Personal Post from Jane DeCola, Owner of Brabary

I recently became involved in the Barrie chapter of 100 Women Who Care and it has been such a rewarding experience already. We meet four times a year, and each woman or group of women donate $100 at each meeting ($400 total for the whole year). When that money is pooled together it makes a real difference to a local charity.

Any member can nominate a charity, and then three charities are randomly chosen to present at each meeting. If the charity you recommended was chosen for the short list, you give a brief presentation to the group about why you think it should receive the money. Then the group votes to come up with a winner.

In August we voted to support the Children’s Aid Foundation with two special projects: sponsoring 17 children and three social workers to travel to Africa on life-changing experience, and sending a number of children to camp for a week in the summer.

In September we raised $7,000.00 and our funds went towards The Barrie Food Bank to provide nutritional snacks to school age children in the community.

The business networking and social connections are happy by-products of the main purpose of the group, which is to pool together our small contributions to make a huge impact in our local community.

Part of our vision at Brabary is to give women a sense of empowerment and confidence. Being part of this group of local women who get together to support a common cause helps me fulfill this vision.

If you’re interested in joining 100 Women Who Care in Barrie, visit their website today at http://www.100whocarebarrie.ca/. I’ll see you there!

Preparing Your Children for University or College

Having recently gone through the process of preparing a child for university out of province, we were reflecting on how much was involved, and what tools were most helpful for getting it all done.

Most universities offer in-depth guidelines for students moving into residence, and their parents who are helping them prepare. They provide things like moving lists, residence room layouts and dimensions, photos and videos. We relied heavily on the Dalhousie Residence site.

We knew it was important to get a hold of as much of the bedding and kitchenware items as we could ahead of time, since the few days at the beginning of school would be such a madhouse in the stores around campus.

We took advantage of stores like Bed, Bath & Beyond, who will ship right to a university residence or a local store so items are there when the student arrives.

If your child is travelling a farther distance, you definitely have to be more organized, even thinking as far ahead as the winter months. Do you pack their winter clothes? Ship them later? Will they be home for a visit in between?

Undergarment essentials include lots of socks and underwear (Hanky Panky for the girls, Saxx for the guys) so they don’t have to do as much laundry. Also be sure girls have enough sports bras to stay active and avoid the “freshman 15.”

What are your best tips for having a child away at university or college?