Arts Council

Arts Council for the South Shuswap

Submitted by Jacquie Middlekoop

The Small Hall Music Crawl Returns!

The Small Hall Music Crawl returns this year to the South Shuswap. Over the months of November, December, January and February, the Arts Council will present a live music series. Due to the current pandemic conditions, audience sizes will be kept to under 3 dozen. For more infor-

Shuswap Better at Home “A little extra help for seniors to remain confidently in their own homes” COVID 19 RESPONSE SERVICES PROVIDED AT THIS TIME: • Grocery/Drugstore shopping, pick-ups, and delivery • Support with meal program & foodbank delivery • Check In & friendly visit calls • Regular housekeeping & transportation to appointments

Staff, Volunteers and Contractors have been carefully ve ed and trained for your security Central Intake 250-253-2749

Funded by the Government of BC. Income based service fees may apply mation on this cozy music series, visit the Arts Council website shuswaparts.com.

FACES Visual Arts Workshop

Morning Coffee Watercolour Class - Birch Trees

Spend the morning with FACES Art Instructor Deb McKinnon for a coffee and art lesson. Participants will learn to paint a beautiful watercolour birch tree Autumn scene.

The workshop will take place Dec. 5, from 9:30 to 11:30 am at the FACES studio, in the lower level of Carlin Hall, Tappen.

No experience is needed for this introductory watercolour class. You will go home with a photo for your wall or a gift for a loved one. Open to ages 15+. Cost is $45 per person and includes all supplies. TO REGISTER: Visit shuswaparts.com/ workshops-and-events.html.

Winter Culinary Workshop

Join Karen Brown for an evening workshop, Entertaining with Charcuterie. Grab your spouse or a friend to sample some great wine and learn more about Charcuterie, the French culinary art of displaying meats, cheeses and more. Explore the French history of charcuterie and prepare to learn more about its components - cured meats, soft and hard cheeses and variety of suggested condiments. Class is open to 16 participants, safely distanced.

The workshop is Friday Nov. 27 from 6:30 to 8:30 pm. The event will take place at the Cedar Heights Centre, Lakeview Dr, Sorrento.

To register visit ww.shuswaparts.com. Cost is $25 per person and includes an individual charcuterie platter for tasting.

Angel on Her Shoulder: Sharing Happiness

By Jerre Paquette

Fifteen years ago, I was teaching at the University of Ha- 10 YEARS waii. One mid-evening, the phone rang. A Canadian call. It was Dear Donor Family, my former wife, although I could barely recognize her voice; I know this time of year is hard for you but through her tears and pain, she informed me our son Jeremy was if I may, I'd like to share a little happiness with pulled from a public swimming pool, unconscious and barely you. Without the generous donation of your loved alive. one, I may not have been here to share the past 10

I could not get a flight home until the next day via California years with my family and friends. I've gotten to watch my daugh--the longest and loneliest flight of my life. ters grow into beautiful young ladies and this year I get to share At the hospital, I was met by a doctor at the doors to the Intensive Care Ward. He informed me, as he had Jeremy's mother, that Jeremy was hooked up to life-saving equipment, but that if he survived the next four days, he would do so with a severely damaged brain. We let him go at the end of the fourth day--the equipment was unhooked, and Jeremy passed away. Within minutes, a specialist sat at our side asking whether we wanted to donate any of his organs. We were not entirely prepared for such a discussion, but we understood there was no time to waste, so we just hugged one another and quickly decided. Ten years later, in 2015, I received a letter from Alberta Health Services apprising me that the recipient of my son's liver had written a letter to me expressing her feelings to "the donor family." I accepted the letter, with a terrible mix of emotions and expectations. Soon after, the letter arrived and I sat alone to read it, weeping throughout. It was, and is, a beautiful letter from a mother who took the time to write about how our son's organ donation changed her and her family's lives. My mind raced with what I was informed was an option--I in the joy of my oldest daughter's wedding. My spouse passed away 3 1/2 years ago and without your gift of life to me, my kids may be alone today--for that alone I am eternally grateful. The past 10 years, I have learned to appreciate life so much more. I have had the chance to travel, to meet new people and make new friends. I have a brand-new career that I never could have done before. I was on the transplant list for a very long time, but obviously there was a reason that I had to wait, and I waited for the perfect match. My health has been wonderful with next to no complications from the transplant and every year at this time my family and friends celebrate my "re-birthday"--as I do have a whole new life!! I think of your loved one, my angel, often and I love to share my story. I've always known, for the past 10 years, that I had an angel on my shoulder and a couple of years ago I decided that everyone needed to know that I had an angel on my shoulder and I got a tattoo--representing my angel and organ donation. Now I get to share my story every time someone asks me about my tattoo. Every year at this time, I light a candle and say a prayer for your angel--my angel. I hope this helps you to know that your loved one has made such a big difference in my world. Thank you!! could write an anonymous letter of response to her through Alberta Health Services. I wanted to do that, but was fraught with the dilemmas of doing so. I placed the letter in my out-basket on my desk and left it there for a few days. For five years, it has remained the only thing in my out-basket.

I felt I owed the recipient a response, but I felt I would somehow want and expect a measure of 'ownership' of this woman's life and I did not want either of us burdened by such an expectation. I finally arrived at the conclusion that she deserved her privacy and that I had, we had, already given her all she really needed.

It crossed my mind only this week that others might like to know of my experience with the loss of a child and the act of donating crucial organs to other living souls. The letter is beautifully written and exceptionally moving and happy.

The donor recipient's purpose in sending the letter was "...to share a little happiness." With the support of THE SCOOP, I am now ready to help her share that happiness, perhaps a response to the difficult times we are all living in:

250-253-8104 ajrahsun1@gmail.com

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