[homeles_ot-l] FW: SkyWorks December E-Update

Fri Dec 18 14:56:13 EST 2009

FYI . . . Home Safe series of Sky Works documentaries that deal with how Canadian families live with the threat and experience of homelessness.

Lynne Browne
Coordinator, Alliance to End Homelessness (ATEH) 
Office 613-241-7913, ext 205
147 Besserer St., Ottawa ON  K1N 6A7 
www.endhomelessnessottawa.ca <http://www.endhomelessnessottawa.ca/>  
________________________________

From: Sky Works Charitable Foundation [mailto:info at skyworksfoundation.org]
Sent: Fri 18/12/2009 2:36 PM
To: Lynne Browne
Subject: SkyWorks December E-Update

 image of audience in movie theater watching the screen with Skyworks Foundation written on bottom left corner<http://i6.cmail2.com/ei/y/9B/D74/A53/062950/skyworks_eblast/eblast_may09_32_r1_c1.jpg> 	
 a woman smiling with her arm around a young girl's shoulder<http://i10.cmail2.com/ei/y/9B/D74/A53/062950/skyworks_eblast/eblast_may09_32_r3_c2.jpg> 

HOME SAFE TORONTO
TRAINING THE FACILITATORS

Colleen. Phil, Richards and their teenagers, Jessie and Josie are active participants in the Home Safe Toronto project. Their family was sideswiped by the collapse of the Ontario auto sector. Phil was recently laid off from Chrysler and his employment insurance and other benefits have run out. Colleen has joined the fast-food work force to support her family by putting in 60-hour work weeks at $10 an hour. Although the Richards are not homeless when we meet them in this film, they are living in a cramped apartment and facing their first eviction notice. 

Not only do they appear in the film, but the family has facilitated many screenings with concerned audiences in Toronto and across the GTA in the past 2 months. Jessie appeared before 70 high school students at the Catholic School Board's social justice forum. The family attended a screening organized by Phil's union, the CAW, which was attended not only by the national president Ken Lewenza, but also by the mayor of Brampton, federal and provincial politicians and political staff. Colleen actively participated in a housing forum organized by the Wellesley Institute. The family seems to have developed a new lease on life through their work with the Home Safe Project. Colleen says it best:

It's amazing because when SW entered our lives it was at a time when we didn't think anyone cared and we were lost. This has given us the gift of hope and given power to our words. Working with the film has validated our struggles. We don't feel so stuck. When I watch Jessie facilitate, I can see him growing. It's great to see my children receive the gift of empowerment and to see them learning to help other people.

Sky Works has organized peer facilitator training sessions for the documentary participants, a process that inspires all of us. The kids and families are doing things they've never done before - speaking out with pride instead of shame, learning facilitation skills and gaining confidence in their own ability to work with audiences.

Joanne Ngo is a former employee at a car parts plant in Vaughan. Along with 2,400 employees she lost her job on a moment's notice, and she and her daughter have been struggling with housing and managing their daily lives. Joanne and her 13 year old daughter Angelina have attended community screenings and are enthusiastic about this new focus in their lives. As we wrapped up the training day last month, Angelina said, "This has been one of the most important days of my life. I have learned to talk about my life. And I have learned to listen."

The strengths and capacities of the kids and families are building as our work with the documentary goes on. There is a feeling of accomplishment and pleasure in the group. We're all committed to work for real change by bringing Home Safe Toronto to communities that want to make a difference for kids and families who deserve decent and secure housing. 

We have just posted a short user guide for Home Safe Toronto as a PDF document for download, click here <http://skyworkscharitablefoundation.cmail2.com/t/y/l/uhikv/ulhuuytud/r>  to see it.

 <http://i7.cmail2.com/ei/y/9B/D74/A53/062950/skyworks_eblast/eblast_may09_32_r6_c2.jpg> 	
KASHECHEWAN PROJECT 
MOVES FORWARD

Jim Hyder, who provides the lead to Sky Works activities in Northern Ontario, reports that the Kashechewan community development project gained new momentum during an October visit to the First Nations community on the James Bay coast. In partnership with the Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN), the project assists community members (especially young people) to develop film and video skills that they can use to tell their own stories, in their own voices. Until now their stories have been told primarily by outside media and have focused on the bleakest issues with which Kashechewan and other Nishnawbe Aski communities struggle. 

