Walkathon

The walkathon took place on June 4.

Thanks to our sponsors: Lorenzo's Specialty Foods (buns), Freybe Gourmet Foods (meats), Meyer's Drugs Ltd (water), Nelson David of Canada (prize basket) and Kinnikinnick (snack foods).

A prize (free registration to the November conference in Fargo) was awarded on June 10 to the person who collected the most pledges.

Children's Activities

Thanks to Cocoa Beans Bakery (cookies) and Boston Pizza (pizza) for their contributions to the very successful Kids' Bowling event in April.

GF Kids Camp: Fee is $275 for the five days per child and $100 for the five days per parent. The minimum number of kids we require is 20. For that amount of kids we could have siblings and/or friends. Date is August 1-5. We'd be the only kids there at the time.

There's staffing and scheduled programming. Also includes: pool with waterslide, biking trails, climbing wall and more. We can have as many parents to help out in the kitchen with GF cooking. Visit the YMCA / YWCA Website.

Contact Sandra at 889-9994 or "wolch AT mts.net" as soon as possible if you know children who may be interested in attending.

Art for Awareness

Tickets on a contemporary sculpture donated by Dr. Leonard Kahane valued at over $3000 will be available. The draw will be held at the December 10 meeting. Just like NHL tickets, only a limited number are available. Get yours soon so you don't miss out.

Grocery Cards

All of the grocery cards the Chapter had on hand have now been sold thanks to Bruce McBeth, who took on dealing with the cards. Thanks also go to all of you who bought the cards. The Chapter received a 5-8% return on the grocery cards sold over the past 18 months. Look for another opportunity to participate in a grocery card purchase in the fall.

Rural Liaison

Heather Yeo has been the driving force behind the celiac events in rural areas. Events have been held in or are planned for Portage La Prairie, Gimli, Steinbach, Kenora, Thompson, Morden/Winkler, Dauphin and Swan River.

Celiac Awareness Month

Displays were held in University of Manitoba Bannatyne campus as well as all the acute care hospitals in Winnipeg. Dayna Weiten facilitated a session for home economics teachers. Lori Graumann presented an educational session for Rehabilitation staff and students at the U of M. I hope that all of you heard the great job Dr. Duerksen did on CJOB on May 29. Did you see our Celiac ad on a transit bus? How about the La Liberté article? Thanks to our French spokesperson Monique!

Office

The Manitoba Chapter's lease at 123 St. Anne's Road will be expiring July 31, 2011. Stay tuned for further updates regarding the office.

National Conference

After the huge effort everyone made to attend the 2010 Winnipeg conference, it wasn't surprising that only a few Manitobans journeyed to Ottawa for this year's conference.

The venue was the sparkling new Ottawa convention centre with a great view of Parliament Hill. The event conincided with Ottawa's famous tulip festival - and several days of gray skies and rain. However, that just kept the 500 attendees focused on the sessions inside. Summaries of the key sessions will be in the fall newsletter. Plan now to attend the next conference in Kelowna May 25-27, 2012.

Upcoming Manitoba Events

October 1 general meeting at St. Anne's Ukrainian Catholic Church, 455 Douglas Avenue. Speaker TBA.

30th Anniversary of the Manitoba Chapter - Fall 2011. We're looking for ideas to mark the occasion. Remember that the Chapter is obligated to spend significant dollars to avert losing our charitable status.

Red River Celiacs Gluten Intolerance Group 5th Education Conference - November 4 & 5, 2011 in Fargo. Information about chartering a bus to keep costs down and make it easy for everyone to attend will be available soon.

Gluten Free Dinner at Red River College's Culinary Arts Program on Tuesday, November 29. Those of you who remember the absolutely spectacular gluten free dinner that was served by the Red River culinary arts (chefs in training) students several years ago will agree that it was THE BEST gluten free meal they've ever eaten. The restaurant has a limited seating capacity and will be sold out quickly. Details of this year's event will be available in the fall newsletter.

Restaurants

Know of an accomodating chef or grocer in your part of the province? Please share the info. Summer is coming. Manitobans and other celiacs may be coming your way. Send your ideas/finds to "office AT celiac.mb.ca".