Youville Takes Fitness to a University Level

June 14th, 2013

With the academic year winding down and summer school on the horizon, our Phys. Ed. class decided to take fitness to another level — a university level, if you will!

Due to the generosity of  the University of Ottawa, our young moms received the opportunity to exercise in a well-equipped athletic centre and on an outdoor athletic field! A five minute walk down the street to the University of Ottawa’s Minto Sports Complex (a very accessible location) helped our students get the most out of their Phys. Ed. classes without skipping a beat.

The University of Ottawa donated their time and talent to provide our students with a Personal Trainer for 4 sessions in the gym and outside on the track and athletic field. The Personal Trainer, Adrian, motivated our young moms to do their best as they worked out using cardio machines, weight machines and the outdoor athletic field. Weight training instruction and guidance was given, allowing our students to be safe and to get the most out of their workout.

It was also beneficial for our students to see other students working out in the U of O facility — not only did it motivate them but also it provided a glimpse of what they might be able to use if they decide to enrol at the university someday!

Special thanks to Mr. Sabourin, Manager of Fitness and Instructional Programs; Elizabeth Wattie, Assistant Manager of Fitness Programs; Personal Trainer Adrian, and Luc Gelineau from the University of Ottawa for making this partnership possible. We look forward to the possibility of joining forces yet again with the University of Ottawa as we continue to provide holistic services for our young moms.

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Shepherd’s Fashion Show Set for October 22, 2013 ~ Tickets on Sale Now!

June 10th, 2013

Once again, loyal Youville Centre supporter Marlene Shepherd is hosting the Ooh ‘n Ahh Fashion Show & Auction in support of Youville Centre! This year’s event is set for Tuesday, October 22, 2013 from 5:30 to 9:00 p.m. at the Ottawa Conference and Event Centre (formerly known as the Hampton Inn Conference Centre).

It will be an evening of fashion, food, philanthropy and fun! Incidentally it is also Shepherd’s 35th Anniversary, so guests are encouraged to wear a vintage Shepherd’s favourite if they wish!

You may purchase tickets in the following ways:

Purchase online via PayPal on our website by clicking on this link: http://www.youvillecentre.org/Fashion/index.html

Call us at 613-231-5150 Ext. 128 to purchase over the phone using your credit card.

Tables of 10 are available in addition to individual tickets. Remember — there is an early bird special! The first 100 tickets sold will be entered into a draw for a $250 gift certificate to Shepherd’s!

We are working hard as a committee to make this event better than ever so we look forward to seeing you there!

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TELUS Day of Giving Benefits Youville Centre

June 7th, 2013

All photos by Justin Van Leeuwen ~ JVL Photography

On Saturday, May 25th, 2013, 30 plus TELUS Ottawa employees donned their t-shirts and jeans, rolled up their sleeves and participated in the TELUS Day of Giving. With a motto to “Give Where You Live”, this community initiative was yet another socially responsible way that TELUS is giving back to their community. Led by passionate Youville Centre supporter Shannon Gorman, the TELUS employees pitched in and performed the following tasks inside and outside the centre:

  • Painting our Collective Kitchen
  • Painting our Sunflower Crib Room
  • Washing windows
  • Cleaning the Toddler Play Yard
  • Collecting trash from the school grounds
  • Planting herbs and other edibles in our Youville gardens
  • Raking leaves, collecting branches and other yard waste

TELUS Ottawa employees and their families worked together to get these tasks done in record time! We are so grateful to each and every one of them for taking time out of their day to help make Youville Centre a little brighter!

Special thanks to Shannon and Meredith for being great examples and rallying such a great group of volunteers! Please enjoy these photos from the day, taken by local photographer Justin Van Leeuwen.

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Lowe’s Employees Empower Young Moms with Home Improvement Skills

June 5th, 2013

This year Youville Centre launched a new Lifestyle Course called “A Leader in my Own Life”. Linked to academic credit, this course combined cooking skills, leadership and self advocacy, life skills and financial literacy. Part of being a leader in your own life and a good role model for your child is learning how to take care of your household. We dreamed up a “Fix it Myself” class as part of this course — a class in which our young moms could learn how to perform household tasks and minor repairs on their own — to gain a sense of empowerment, and also to learn to save money by applying the ‘DIY’ (Do It Yourself) principle.

