family Services and Pivot Legal Resources.

Aunt Leah’s Lonely Hearts Club Band benefit concert is an evening of musical entertainment featuring some of Vancouver’s best local performers playing their favourite Beatles songs. Notable past performers have been: Jim Byrnes, Marcus Mosely, Craig Northey (formerly of The Odds), Geoff Berner, Steve Dawson (of Zubot & Dawson), Dan Bejar (of the New Pornographers) and Veda Hille.

A tribute to Johnny Cash – A third-party fundraising event on behalf of Aunt Leah’s Society presented by Gale Stewart. Friends and family of the Stewart family will be performing their favorite Johnny Cash songs.

Set in the “rec room” atmosphere of The ANZA Club, this will be a relaxed, casual and fun event. Theme dressing is encouraged and there is a $100 prize to be awarded to the individual deemed “Best Dressed”.

The theme for our January 2010 ILFFY workshops was Sexual Health and Wellness. We had a variety of presenters come to Aunt Leah’s and educate our youth about Safer Sex, Harm Reduction, and Sexually Transmitted Infections. The highlight of the month was the Trivia Night hosted by YouthCo AIDS Society, which motivated our youth to demonstrate their knowledge on Sexual Health topics and allowed us to learn even more about how to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

Karin recalls how she first came to know about Aunt Leah’s. Karin and her family regularly attended one of the Community Meals where Aunt Leah’s offered pre-employment training in restaurant service skills to youth at risk. As a board member, Karin found herself caught up in the passion of the other board members as they worked together on vital issues within the organization.