Back by popular demand, Make-A-Wish Canada is bringing cheer for the holidays with a fun and festive fundraiser, Get Ugly, Grant Wishes! Unite your staff and friends in the spirit of wish granting by getting ugly and granting wishes! We would love to have you join us in your ugliest holiday attire on Friday, December 17th! Here’s some more information on how to get involved:

Get Ugly, Grant Wishes is back and we need your help to make 2021’s holiday season the ugliest yet!

How it works:

• Make-A-Wish Canada, New Brunswick Chapter, is selling pins for $5 each or a box of 50 pins for $250.
• Purchase individual pins or a box of 50 and collect funds from your colleagues, staff, and friends. You can even reach out to other departments in a work setting to help!
• Great gift to go along with a holiday card, letting them know a donation has been made on their behalf to Make-A-Wish Canada.
• Great way to unite staff virtually or in person at holiday parties!
• Get Ugly with your co-workers, bubble, family, and friends on Friday, December 17th, 2021. (or when you decided you’d love to do it)
• Snap a photo and send it to diane.richards@makeawish.ca or upload to our Get Ugly Facebook group at www.facebook.com/groups/getuglygrantwishes/ for your chance to win some fun prizes.

With every pin purchased, you will be supporting Make-A-Wish Canada, New Brunswick Chapter to help grant the most heart-felt wish of a local child with critical illness. We are currently working on 70 wishes across New Brunswick. With your help we can replace fear with confidence, sadness with joy and anxiety with hope.

For more information please contact:

Diane Richards

506-632-1680

diane.richards@makeawish.ca

This holiday season, support local and

some of the many youths in your

community by shopping at the

Big Brothers Big Sisters

Little Christmas Shoppe

Online: November 1-December 15th

Sparkles Pop Up: Shoppe December 2-4th

We’ve partnered with more than 20 local crafters and small businesses to bring you unique, practical, and popular gifts.

Something for everyone!

All products are of great quality, locally sourced, and handmade.

Check it out here: Little Christmas Shoppe (weeblysite.com)

We bring together youth with disabilities (both visible and not), trained therapeutic riding horses, and highly qualified trainers for a special experience for both the rider and their family. Horses are known for being sensitive creatures, in tune with their riders, and regular participation in our program allows for physical, social and emotional development.

Learn more by visiting their website here

This year, we are excited to launch a re-imagined Heroes Challenge. We are looking forward to the opportunity to join together for an incredible virtual team challenge in honour of wish kids who are brave each day. The impact of COVID-19 on Make-A-Wish®Canada has been substantial – more wishes are waiting than ever before. Your support will help ensure that every child who is waiting for their wish has their wish granted as soon as it is healthy and safe to do so. Wishes need HEROES like YOU!

Don’t forget to register your team and track your fundraising at www.heroeschallenge.ca/2020. Because this year’s event is virtual everyone will choose Saint John 2020 when registering. Every team that is registered by July 30th will be eligible to participate in a bonus points challenge!

Press Release- September 2, 2019   For immediate release

Français suite

Symphony New Brunswick to host competition for young New Brunswick composers

New Brunswick- Symphony New Brunswick is preparing for what will be a very exciting season. The search for the next SNB principal conductor and music director will bring eight different guest conductors to New Brunswick, and with them will be a line up of renown Canadian artists including cellist Denise Djokic, singer and composer Jeremy Dutcher, and violinist Martin Beaver. Some of the featured conductors include Janna Sailor, Kevin Mallon, Nadège Foofat, Mélanie Léonard, Geneviève Leclerc, and Martin MacDonald.

The 2019-2020 season will also continue to feature the talent of young Canadian Emerging Artists. Last season, winner of the 2017 National Music Festival Naomi Ford was a featured soloist with the orchestra. This season, contralto singer Heather Flemming will be featured Emerging Artist in this April’s concert entitled Spring Fling.

In addition to the Emerging Artists Series, Symphony New Brunswick will be initiating a competition for young New Brunswick composers this year and for upcoming seasons. There will be up to five winners chosen whose pieces will be featured in the upcoming seasons and performed by Symphony New Brunswick. This new initiative intends to be carried out into the orchestra’s future in order to continuously give young composers the opportunity to create new compositions for SNB every season.

Young composers from New Brunswick universities with active music departments including St. Thomas University, Université de Moncton, and Mount Allison are encouraged to apply. Composers are to submit short works for small orchestra, which will be assessed first by the resident professor and then by an outside adjudicator. Young composers from New Brunswick who are currently studying at a university outside of the province or abroad are also encouraged in entering. In this case, works can be submitted directly to the symphony.

