Dining for a cause

By Penny Pitcher

Victoria Grandmothers for Africa will hold an African dinner on March 2^nd at 6 p.m. at First Met United Church, 932 Balmoral Road, Victoria. The tickets are $50 each and are available from Anne Moon, annemoon@shaw.ca or please phone 250-480-1061. African dress is also encouraged.

The African Dinner will include African fare catered by Ghanaian Chef Castro Boateng, an 80-item Silent Auction, fundraising balloons, and excerpts from the "One World Concert" performed by students of Pearson College.

Victoria Grandmothers for Africa, Anne Moon, Joan Tuttle, Patricia Whitely and Anne Young are delighted with the donations that they have received for the African Dinner and Silent Auction taking place on Saturday, March 2, at First Met United Church in Victoria.

Victoria Grandmothers for Africa is a local group of close to 90 members who work to raise funds and awareness for the Stephen Lewis Foundation (SLF) and its Grandmothers to Grandmothers Campaign. This campaign supports African grandmothers who care for their AIDS-orphaned grandchildren, of whom there are approximately 14-million. In 2011, Victoria Grandmothers for Africa raised over $120,000, and since 2006, these Grandmothers have raised more than $470,000 for the Foundation.

The Stephen Lewis Foundation launched the Grandmothers to Grandmothers Campaign in March 2006, and since then it has evolved into a dynamic national movement of more than 240 groups across Canada.

Funds from the Grandmothers Campaign go to African grassroots organizations working with the grandmothers, and the children in their care, in partnership with the SLF. The SLF collaborates with grassroots groups who support the grandmothers' immediate needs for things like nutritious food, health care, transportation, adequate housing and bedding, school fees, uniforms and school supplies - and longer-term needs such as parenting and business skills, micro-credit grants, HIV awareness training, counseling and testing, and grandmother support groups.

The Victoria Grandmothers for Africa aims to sell 300 tickets for the African Dinner, one of the main fundraising events for 2013. Not only will you leave with a warm full tummy, you will also leave knowing that you have contributed to the initiatives of the Stephen Lewis Foundation to turn the tide of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Africa.