New Year's Rockin' Eve Party

What are you doing for New Year's Eve? Celebrate the start of 2016 with us!

On Thursday, December 31, join us at the Port Perry Legion where will celebrate 2015 and ring in 2016!

Tickets are $25 and can be purchased at Gus Brown, PP Print, Flawless Dry Cleaners, The Port Perry Legion and our office (The Scout Hall). Call 905-985-3733 ext. 4 for more details.

No tickets will be sold after December 23.

There will be New Year's Party favours, a cash bar, a late night buffet, champagne at Midnight and of course, DJ Todd Soomre!

 

Meet our staff: Executive Director, Margaret Ayres

Here is the first of our "Meet our Staff" series, because we want you to know us on a more personal level! 

Meet Margie! 

Name: Margaret Wanless-Ayres
Age: Unknown
Horoscope sign:  Aries
Kids: 4
Husband: Mike
Pets: a 4-year old mix, Kasey

I asked her a few questions so that we could get to know her better...here they are:

Favourite movie: Wizard of Oz
Favourite artist/band: Johnny Reid, Shania Twain, Tim McGraw
Favourite book: Green Eggs & Ham
Favourite vacation you've ever been on: Hawaii
Favourite food: surf & turf
Favourite colour: Red
Dream car: DeLorean
Dream vacation: Back to Hawaii!

If you live in Port Perry, you've definitely seen our very own Margie Ayres in the papers 1 million times (pretty much on a weekly basis). It's a big joke with everyone she knows...and when she's not in the paper (rarely) people always ask where has she been?!

Margie has been at Big Brothers Big Sisters of North Durham for 17 years!! She started out as part-time, and worked her way up to a full-time Executive Director position 6 years ago.

In Margie's "spare time" (quotes because she doesn't have spare time) Margie volunteers for other local organizations and always always helps out families in our community. If you need something, you can ALWAYS could on Margie to help you out. We swear, her heart is made of pure gold.

Margie is very very involved in so many different aspects of our community. She is a member of the 100 Women of Uxbridge, she is a founding member of 100 Women of Scugog, she's on the Chamber of Commerce, and she has a Little Brother with us!

Margie got matched with her Little, Matthew, 2 years ago in the In-School Program. Margie and Matthew are now registered in both the ISM Program, and Traditional Program, meaning that she mostly sees him at the school, but she's allowed to see him outside of school, and just recently she started driving him to his first job!

So there you have it folks, Margie in a nutshell! We'd also like to add that she's a GREAT boss and such a kind, loving person! What a great person to have as ED of our organization! If you do not know Margie (doubtful, she knows everyone) stop in, she'd love to meet you!

Photos were taken by the amazing Daniel Cullen.

Sponsor a local Family this year

"There's no better feeling than giving to others"

The holiday season is upon us! 

Every year, all year, we try and give as much to our families as we can. If someone drops off gently used clothes, furniture, and toys we make sure they make it into the hands of someone who truly needs them in our community.

Since it's almost Christmas time, we want to amp it up a notch. Last year was our first year asking the local community to "adopt" one of our families and give them a Christmas they will certainly remember. It was amazing! Community members came forward and in total we had 4 families sponsored! We appreciate the sponsorship, but believe me, our families appreciate it much much more.

The beauty and simplicity of this program is that the person/persons who adopt the family gets to decide how much they want to spend on the family...it's all up to you! We do give you "Wish Lists" if you would like, with things that the child may ask for, or what the parents need, but it's really all up to you! Anything that you can give to these families is truly appreciated.

Currently, we have 3 families of different sizes who are still waiting to be adopted this Christmas! If you're interested in adopting one of these families, please email Krista at krista.duke@bigbrothersbigsisters.ca or call at 905-985-3733 ext 4 for more information.

Thank you to Fisher's Independent for donating groceries to some of our families in Brock Township this year!

Easy DIY Halloween Costumes

So we were recently perusing through Google images looking for Halloween costumes, so we thought we thought we would share some that would definitely nominate you for some costume prizes at our Halloween Spooktacular Party!

I've just recently started watching American Horror Story, so I thought this would be kinda cool, and easy-- all you need it some white sheets, white and black face paint!

Need a REALLY easy group costume? Why not be DOMINOS!

Dora's backpack may involve some creativity, but the rest of the costume is basic! I think even a plain purple backpack would do :)

 I'm REALLY digging this group Troll costume. This could also be a single costume, or as many as you want, really! If you wanted to be punny, you could somehow make this into an internet troll!

 

I ALWAYS find sugar skulls very impressive!

I'm a sucker for anything Addams Family, so this Wednesday Addams costume is not only easy to pull off, but it's a classic!

And lastly, if you're in a pickle for a costume, you can always go as the Black Eyed Peas :)

Hope to see you at our Halloween Spooktacular Party! All proceeds benefit the children/youth in North Durham!

Please note this is a 19+ event.

http://www.bigbrothersbigsisters.ca/northdurham/en/Home/events/halloween-spooktacular-party.aspx

 

Big & Little Pictures

We are so lucky to have been approached by local photographer Daniel Cullen to take pictures of our Bigs & Littles!

Here's a peek at some of the awesome shots he got of our matches.

 

Guest Blogger: Little Sister, Amanda and Big Sister, Lis

Guest Bloggers: Little Sister Amanda and Big Sister Lis

Amanda: Mine and Lis's relationship is a very strong thing. Lis is everything I could ever look for in a big sister. Our relationship is what other kids dream for and wish they had, I really appreciate everything she and Big Brothers Big Sisters has done for me.

A couple years ago when I was first registered for the program I was going through a hard time, but when I was matched with Lis things started to get better. She encourage me to do a lot of things and she also helped me cope with my anxiety by bringing me out to places and helping me meet new people. Now that its 2015 our friendship is still going very strong. She is still getting me to meet new people and getting me to take risks and getting  me to try new things. Every time we are out doing something we always have a good laugh even laughing at the small things. Lis is like another friend - she is always caring and she tries to understand everything I talk about or even if I'm explaining something. She always tries to understand. I am so glad I can call on her as a big sister/friend.

I am also so glad I was registered to Big Brothers Big Sisters and meet someone like Lis.

Lis: Amanda is a wonderful girl with lots of great character and a beautiful personality. She is very caring toward all her friends and loves to have a good time. She is naturally physically very strong and a true country girl. She makes me laugh when she fights new adventures but realizes she is very capable of doing so, like tree-trekking or canoeing. She has a special touch when it comes to matching up her clothes, she always looks great. And her hair is beautiful.

I love watching Amanda finding herself and learning to love who she is. I feel very fortunate she has picked me to be her friend and sister.

If you're interested in learning more information about our mentoring programs, please call Cheryl Holmes at 905-985-3733 ext 2.