We reached out to Lowe’s, a generous community partner who has helped us in the past, and they sent two wonderful employees to deliver the ‘Fix it Myself’ class. Lowe’s Orleans employees Tara and Laboni rolled up their sleeves and shared their expert knowledge and experience with our young moms, who really enjoyed the hands-on nature of this class. Our students learned how to do the following:

  • Fix a leaky sink and toilet
  • Hang a shelf
  • Hang pictures
  • Measure, prep, plan and paint a room efficiently
  • Replace a fuse
  • Hang curtains
  • DIY tiling with caulking
  • Weatherproof a drafty window

Many thanks to Lowe’s Orleans Store for their participation in this course and for donating “Build and Grow” kits for Youville’s little ones!

Our students enjoyed the class so much we are already planning to do it again next year!

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Youville Moms Attend National We Day!

June 4th, 2013

We Day Logo via Free the Children

On Monday, April 29th, 2013, hundreds of students from all over the Ottawa area packed the Robert Guertin Arena for National We Day, a call to action for youth and a day of motivation, inspiration and fun, created by Marc & Craig Kielburger, activists and founders of Free the Children and Me to We.

From their website,

We Day is the signature experience: the movement of our time, bringing together a generation of youth to be engaged in changing the world through an inspirational event and yearlong educational program. The We Day movement lives online at weday.com, an online hub dedicated to educating, engaging and empowering a generation of socially-conscious youth.

We Day is an initiative of Free The Children, an international charity and educational partner that works with schools to implement the We Act program.

Thanks to the generosity of Free the Children and with the help of one of our loyal supporters (and her sister), four of our young moms from Youville Centre had the chance to attend!

It was a unique and eye-opening opportunity for our students to attend an exciting, inspiring event like this, and to hear many amazing guest speakers who touched on topics such as environmental conservation, bullying, leadership and giving back to your community through small acts of local and global kindness and volunteerism.Celebrity music acts included Shawn Desman, Neverest, Tyler Shaw, Kardinal Offishall, and Karl Wolf.  Actor and Activist Martin Sheen was the Keynote Speaker.

Each student who attends a We Day event must commit to one local, and one global act to make our world a better place. This commitment replaces any admission charges for the event. Our students look forward to brainstorming and planning their local and global acts in the upcoming 2013/2014 school year, so stay tuned to the blog for their progress!

Included in the lineup of speakers was a young man named Spencer West. He encouraged everyone in attendance to “redefine possible” and he was very inspirational. Please watch the video below for Spencer’s story.

I think we can all agree that Youville Centre moms are redefining what is possible in their own lives and for their children.  We are very proud of their bravery, hard work and commitment to creating a brighter future for themselves and their children.

Please enjoy a few reflections from the students who attended National We Day:

Reflections from National We Day

By: Youville Centre Students

Our impressions:

“I really liked how there was an Inuit speaker because I’m Inuit.
Just the fact that he was being heard was inspiring!”
~Tamera, age 18

“It was really informative about ways to change the world.”
~Jessica, age 17

It inspired us to think about our children:

“I want Mason (age 16 mos) to grow up in a peaceful universe.”
~Tamera, age 18

“As a mom that’s one of the things you worry about most is that
your child will be bullied.”
~Jessica, age 17

Quotes we loved:

“Never say I wish I would have”

“Change will not come if you’re waiting for somebody else”

Many thanks to Free the Children and to our Mentorship Program Task force for making this day possible!

As a follow up to our experience at We Day, Hannah from Free the Children volunteered her time to speak to our students about many of the themes discussed above.

Thank you, Hannah for your time and for inspiring us!

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Youville Centre’s Oprah Experience

May 29th, 2013

When we heard Oprah was coming to Ottawa, we just had to reach out to her to see if she might have time in her schedule to visit us at Youville Centre. So, with the support of a loyal donor, we sat down and wrote to Oprah, hoping that at the very least, we would get a warm reply from her production company. Understandably so, with her busy schedule, Oprah didn’t have time to visit us, but she did make it possible for all of our current Youville Centre moms to visit her!

Oprah herself donated 50 free tickets to ‘An Evening with Oprah’ at Scotiabank Place, which took place on Wednesday, April 10th, 2013. Because of her generosity, Youville Centre students and some staff members were fortunate to have the once in a lifetime opportunity to hear Oprah speak her words of wisdom, live and on stage in our home city of Ottawa! We boarded a bus provided to us at a discount by the generous folks at M.L. Bradley Ltd. and headed down the Queensway to have our ‘evening with Oprah’.