For questions concerning the composition competition, please contact the Symphony New Brunswick office at: symphony@nbnet.nb.ca or 506 634 8379

We hope that many young New Brunswick musicians will take advantage of this fine opportunity.

The Social Enterprise Hub is a new innovative, collaborative and state of the art building coming to Saint John’s Waterloo Village. The 15-thousand square foot building will have three floors and feature a social enterprise café, office space, training facilities, special event rooms and community space. The Hub will allow entrepreneurs, non-profits, social enterprises, and private sector businesses to come together and work in a space that fosters creativity, entrepreneurship and social impact.

Permanent tenants moving into the SE Hub include:

• Saint John Learning Exchange: Innovates, educates and empowers individuals through our no fee education and employment programs which includes literacy, essential training and finding sustainable employment. Leader in Social Enterprises, while creating sustainable employment.
• Saint John Community Loan Fund: Resource for micro business loans, employment loans, housing loans, Social Enterprise loans, and training
• Pond Deshpande Centre: Catalyst to advance innovation in New Brunswick by facilitating collaboration amongst young entrepreneurs, young companies, students, faculty and alumni
• Yoga Co-op:  A safe and friendly yoga studio that is open to everyone
• Stone Soup Café: Social enterprise that combines three essential components of a healthy life: meaningful work and whole, fresh foods
• College of Extended Learning: The lifelong learning outreach arm of the University of New Brunswick that offers programs for all kinds of people at all stages of life
• Dioné Cosmetics: Startup company that helps you "Live Life Beautifully" by bringing you the best-of- the-best in Professional Quality Makeup!
• Reaction Events: Custom designed parties built on a foundation of physical activity, healthy choices and education. Eco-Friendly is just a bonus!
• Human Development Council: Identifies and addresses social issues in Greater Saint John through research, information, coordination and networking.
• Voila! Cleaning Services Ltd.: Social enterprise that provides top quality cleaning services and meaningful employment
• ACAP: Works to improve Saint John's environment through outreach, restoration and research

We are inviting The Chamber to be part of the Hub, a catalyst for innovative entrepreneurs, social enterprises and non-profits working together to build a

community that is socially, environmentally and economically sustainable. To learn how you can get involved, contact us at loanfund@nbnet.nb.ca.

PALS (Partners Assisting Local Schools) is an initiative developed in Saint John, NB to help address the needs and implications associated with students living in poverty. In the 15^th year of operation, PALS has grown from one school and one partner to over 30 schools and more than 130 partners.

The PALS initiative is looking for interested businesses and their employees, community groups and service groups to partner with neighborhood schools to “make a difference” in the lives of our youth.

Each partnership is unique as a result of the school with which you partner, the nature of your organization and the individual needs of the school.  There is no “cookie cutter” mold for the shape of a partnership. Within the PALS community, smaller organizations and groups are valued for their contribution as well as larger organizations.  Some schools may have only one partner while others may have multiple partners.  As a partner you may wish to align yourself with only one school but you have the option of aligning yourself with multiple schools and becoming a “global partner”.

Partners can enrich the lives of students in a number of ways, including providing time during the work week for employees to volunteer (mentoring, tutoring, coaching, breakfast programs, etc.), sharing expertise, and/or by assisting a school financially. These opportunities expose students to experiences that support literacy and numeracy, increase self-esteem and self-confidence, and help close the achievement gap.

Poverty reduction remains the central focus of the PALS initiative in Saint John, however schools both in Saint John and elsewhere have developed PALS partnerships for a variety of reasons, a testament to its adoptability and adaptability. This concept of partnering organizations with schools has been modeled in many jurisdictions within Canada stretching from coast to coast.

Partnerships (the school working with their partners) have a positive impact on virtually every facet of school life. A PALS partnership is a way to contribute to real community change - a dedicated school staff and parent group, together with community volunteers and financial support, can make a significant impact on the future of our children.

We thank the contributions and efforts of all our current partners – you are helping to change the lives of the children of our community and the future of Greater Saint John! The Anglophone South School District is a most valuable partner – without their commitment and cooperation, none of our efforts would be possible! And a special mention to the educators and staff of each of our schools – they are on the front line every day and provide our children with the most important tool for their future - a great education!

For those of you who are not yet involved, we hope we have sparked your interest in finding out a bit more about becoming a PALS partner! For more information please contact:

Deborah Fisher,                                                             Susan Tipper

PALS Coordinator,                                                         PALS High School Coordinator

506-632-6071                                                                 506-632-5128

fisher.deborah@jdirving.com                                     tipper.susan@jdirving.com