Documentation for banner segments - my pink book

Hi everyone,

The Gift of Life Banner Parade is just around the corner and I'm just about done with the distribution of the banner segments. 1,209 in total.

What I have done over these past months -

I made sure that everyone, that bought banner segments or that offered to work on segments, signed this book pink book that I started in the year 2000.

So that you can actually see who got some of these banner segments, I have taken photos of the pages from my book.

Please note - I have also used this book for a past project, the 40, 000 sticker campaign. This campaign lasted from the year 2000 to 2006 and in the near future, I will be posting pictures of those pages also.

I must say that, it will be interesting to see if others can find their name in my book - I would love to hear from those that I have spoken to during these past 20 years of this campaign to educate others on this subject.

Enough for now and here are the pages with the banner list.

Take care God bless and have a great day.

Maria

The green highlighted area with red brackets, is banner material that I have donated to others for this project.

History in the making - Banner Report March 2013

Hi again and a good day to you.

Well my friends - things are on a roll and the day is coming up fast and I am on the run.

I have been sewing banner segments together 10 meters at a time, I then add the gold boarder on the fabric. This process takes about 1 1/2 hours.

[So you can imagine - What a relief it is to me and how happy I am when banners arrive  with their gold boarder and the segments are all sewn together. ]

 I'm also doing school presentations - attending meetings and talking to people in our community about our historical event.

Well I'm off to town again.

God bless - take care and have a great day.

Maria


Banner Report - March 14, 2013

It’s wonderful to have so many individuals helping to make this a successful historical event

All working together to help save lives by talking about organ & tisssue donation.

A part of Canadian History in the making

Of the Material - bought for the World’s Longest Banner for Canada
for the Parade of Banners in Peace River on May 5th 2013

We have 1,209 - meters for the banner-

To date 885 meters have been distributed
310 meters - went to communities - Outside of Peace River

So far we have documented Participation from
5 Provinces
14 communities outside of Peace Country in AB

9 ---Other communities in the Peace Country

Mexico - Banner segment - made by transplant athletes attending 2012 Transplant Games held in Calgary   

[You are cordially invited to help set a Guinness World Record to promote the cause of organ & tissue donation] the Dare to Dream - Gift of Life - Parade of Banners

Hello again and good day, my friends

Well, it's been a full week again...During these past few days, hubby and I have been helping to take of Max again [who has been down with a bad cold]

But despite having to divide my time up with family matters etc. -

I still managed to spend these past couple of days on the computer trying to get this message out to all of my contacts.

p.s. if you would like me to forward the formal invitation to you - just email me at stranaghan1@hotmail.com

This is the message that I have sent out.

 

Could you do me a great favour and help get the word out and forward this invitation on to others?

Canadians are working together to set a Guinness World Book Record for the Longest Banner in the World for Organ & Tissue Donation

 

Included in the attachments is information on what is planned to take place along with an official invitation for the Dare to Dream - Gift of Life - Parade of Banners. 
[You are cordially invited to help set a Guinness World Record to promote the cause of organ & tissue donation] the  Dare to Dream  - Gift of Life - Parade of Banners
 
Take care, God bless and have a great day.

Maria Stranaghan (donor mom 1993)
 

p.s.

I have officially cut 1,209 segments for the banner, therefore if everyone on returns their segments for the parade and if at least one person from each province accepts the Canadian Challenge, we should have a substantial representation for organ and tissue donation and the Guinness World Book Record.

 

Please Note – That, anyone can be in the parade - even those that haven't had time to make banners - on that day, we will need a lot of volunteer hands.

Well my friends - Due to a special invitation to an open house at the U of A - for donor families from the Peace Country - This morning, hubby and I are heading out to Edmonton for a couple of days.

It's going to be an interesting trip and I am looking forward to finding out what the near future will bring.

Take care - God bless and have a great day.

Maria 

Lots of editing and cutting - but almost ready

Good evening everyone,

Well my friends...it's finally all coming together and we are almost ready to meet with our town council on the 22.

And we are also almost ready to attend the 25th anniversary Gala in Calgary for the CTA .

Saying Thanks

- having these documents done so that we can be ready for these events, would not be possible, if it wasn't for all the help that our volunteer editor has been giving me. 

