Our first fundraiser

"Would you like to help us clean up our quilts - they're all covered in oil?" brought many people into our booth on a very wet and soggy day in last Sunday. Spirits were high at our first fundraiser held during the Fall Fair on Gabriola. Four glorious quilts were on display, covered with "oil blobs" which, for a Loonie, passerby's could remove. Many people came back again and again to see what would emerge. Slowly an incredibly cute otter was cleaned up, 

then a seal on a rock, some starfish... and then a salmon, as more and more pins were removed. Kids in particular enjoyed helping out, and parents appreciated the visual connection to get the message across.

$ 222.00 was raised and sent home with the Dogwood Initiative representative who had come up from Victoria for the day to raise awareness about the issues at hand. Here's the article she wrote about our project: http://dogwoodinitiative.org/blog/unspoiled-unoiled-coast-quilt-project?utm_source=AdaptiveMailer&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=E-News&org=354&lvl=100&ite=350&lea=78355&ctr=0&par=1

What on Earth have we done?

The last several weeks we have all been totally immersed in finishing up four spectacular quilts for our first fundraiser this coming weekend. I, for one, have barely had time to think too much about why I am doing all this work, and what would be the repercussions of an oil spill in our own backyard. One of our members forwarded this video to me and tonight I sat watching and listening to it. I could not get through it without weeping. The horror of what we have done overwhelmed me.

http://www.socialistproject.ca/leftstreamed/ls65.php?ref=nf

I say we, because I believe that only when we accept that it is us who have allowed things to get this far will we take up the responsibility for putting a stop to it and to change things. And we are the only ones that can do it. In all of history, change has never, ever, happened from above. It never will. It simply is not in most governments or corporations interest. Change has always, always come from below. From us.

What on Earth have we done? I asked myself despairingly as I watched this video.

But the real question is: What on Earth are we going to do?

Whatever it is, however you help to change things, I urge you to get out there and do it! Now!

We can make a difference.