News

leslie campbell: focus on the community

Posted on Mar. 31, 2009 by Gerald Graham (writer) and Harriet Graham (photographer), Queenswood volunteers

Leslie Campbell, Founder and Editor of Focus magazine, gave an inspirational talk at Queenswood March 26 as part of the Passionate Lives series. She regaled her audience with stories from her youth and early career in Winnipeg, followed by twenty-five years as a journalist and publisher here in Victoria.

Leslie's writing career can be traced to an article on bowling that she wrote as a six year old; it was good enough to warrant a gold star! Years later she was instrumental in establishing the Women's Studies program at the University of Winnipeg. After a move to Victoria in the mid-eighties she started Focus on Women magazine, which concentrated on empowering women and drawing their attention to a wide range of social issues. A few years ago the monthly magazine dropped the 'on women' focus, drawing in the male community as well. Nevertheless, Focus maintains its progressive editorial stance and concentration on social, environmental and political issues as opposed to more lifestyle-oriented topics such as health, nutrition and fitness.

A large part of Leslie's presentation zeroed in on the challenges and pressures she and her husband, David Broadland, the magazine's Publisher, face sustaining a business whose sole source of revenue is advertising. In this regard, a deep-seated sense of purpose and a lifelong commitment to the local community in which she both lives and works seem to have stood both Leslie and her quality magazine in good stead.

Leslie has designated that the net proceeds from her talk go to the Creating Homefulness Society, which plans to run a therapeutic farming community for the homeless at Woodwynn Farm.

April 23's Passionate Lives will feature Jan Bate, the Executive Director of Bridges for Women Society. Click here for more information.

Photo by Harriet Graham. From left to right: Kate Fagan Taylor, Executive Director, Marina Smith, ssa, Community Relations Coordinator, Leslie Campbell, Founder and Editor of Focus, Stefan Jonsson, Programs and Marketing Coordinator.

the painting is nearly done!

Submitted on Mar. 25, 2009 by Stefan Jonsson, Programs and Marketing Coordinator

We're getting more and more excited every day as the renovations are finishing up. Tomorrow (Mar. 26) will be the last day of painting. The automatic door-openers for both building entrances, as well as the hallway doors are also in the process of being installed at the moment. Then on Friday, the carpet will be laid. The cabinetry is scheduled to be installed on Monday, and touch-ups will be completed on Tuesday. And Wednesday (Apr. 1) is the big moving day, when we will move our current reception office into the new Hospitality Centre!

One of the most anticipated parts of the new Hospitality Centre will be the feature wall; this is the wall at its very beginning stages. It will eventually display 16 large photos submitted by friends, staff, volunteers and guests of Queenswood over the course of a two week photo contest. To read more about this photo contest, including how you can enter it, please click here.

New lighting fixtures will also be installed in the coming days, adding at least 2x the amount of light to these hallways.

This is Arnie, our painter.

three cheers for woodwyn farm!

Posted on March 21 by Kate Fagan Taylor, Executive Director

We were thrilled this week to hear the great news about the Woodwyn Farm project and want to congratulate Richard LeBlanc and all those who supported this vision!

Finally, a project that will help create real solutions for people who are caught in the desperate cycle of homelessness. You can read the story on it by clicking here.

The news just makes me want to sing... so here is a song for Richard and all those who believed in his dream and supported it! It's an amazing montage of street musicians from around the world singing "Stand By Me" on this site, Playing for change, a multimedia movement created to inspire, connect and bring peace to the world through music.

We look forward to having Richard come as a guest speaker at Passionate Lives on June 25 to celebrate and hear about how we can support the next steps for Woodwyn Farm!

embracing aging

Posted on Mar. 13, 2009 by Stefan Jonsson, Programs and Marketing Coordinator

Today Queenswood was very lucky to be present at the 50+ Active Living Celebration sponsored by Senior Living magazine. This annual event has the look of a tradeshow, but the heart of a dynamic community. March is "Embrace Aging Month," an opportunity for all of us to rethink aging as a positive aspect of life. Much of our culture seems to have a phobic attitude toward aging, but this event challenges us to celebrate it. Over 100 organizations set up booths to show their products and services for the 50+ generation. There were also concerts, demonstrations and lots of dancing at the main stage!

Sr. Marina and I were at the Queenswood booth. We met hundreds of people, and shared about the wonderful opportunities Queenswood has to "embrace aging." Many visitors were interested in Qigong: Activate the Healer Within and The Joys of Sage-ing® retreats coming up in April. Others wanted to know more about our yoga program and other drop in classes. What ties of all these programs together is Queenswood's general program focus: to explore identity, vocation and meaning in life. And so it was such a joy to be able to contribute to this celebration of life with our own unique mission and mandate.

I also had the opportunity to meet many other exhibiters today. I was particularly interested in meeting exhibiters involved in caregiving and other helping professionals, as Queenswood has a special stream of programs devoted to supporting their health and wellness. I also wanted to learn about what services others provide in Victoria. I think it's important to be connected to all of these groups, because there are often ways in which we can support these other vital organizations. I learned a lot more about the Centre on Aging at the University of Victoria, which conducts research projects on topics such as aging and driving, healthcare, and assisted living. They're a vital service to Victoria and even beyond our city. After conducting their research, they bring together various community groups and service agencies to ensure that their reports contribute to the on-going development and improvement of services for seniors.

Even though I'm still 25 years away from the age this event was created for, it was hard not to be delighted by the real celebrating that went on there. It made me very proud to work at Queenswood, where we also love to love life at every single one of its stages.

nearly ready to paint!

Posted on Mar. 12, 2009 by Stefan Jonsson, Programs and Marketing Coordinator

You may not quite recognize this hallway at Queenswood with the new doors and floor covered in dust, but it's one of the busiest corridors in the building. We're looking down the main corridor on the main floor toward the DiCastri Walkway and Chapel. Of course, all the dust is from the renovations in the new Hospitality Centre. The doors have been installed because the Hospitality Centre will be very busy at times, and we want to ensure that the rest of the building can remain quiet and serene despite increased traffic.

During the first few days of the renovations, the walls between the parlour and reading room and the parlour and the corridor were removed to make an open and welcoming space for the Hospitality Centre. In this picture, we're looking at the Hospitality Centre from what used to be the door into the parlour from the corridor. The semi-circular wall near the ceiling marks where a new counter and cabinets will be installed to make a reception counter. Behind that, more cabinetry will be installed, including a dividing wall to separate Reception from the new Queenswood Store!

This is a shot from the main doors into the building and the new Hospitality Centre. All of the furniture has been removed from the vestibule and the interior doors were also taken down. This has created a warm and open space which naturally leads right to the Hospitality Centre straight ahead.

And finally, this photo shows the silent dining room, which is now being converted into a prayer and meditation room that will be reserved for silence 24/7. Because programs like yoga are regularly held in the Chapel, this room will provide a space that is permanently set apart for quiet reflection. The Chapel will continue to serve as a place of prayer and meditation, but can't always be reserved for silence. The spaces between the cinder blocks are being covered over in this new prayer room to give it a smoother and more open feel. A new light fixture was also installed as you can see in the photo.

The drywalling and filling in of the spaces inbetween the cinder blocks in all of the renovation spaces will be complete tomorrow (Fri. Mar. 13, 2009) and painting will begin either later tomorrow or on Saturday. We'll keep you all posted!