This lady has asked me to keep her name confidencial and I must tell you that she has her hands full with other projects that are on the go.

But I would like to say that

Man oh man - has she ever done a lot of work! - What can I say, but thank you so much - you are a life saver and I'm truly greatful for all you are doing to help this cause.
I have to also say that, I'd be lost, if it wasn't for all the help and support that I've been getting from another very wonderful lady and I'm proud to say that she is a great friend of mine (Claudette)

So now, most of the documents are done and there are 80 sections of banner material ready to bring to the Gala on the 27th...Woot, woot!

There is still a report about donaton in rural communities to do and still work to be done on a sponsorship page. But I think that we are finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

At this point, I am now sending infromation to the schools so that we can get going on the baner challenge and it will be nice to see which school gets to dye my hair green before Christmas. (this should be fun!)

Well it's almost time for bed so I'd better get going for now.

Take care - God bless and have a great night.

Maria

Banner material sent to Ontario Gala

Hello again my friends,

Well how quickly things can change.

Yesterday I was a bit down because I really couldn't afford to mail out the banner material for the CTA's 25th anniversary Gala in Ontario.

But when I informed (CTA member) Sandra of this, she sent me a quick email stating that they would help by paying for shipping. What a relief that was.

Then last night, I remembered the girl from the post office saying that part of the cost was due to the size of the package.

Therefore this morning I decided to take that sucker apart and I squished it down as much as possible and then I did the Red Green thing and duct taped that baby tight!

Now the package is in the mail and there will be banner material available for the guests that are attending the Gala.

And guess what?

All that squishing worked....and instead of costing $45.00 to send the package, it only cost $32.70. ----

Geeeee this old dog, can learn new tricks :-)

God bless, take care and have a great day.

Maria

A very special place - for me

Good morning my friends,

I've been at my computer since 2:30 this morning and I've been working on this diagram to show the area  for the Gift of Life path and Gift of Life Arboretum in Peace River.

Now, since I don't have a clue on how to post this from my word program, I took a picture of it on my computer and I'm posting it this way.

I know again that, this is a hillbilly way to do things but -

"Ya do. what's ya got ta do."

God bless, take care and have a great day.

Maria

p.s. - I just found out that, if you click on the picture it will give you a close up.



A Pledge to my Community

Responding to a Call for Action – A Three-in-One Challenge & Pledge

By Maria Stranaghan

Dare to Dream Challenge:

1.    I will distribute 1 kilometer of banner material to local and regional schools wishing to participate in the Parade of Banners & the Guinness World Book attempt for the longest banner in the world.

2.    The school that in PR that has the most* banners made before Christmas break will be able to dye my hair green for Christmas. (My hair will stay green until the Parade of Banners on May 5^th 2013) – Green for the cause of Organ & Tissue Donation

The dye is waiting & I'm ready to go !!

a.    (*The winner will be determined by the ratio of banners for number of students and staff in the school)

3.    . For Love and Marrow Challenge (for the Community of Peace River AB)

a.    To have, by May 5, 2013, 365 community members sign up with Canadian Blood Services as bone marrow donors.

b.    If our community meets this challenge – someone in the community can shave my head for the cause and then autograph it (with signatures or messages, such as “Peace River Rocks!)

4.    Banner challenge participants  may also autograph my head at this time:

a.    The school, team, community members for the Parade of Banners, that provide the most banners, come the furthest distance and

b.      The team and/or individual from outside of our community, with the most banners from his or her province etc. This individual or team will also take home the first hand-painted banner which I made for the NOTDAW Dare to Dream launch.

 On A Personal Note-

Recently I was asked this this question – “Are you CRAZY?!”

My response is, “Sometimes getting crazy is what it takes to bring about a positive change, I don’t expect others to get crazy with me, but they are welcome to do so.”

During the Christmas season in 1992 - I made a promise to my eldest daughter Tasha that I would help to educate on the subject of organ and tissue donation. After her death in 1993, I made a vow to myself and to God, that I would do everything in my power to fulfill that wish.