Just when we thought we couldn’t hear even more good news, we got a call from our loyal donor that Bayshore Shopping Centre (a sponsor of the event), had made it possible for two of our young moms to meet Oprah!

So, two of our young moms enjoyed a VIP Meet & Greet with Oprah and some other dedicated Ottawa fans and lucky guests. Our two students got the chance to say hello to Oprah, and while they were having their photo taken with her, she commented on how much she liked the hand-decorated International Day of Pink anti-bullying t-shirts they were wearing, one of which said, ‘Dare to be Different’!

Hearing Oprah speak meant so much to many of our young moms, so we thought we would share a few of their reflections with all of you.

*Unfortunately due to copyright laws we cannot share the photo of our students with Oprah, but if you would like to see it, please drop by the centre, as it is hanging in our lobby.

This weekend would be a great time to stop by between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., as Youville Centre is participating in Doors Open Ottawa!

So much gratitude goes out to Oprah Winfrey, Harpo Studios, Bayshore Shopping Centre, M.L. Bradley Ltd. and our loyal donor (you know who you are!) who got this whole ball rolling ;)

Please enjoy some reflections from our students from this special evening:

Reflections from ‘An Evening With Oprah’
By: Youville Centre Students
Each of these reflections was written by a teen mother aged 15-21.

When I heard Oprah say…

“When I first heard Oprah say, ‘Listen to your calling – you are made to do something uniquely you…be obedient to the call’, it made me think of what I want to do in my life and the dreams that I have. It made me think I should go through with it, that if I really love my dream a lot that I should not be ashamed of it, that I should go for it because that’s what I love, what I was born to do.”

“When I heard Oprah say, ‘When you lose your job, it’s just life moving you in a different direction’, it made me think of the path I used to be on and the path that I am currently on. It made me think of the changes that I have made and how proud I am of myself.”

Oprah’s words…

“…make me want to always have an open mind.”

“…are very inspiring and they help me want to follow my dreams.”

“…make me want to smile and be happy when approaching every task and challenge.”

Lessons Learned & Stories Shared

“I’ve been going through a lot lately, and I find that I dwell in the past and that makes my situation so much worse. After the Oprah show, I told my friends that I think this is exactly what I needed right now.”

“The show really enlightened me. It was very inspirational and made me want to take in the things that Oprah said and apply it in my life. It made me feel a lot better about my situation because I know that anything can happen, I just have to make it happen and have a positive outlook on life. If I am optimistic I will have positive reactions in my life.”

“I want to thank you very much for giving me this opportunity to see Oprah. I think this was such a great opportunity and it really did change my outlook on life. I wish every young mother could have shared this experience with me, but I am lucky that I was so fortunate to see her. Thank you so much, I cannot express my gratitude enough!”

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A Special Way to Honour Your Mother

April 11th, 2013

This Mother’s Day, please consider honouring your mother with a special gift to the young moms and children of Youville Centre.

Mother’s Day is a very special time of year here at Youville Centre. By participating in this annual initiative, your contribution will go towards helping us to continue to support our young moms and their children. Last year we raised $3,500 and this year it is our goal to raise $5,000!

The first name of each mother who is honoured will be written on a paper tulip and displayed around our centre to show our young moms the wonderful support they have from our donor community.

This year we also made a small card that you can give to your mother or to anyone you are honouring this Mother’s Day. We are also mailing a hard copy to everyone on our newsletter mailing list but if you prefer to donate online, please feel free to print this out.

How to Donate

Online:

Click on any image above and it will lead you directly to Youville Centre’s Canada Helps page where you can donate online. Please tell us your mother’s first name in the Message/Instructions field.

Lettermail/In-Person:

Print out this page and fill out the information on the donation card above and either mail it to us or drop it off at 150 Mann Avenue, Ottawa ON K1N 8P4.

Phone:

Call in your information to (613) 231-5150 Ext. 128.

Thank you for considering this unique way of celebrating Mother’s Day! Please consider sharing this message within your networks.

Please note, tax receipts will be mailed to everyone who donates $25 or more (as per Canada Revenue Agency guidelines for tax receipts).

If you have any questions, please contact us at (613) 231-5150 Ext. 128.

Happy Mother’s Day!

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Extreme Makeover: Kindness Week Edition!

