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Final Report on Out of the Rain Project
Hello Everyone
~
Here's the good news: the WECAN/WECCA Out of the Rain umbrella painting
workshop contributed an estimated $1,000 to the city-wide project. Take
a bow, everyone! I say 'estimated' because I didn't get to record all
the final bids before bid tables closed and the buyers departed with their
umbrellas. However, I did record most bids and estimated the rest on a
conservative basis. And every one of our umbrellas sold!
While waiting for the final 'official' report on how much money was raised
for Galley Gachet and the Brenda Carr Studio Society, the organizers estimate
the event raised nearly $15,000. Add to that all the in-kind donations
of products and services and sponsorships and it's a wonderful statement,
again, about how our community steps forward to support our mutual interests
in events like Out of the Rain, a project designed and organized to increase
awareness and understanding about homelessness.
The Gala Event Silent and Live Auction at the Roundhouse Community Arts
and Recreation Centre was an amazing evening as those who were there will
confirm. Staff mounted a most amazing exhibit, hundreds of people attended,
and the hall was packed with positive energy and enthusiasm. There was
an incredible range of contributions from our local arts community: one
item sold for $4,000, another for $3,500 and several sold in the multiple
hundreds.
The WECAN/WECCA
project was developed with a few different features, in keeping with our
West End's reputation for being unique in a culturally rich city. We invited
our West End artists to participate and 15 of our 25 participants were local
artists! Not only was this an opportunity to celebrate and showcase our
local talent, but as with the city-wide event, we knew their painted umbrellas
would attract higher bids. And they did: Mira Damyanova's "Up Came
the Sunshine and Dried Up all the Rain" sold for $125 and Jody Billingsley's
"Strollin'" sold for $100. Many sold in the $50+ range. And everyone
sold! (At the end of the workshop we were left with seven umbrellas: 1 yellow,
1 purple and 5 beige. They're for sale at $40/each, including gst; they
retail for $60.)
The bottle-cap umbrellas were a stand-out at the exhibit and did make a
West End statement. Because of their weight they had to be displayed on
the floor which made it easier for people to view the paintings, and again,
staff did an excellent job of exhibiting our unique contribution. The third
unique aspect about our project was the invitation to homeless people to
join us at the workshop and I'm pleased to note that one person did that,
thanks to the assistance of the First Baptist Church Outreach Program. We
also wanted to engage our local business community and seven retail/service
firms, and one bank, did that: RBC, enchante, Mr. Pickwick's, West End Paint
and Hardware, The Little Hardware Co., two Safeway stores, London Drugs
and Starbucks. And it was great to see our local MLA, Lorne Mayencourt,
participating and contributing his 'word art' umbrella.
A big virtual bouquet to ..
Everyone who participated and contributed their time and talent to painting
a WECAN/WECCA umbrella.
Silvia Laforges and Michele Bates, two programmers at the WECC for their
valuable support and assistance.
Judy Graves at the City of Ottawa for substantially increasing my understanding
and awareness about homelessness.
Sharon McFadyen and Scott Small at First Baptist Church for inviting me
to see its successful Outreach Program at work.
Our local business community for its support.
Roger Chilton, Chair, Arts & Cultural committee of the Downtown Vancouver
Association, who hosted an introductory event that brought the Out of the
Rain project to our attention.
And special bouquets to Leslie Adams, one of the event co-chairs for Out
of the Rain and Sheryl Williamson-Harms, chair at WECAN for absolutely everything
you did to support the West End project.
Thank you all!
Gail Brown
WECAN Volunteer Coordinator, Out of the Rain umbrella painting project
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