Program Ideas

This page documents planned and possible future monthly programs.

After we've done them, these get recorded on the page Program History

2024

• May 25: RSVP event for an Elderberries meal together at Jim's Restaurant, Bedford Highway in the early afternoon. Producer KAITLYN
• June 9: Raymond Taavel Birthday. Planning page here
• June 23: reading/discussion by Jaime Burnet, author of Halifax-set novel (with TWO lesbian romances!) Crocuses Hatch from Snow. Producer LYNN
• July 21: Youth/Elders StoryTelling with youth from the MacPhee Centre for Creative Learning. [[2024-07-21_Salon?|Planning page here]]
• July 23: Elders Hangout [[2024-06-23_Hangout?|Planning page here]]
• August 8th A picnic at Point Pleasant Park or the Public Gardens. August 15th is the rain date. Or we could go back to Northwood on a rainy day. So, we had better keep it officially booked through the summer.
• September 8th A picnic at Point Pleasant Park
• October 13th/November 10th/December Salons and events : Possible topics are:- Dealing with trauma, Homophobia in families. Have a cookbook writer discuss the Middle East dishes' ethnic origins. Have another author in to discuss their book and methodology. Faith & Spirituality in the queer community. Metis Francophone culture and history with a local straight elder presenting.

Future

• Barend’s Métis friend Muriel speak about being Métis.
• Board games (2 votes)
• Have Robert Wright back to speak more, he has a lot to share; we want to learn more. The question is: which topic(s) next time? Should we take a poll of the membership?
• During Pride, from a survey "Elders Ideas For Pride" in 2021:
  • Halifax Youth Project / Elderberries: "What's it like to be a youth these days? (with food)
  • Not So Secret March
  • Human Library
  • Elder Hop again
  • See if we can get that little golf cart train thing in the parade for anyone who doesn’t want to walk.
  • Meet with a group of Northwood residents and ask about top issues for people living in long-term care, and then co-sponsor a workshop on that
  • Something outside! Go to an exhibition baseball game? Dressed as Cheerleaders?
  • A Tribute to Rainbow Refugees
  • "A HGMC & Women Next Door concert & dance"
  • Something for the LGBTQ2+ Community in the USA.
  • Lesbian Jell-O Wrestling
  • "How about a ""Mask-erade / Glove-In"", where there is an organized street cleanup (including the drifting PPE) which is also an excuse to dress any way the participant pleases? Naming it ""Mask-erade"" would likely invite some creative dress options. Yes! Also serves the purpose of community involvement - I recall some challenges a couple years ago with internal politics that question the week for a lot of people."
• Dr Bob: talk about life in Florida in the age of Desantis
• Barend: about the underbelly of my time in Japan
• Repair Café: bring your broken things and we'll have a team of people to asses and maybe fix them.
• Go to the Church of Our Lady of Lebanon with Lynette Richards to see her stained glass work.
• Dealing with assumptions that when you're older, you're incompetent.
• Paula: Overview of Legal Documents For Seniors
• Craft Show - bring your own crafts, talk about your craft hobby
• Talk about our careers
• Special event for newcomers (maybe do this once a year) introductions if you want, some history, how Elderberries works.
• Get a member to share their life story ... or an event where we share biographies of other people
• get a drag queen to show how she puts on her makeup
• Anita: The place in Inverness that has the equipment for the disabled
• Hospice Halifax would like to talk to us Linden Hardie <l.hardie@hospicehalifax.ca> Social Work Coordinator, Hospice Halifax p: 902-446-0929
• Matt Numer has offered to do a presentation about "New Technologies and Chemical Culture: Examining Deployment and Effects Among Men Having Sex with Men".
• Robert Wright: How can white folk be allies to the black & gay community in Halifax.
• Sexual Harassment and strategies to deal with it -- telling our stories. Ask Georgina if she would be the moderator - $50?
• Hal Walsh: tell us the story of your experience with Dr Tench, head of the Abby J Lane / Halifax Mental
• Cindy Kemp, Kemp, Cindy <Cindy.Kemp@Dignitymemorial.com> I am a Family Service Advisor with Dignity Memorial. I serve the communities for JA Snow, Mattatall and Cruikshanks Funeral homes in Halifax and Dartmouth. Funeral pre-planning. Discount offered to us.
• Pajama Party!!
• JJ And His Embroidery
• Tuma & Nick & their pictures and travels
• Tuma: Some element of two-spirit culture - or smudging, or something.
• Review 2017-02-12 Meeting and actually do something to invite the People of Colour Communities
• Vance: Plato lecture
• Vance: Introduction to Topology
• Homophobia in our families
• My favourite scents
• Pride - pick a topic
• Barend's friend Muriel: Métis, raconteur, musician, tell a story about being Métis.
• Survey results
• Building community
• Another photo / history discussion
• Content ideas: Gerard Veldhoven. WAYNE will contact him about maybe coming in again some time.
• Music: Ukelele Mike
• Positives of Aging
• Photos & Videos: our stories
• Workshop on preserving photos and other community or family material
• Animals in our lives
• Racism in our GBLTQ+ community. How can/do we oppose it?
• Indigenous Issues and Culture

No Longer Relevant

• Event in Bernadine Lapointe's garden (Anita)
• Picnic at Dr Bob Fredericson's place in Terrance Bay - he invited us.
• Seth from the NSRAP Health Committee health@nsrap.ca - trans health. Wife Anna does sexual health education. Idea: 1) asking members to think about healthcare needs in advance of the meeting, 2) roundtable collection of people’s ideas of healthcare needs, 3) discussion of, say, the top 10, which gets recorded, and 4) making a report out of that
• Patricia Martinson: Her book - about it, and read something from it.
• Bethana Sullivan: what do you do?
• Jean Gravelline OR Fyre Jean & partner: what do you do?

Projects

• Another cookbook
• Calendar
• Coffee mugs