In October, Jim along with Carol Rolland, who has worked for NAN in Thunder Bay and works with the community development aspects of the project, provided six days of technical instruction in basic filming and editing techniques to a group of eager young filmmakers. The young people then produced short films dealing with topics that ranged from a day of duck hunting to the impact of Treaty 9 (the original treaty with the government of Canada that defines the life experience of all Nishnawbe Aski people), to a traditional native spirituality retreat and "Voices", reflecting the interests and talents of a group of school students.

"It's very tough up there," Jim admits, describing the difficult development process with which Kashechewan constantly struggles. "The kids who we are working with have really taken on our documentary work. There is now a core group who are working hard and learning a lot. Ruth Stadelmayer, their teacher has kept the project going at the school. It's a community coping with many problems and our hope is that this project can help people see the strength and talent that exist there."

 <http://i9.cmail2.com/ei/y/9B/D74/A53/062950/skyworks_eblast/eblast_may09_32_r9_c2.jpg> 	
AN INCREASING ROLE FOR 
PRESCRIPTION FOR ADDICTION

A new study in the Canadian Medical Association Journal confirms that accidental deaths and suicides due to opioid use in Ontario have soared over the past couple of decades after a new long-acting version of the drug oxycodone (sold as OxyContin) hit the market. The report states that opioid related deaths now claim more people each year in Ontario than HIV, with 27 in a million people dying from overdose versus 12 per million to HIV.

This comes as no surprise at Sky Works, where we have been working with our documentary partners to screen Prescription for Addiction throughout the province in an effort to alert both the public and the health-care community to the dangers of opioid abuse. Two versions of the documentary have been in use since 2005 and consideration is now being given to the development of a third version that will be meant for youth. The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), the Ontario Federation of Community Mental Health and Addiction Programs and the St. Joseph's Care Group in Thunder Bay are our partners in this important work. 

You can purchase this film through our distributor, V-Tape at www.vtape.org or (416) 351-1317

TO LIVE WITH DYING:
A NEW PROJECT BEGINS 

Laura Sky's husband and colleague Verne endured a long stay in hospital through the summer and fall. Although his initial cancer surgery was successful, he faced many subsequent complications. He is at home now and regaining his health, but in supporting him as his advocate, Laura learned more than she could have imagined. "Mostly," she says, "I learned that sometimes I had to be patient, but at other times I had to be fierce." 

Although Verne's situation was curative rather than palliative, Laura's experience equips her well for a new film project ahead. Sky Works has joined with the Temmy Latner Centre for Palliative Care at Mount Sinai hospital to produce a documentary for caregivers who have a loved one in palliative care. 

>From the moment of diagnosis, patients and their family caregivers experience confusion, roadblocks and painful frustration as they try to access institutional and community care. This documentary will look at the trials and triumphs of patients and their caregivers who want to live with an end of life illness. The challenge is not only to die with dignity; it is to live with dying.

This will not be a film about despair, but a forum for caregivers to share experiences, coping mechanisms, communication strategies, and to create a community for people who are struggling to access support and care.

We are in the early stages of the project, from both content and funding perspectives. We are actively seeking advisors and funding partners to work with us as we develop this documentary project. Research will get underway in December and production begins when funding is secure.

AND FINALLY...

We send many thanks to all of you who have contributed to the 2010 Annual Appeal. Early contributions have got us off to a great start again and point to another successful campaign - especially encouraging in tough fundraising times!

Sky Works Charitable Foundation

401 Richmmond St West, Suite 240
Toronto, ON M5V 3A8

T 416 536 6581
F 416 536 7728

info at skyworksfoundation.org

To make a donation, visit our website:
www.skyworksfoundation.org <http://skyworkscharitablefoundation.cmail2.com/t/y/l/uhikv/ulhuuytud/y> 

UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THIS E-UPDATE <http://skyworkscharitablefoundation.cmail2.com/t/y/u/uhikv/ulhuuytud/>  

 <http://skyworkscharitablefoundation.cmail2.com/t/y/o/uhikv/ulhuuytud/o.gif> 