Mar 6 - Persian New Year Hits the Papers

Saturday was my birthday in Ottawa. I'm not saying how old I am but here is a hint. It is the Chinese Year of the Rooster and my husband Sandy and I are both Roosters. (Clue: Cliff Jenkins kindly guessed that made us either 24 or 36!) All in all, a productive birthday. Met a former parliament staffer with a background in co-op and affordable housing and discussed ways to work with existing housing in ward 33. Had a long conversation with a councillor from Durham about Toronto's ability to continue to receive his city's poor and homeless when support has run out at home. And lastly, got to bend Ken Dryden's ear for a good chat about the need for the Feds to nail down just how Provinces will buy in to the Best Start program and spend monies flowing from Ottawa for Childcare. Talk about working on your birthday. Staggered into the house from a long drive to discover that the North York Mirror has picked up on our work with the Iranian community to help organize their ceremony. Link below. It is quite fascinating how this event has grown among members of this community. As the article states, the Char Shenbeh Souri ceremony will take place in Sunnybrook Park on the evening of March 15th. Later, on April 2nd, they will gather for daytime picnics in the same place. We have had weekly meetings ever since Christmas break ended in order get all of the details in place. Watch all Persian media outlets for more details and directions. To ensure a safe and happy ceremony, Sunnybrook Park will be NO CARS ALLOWED on the night of March 15th. We are very grate ful to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and to the Sport Alliance for donating their parking for this special occassion. Many thanks to Laidlaw Transportation for working with the community to organize a busing plan. http://www.insidetoronto.ca/to/northy/story/2612409p-3029565c.html