Grannies gearing up for annual clothing sale

The Canadian Federation of University Women of Sherbrooke and District (CFUWSD) Grannies will be holding their annual vintage clothing and jewelry sale at the Amédée-beaudoin Center in Lennoxville on Friday and Saturday, Oct.27 and 27. The sale is the group’s biggest fundraising event of the year, and all proceeds will go to African Grannies organizations.

The CFUW Grannies group is part of a larger charity, the Grandmothers to Grandmothers campaign, initiated by the Stephen Lewis Foundation (SLF).

Established in 2003 by ex UN Secretary-general’s Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa and ex Canadian Ambassador at the UN Stephen Lewis, the SLF is a Canadian organization which aims to support communitybased leadership in Africa in response to the AIDS crisis. Offering care and support to women, orphaned children, grandmothers, and people living with AIDS and HIV, the SLF has funded over 1,600 initiatives and partnered with 350 community-run organizations in the 15 countries most affected by the AIDS pandemic in Africa.

The Sherbrooke Grannies group was first established in 2006 in the hopes to raise money for their sub-saharan African counterparts affected by the AIDS crisis. After the disease almost entirely wiped out a generation of African mothers and fathers, grandmothers were left to raise the orphaned children. In fact, 40 to 60 per cent of all orphans live in grandmother-headed households. After burying their own children, these grandmothers were left to raise their grandchildren while their health steadily declined.

Heather Keith, a long-time member of the CFUW Grannies, explained that she was chosen to travel to Swaziland, Africa, in 2010 as part of the SLF Grandmothers to Grandmothers program along with 42 other Canadian grandmothers. The initiative was compelling, as the Canadian grannies were invited to attend several African Grannies events. As Keith recounted, “we came to witness, not to intervene. We went to several events, but we were there to listen and take notes. We became recording secretaries for the Grannies groups, in a way.”

There, they learned what the local Grannies’ concerns were, such as receiving and being trained in offering grief counselling, becoming more educated about how to avoid AIDS and how to survive with the disease, how to raise money for their own charities, and what kinds of crops they can grow on their lands to feed their community, to name a few.

Recent studies have shown that volunteer tourism, also known as “voluntourism,” is not constructive, as it often leaves the local communities out of the process. The Grandmothers to Grandmothers charity has made sure not to fall into that ploy. Rather than inserting themselves into the African Grannies’ initiatives, the SLF sends funds directly to the charities and then allows them to manage their budget locally. Field workers are sent in the communities which receive SLF aid to help guide the organizations, but the communities get to make their own decisions.

The SLF sends 90 per cent of its funds directly to grassroots organizations (the other 10 per cent is retained for administrative costs to ensure the Foundation can keep growing), where they are free to help their communities in the way they see fit. To this day, the CFUW Grannies have singlehandedly sent close to $100,000 to their African sisters.

All proceeds from the upcoming vintage clothing sale will go towards the Grandmothers to Grandmothers program. Anyone who wishes to donate lightly worn clothing to the sale can contact a local Granny or bring their items at 1 p.m. on the day of the sale. Those who wish to donate without participating in the clothing sale can do so through the SLF website, or in person at the event. There will be personal envelopes available where supporters can deposit their donation. The Grannies will also be holding their annual Christmas angels sale in November. For more information, please visit http://grandmotherscampaign.org/ or join the CFUWSD Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/521609357969514/?fref=nf.

MATTHEW MCCULLY Grannies Sylvie Smith, Heather Keith and Margaret Logan-white packing up after the October 2017 sale, which raised over $1,000. Since the group was formed in 2006, the Grannies have raised over $90,000 for the Steven Lewis Foundation, which provides care and support to women, orphans, grandmothers and people living with HIV/AIDS in Africa.

The Grannies were rushing down Queen Street in October of 2016, transporting clothing racks from St. George's Church to the Amedee Beaudoin for the annual vintage clothing sale. The volunteers had tried to fit the racks into a car, but that was a no go, and there was no one around had a truck. "We don't mind, anything for the Grannies," they said, marching cheerily along.