The Love and Marrow Challenge grew from having both a family member and a family friend that suffer from Leukemia

Important Note –

No one else is expected to dye their hair green and or shave their head, but I will surely appreciate the support of everyone else while I do these things in order to draw attention to the need for organ and tissue donation in our country.

Maria Stranaghan

Donor Mom, 1993

Box 6091 Peace River AB

T8S 1S1

Phone 780- 624 4337

Email stranaghan2@gmail.com

For more information:

World’s Longest Banner for Organ & Tissue Donation on Face book,

World’s Longest Banner, my story on BlogSpot

 Twitter at longestbanner20 –

www.worldslongestbanner.org  – (will be up and running asap).

Went to mail out 50 pieces today - but couldn’t

Well me dear friends

Yesterday, I spent the better part of the day - pre-cutting material to send out to the 25th Anniversary Gala for the CTA in Ontario - but this is the message that I had to send in its place.....

Things have been very chaotic for me over the past couple of weeks but yesterday I managed to get the material cut (50 pieces) etc. and I went to mail it out for you.

But, after I arrived at the mail with my package in hand, they informed me that it would cost me $45.00 to send it, this being said, I made the decision to keep the material.

I would like other to know that, I'm using the sale of the banners to raise money for the Gift of Life Arboretum; I'm also paying for this project out of our personal account. But because mailing material is so costly have to let others know that this is beyond my means.

This is an unfortunate message for me to relay but, therefore, due to financial constraints I am unable to mail out material for those that wish to participate in this effort.

Hopefully, no one will take offence when this is mentioned. And hopefully they will still want to participate and with them many others will want to join us in this quest.

The message is that I'm trying to convey is that, I do want people to participate -

1. It would be great if another community in Canada would like to meet or beat our challenge of doing the 1 kilometre that we are doing in our community.
2. This project is to help Canada set a Guinness World Record for Longest Banner in the World. This banner is to be made with the largest collection of banners that have been joined together by Canadians for the cause of organ & Tissue donation.

 Hopefully the information that I'm sending to you, about the WLB attempt, will help those that wish to participate in this project.

Please find five attachments included in this message.

Again I apologize for any and all inconvenience this may have caused.

 

Well my friends I must say that I hope this doesn't discourage others from participating and I hope they understand where I'm coming from.

God bless, take care and have a great day.

Maria

I met with my MLA - to talk country :-)

Well my dear friends

I'm always happy to say that I have a great MLA...

I met with him again yesterday to give him an update on this project and to let him know what is going on with donation in rural communities i.e. Grieving families being denied the opportunity to fulfill the last wishes of a loved one to donate organs and tissues!

It's been a busy couple of weeks with everything that's been going on with my grandson Max, whooping cough in the day-home and now with him getting a flu bug this week. But I must say that, I've still managed to get some more things done.

Here is a little something that I put together...it's still in the DRAFT process but it's a begining..

I put some of this in a package for my MLA and I will have a package ready for the town meeting on the 22...

1.      A Call to Action, a national report for the federal government and for Canadians

2.      Cover Page –

a.      The P.R.E.D.O.T. Report –Peace River Educating on the Subject of Donations of Organs & Tissues -  A 20 year volunteer initiative in the community of Peace River AB

3.      Answering a Call to Action – 2013 - 2 community projects

a.      Account held in Trust

                                                              i.      Peace River and District Health Foundation

1.      Community Spirit Account

2.      Gift of Life Path & Arboretum - $959.35 (October 3, 2012 This is the money that I've made from the sale of banner material to date.... this money will go towards the Gift of Life Arboretum.

b.      Cost of Commemorative Benches for Gift of Life Path (Picture of Bench) - I still need to get this information from the town.

These next items are a work in progress....

c.       Cost of Gift of Life Arboretum           

                                                              i.      Personal Financial Statement

                                                            ii.      Personal Cost

                                                          iii.      Number of Banner material Sold & donated to date

                                                           iv.      Amount $ put towards Gift of Life Arboretum

4.      An invitation to Parade of Banners  May 5, 2013

5.      Banner instructions

6.      A pledge made by me to my community

7.      Partners and Sponsors

8.      Report on Organ & Tissue Donation in Rural communities.

Well my friends ...God bless take care and have a great day.

Maria