Our doors are open! And our hearts are full!

Its been a long few months of repairs at our office, but we're finally getting close to the end! We are thrilled to share that our office is now open!

On May 12, some pipes in our building burst and caused major flood damage throughout our office spaces. As you can see, we're still working on the finishing touches - but our doors are open and we welcome you to drop by!











Despite the mess and inconvenience, our staff have powered through the ordeal. Our many programs and services continued to serve the community, and we managed to achieve some great successes:



Our AGM
We hosted our AGM on June 19 with special guest speaker, Dr. Shirley Steinberg. It was a very special evening for us as we reconnected with a full room of friends and supporters, and thoroughly enjoyed Dr. Steinberg's funny and poignant address.



Camp fYrefly 
From July 11 - 14, we held the inaugural Camp fYrefly for LGBTQ youth in the Calgary area. We are still overwhelmed by the incredible energy at the camp and the strong support from the community. We truly believe it was a life-changing event for many of the amazing youth we welcomed to the camp. Thank you to the many volunteers, supporters, donors and sponsors that made this possible. 


And of course during these milestone events for our organization, we along with our fellow Calgarians witnessed the incredible events of the Alberta Floods. The response to the floods has been deeply inspiring, and it was remarkable that only a few weeks later the city hosted the resilient Calgary Stampede 101. And we were there with our CCHA partners to "YAHOO!" along with the city, marking another year of the "Put a Condom on Your Cowboy" campaign.

 

 

Looking back at the past month, we are so filled with gratitude and inspiration. We love the spirit of Calgary!! You make us proud to be part of this great city.

 

 

The Stampede will go on! And so will "Condom on Your Cowboy" campaign!

The Stampede will go on! And so will the annual "Put a Condom on Your Cowboy" campaign!

We are proud to be working with our partners at the Calgary Coalition on HIV/AIDS (CCHA) again this year to help cowboys and cowgirls in our city to Stampede safe!

 Watch for these posters going up around the city again as we gear up for Stampede. Let us know if you'd like some, or if you want to help with poster distribution.

Along with our partners at CCHA, we'll also be handing out "Love Kit" condom packs during Stampede weekends. (July 5/6 and July 12/13)

We're looking for volunteers to join us for distributing these condom packs at various locations around the city. If you're interested in throwing on a cowboy hat and promoting condom use to stampede go-ers, please e-mail Emily at  eophus@calgarysexualhealth.ca for more info.


Happy Stampede everyone! We hope you can all get out there and enjoy this AMAZING city!


 
 
 

Calgary GSA Network: Summer Break from Roundtable Meetings

With the end of the school year, the Calgary Gay Straight Alliance (GSA) Network will be taking a break from Roundtable Meetings over the summer.

Finding Support Over the Summer
Our last meeting before the summer break had been scheduled for June 20th, but given the extreme flooding emergencies in Calgary and area we decided to cancel the meeting. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience!

This meeting was going to be our "Summer Send-Off" meeting, with information and resources for finding community and things to do during the summer months outside of your schools. We encourage you to please continue to connect with us with any questions and we can point you to resources in the city.

Contact our team member Nick Moore at:  nmoore@calgarysexualhealth.ca


Other resources to check out:

• Calgary GSA Network: https://www.facebook.com/groups/289834511050042/
• Calgary Outlink:  http://calgaryoutlink.ca/

We will be in touch regarding the next meeting later this summer in preparation for Pride and getting ramped up for the next school year.

 

Looking Back at a Great Year

In the meantime, we want to thank everyone for a great school year with the Calgary GSA Network!

 

We marked our one year anniversary and in that time our network has really grown! Check this previous post for our look back at the first year of the GSA network.

 

And here's some things from the year that a few of our GSA members wanted to share:

 

The Bowness GSA held a Popcorn Sale on Apr 17th, and it was a huge success! "It was both beneficial for the group members to show their GSA pride, and for Camp fYerfly to put that money to a great cause," said a student with the Bowness GSA. 

 

On April 18 and 19, West Island College held a two day event called "Be The Change". The first day consisted of promoting awareness and rights through silence, with 120 individuals taking part in being silent for a cause that they felt passionate for. Most participants were silent for LBGT rights and equality in general.

On the 19th we ended the silence as a school - we choose to celebrate and honour our differences, rather than letting them divide us.

Overall it was a highly successful event, which addressed issues and causes that many were not familiar with. Teachers had a very positive outlook on the event, which resulted in many students participating.

Although Common ground is a small group, we were able to put together a school wide event that celebrated and raised awareness for many minorities, in particular the LBGT community.

 

 

Sir Winston Churchill's GSA held thrift sales, bake sales and other activities - and donated $160 to CSHC! Thank you!!

 

 

Congratulations to all our GSA Network friends on a great year! Have a wonderful summer!