April 9th, 2013

If you’ve come to visit us at Youville Centre recently you may have seen our newly renovated student lounge.

Get ready to gasp! Here are some photos of the completed lounge:

What a beautiful room for our students to relax in, to read, watch a movie, have a snack and just enjoy some “me time”. None of this would have been possible without the generosity of local Interior Designer Sonya Kinkade and her husband Daryl Kinkade (D.E. Kinkade Konstruction), as well as Sonya’s colleagues, otherwise known as the TBBs, a group of independent Interior Designers who collaborate on a lifestyle blog about wine, food, design, shopping and travel; who also work together to give back to their community.

L to R: Daryl Kinkade, Mary Anne Van Gaal, Nicole Duguay, Sonya Kinkade, Donna Hargrove, Lisa Goulet and Maureen Coates.

This extreme makeover was all due to an initiative called Kindness Week (February 15-22), hosted by The Caring & Sharing Exchange and chaired by Rabbi Reuven Bulka. Kindness Week is a program designed to promote acts of kindness throughout the city – from buying a coffee for the person behind you in line, to doing volunteer work, to thanking someone in a significant way. For the third year in a row, Sonya and her team have donated their time and design talent to an organization in need to makeover one room. This year Youville Centre’s young moms were the lucky recipients of Sonya and her team’s kindness.

Sonya, Daryl and the TBBs did an unbelievable job in transforming the small space we had available for the student lounge. Staff and students alike were overwhelmed by the completed room! Many thanks to Sonya, the TBBs, Daryl, and all of the sponsors (listed below) who donated furniture, electronics and other design elements to help make this extreme makeover a success! Scroll down for more photos, courtesy of Sonya Kinkade and taken by Danielle Lynn Photography!

Thank you to all who donated to our extreme makeover:
 
D.E. Kinkade Konstruction LTD
The TBBs
Danielle Lynn Photography
Brent Kelly Painting
Barwood Flooring
IKEA Canada
La-Z-Boy Furniture Galleries
The Upper Room
Kravet Fabrics
Alexanian Carpet & Flooring
Tamarack Developments
Car-O-Practor
Spotlight Hair Studio & Spa
Future Shop
Stylish Fireplaces by Huntington Lodge
Climate Works
Faye Fortune Drapery
European Glass & Paint
C & M Textiles
Infinity Bookkeeping & Accounting
Everyday Grace

 

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Youville Students Thank Volunteers and Supporters with a Special Tea

March 21st, 2013

On Thursday, February 28th, Youville Centre’s young mothers hosted a very special Appreciation Tea for volunteers, donors, and partners who have supported Youville Centre in immeasurable ways. The entire event was orchestrated by the students as a way of expressing their gratitude to the wonderful people who support them and their children at Youville Centre.

As guests entered Kinsella Hall, they were greeted by a young mom and they received a special thank you card, made with love by our students. The cards had a heartfelt message of thanks and a photo of a young mom and baby that is currently enrolled at Youville Centre.

Tea was served by the students, and guests enjoyed a selection of sandwiches and baked goods that were decided upon and prepared by the young moms. A slideshow displayed photos of volunteers and current students and children for all to enjoy, and the room was cheerfully decorated with artwork courtesy of Youville Centre’s littlest artists, the toddlers.

Guests also enjoyed a surprise treat in the form of a “thank you” song performed by all of the students. It was heartwarming to see people waving their hands back and forth in time to the song and even a few joyful tears were shed.

The Appreciation Tea was such a great way to reward all of the selfless individuals who support Youville’s young moms and their children. It is because of people like you in our community that we are able to continue providing the best possible programs and services to our clients here at Youville Centre.

On behalf of all of the young moms and children of Youville Centre, we thank you!

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Join us this Friday for A Toast to the Ladies!

March 20th, 2013

We are so grateful to have supportive donors in the community thinking of our young moms and children here at Youville Centre. This year we were fortunate to meet a young woman named Elaine Larsen who has single-handedly organized a fundraiser for Youville Centre called A Toast to the Ladies. This event will be held this Friday, March 22 from 6-9 pm at the School of Photographic Arts: Ottawa (SPAO) and it boasts an evening of food, music, photography and fun all in support of our young moms and their children. A popular Ottawa band, The Love Machine will be playing, and photographs taken by the students of SPAO will be displayed.

Please join us!

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