Greetings from LifeRing Canada:
It’s already November 2023! The LifeRing family have been busy meeting and gathering to discuss what is important to us. We’ve added more meetings, and recently held the 2023 Annual General Meeting. As our numbers and locations continue to grow, we all get enthusiastic about how well LifeRing continues to help people on their recovery journey.
We currently have 12 face-to-face and 5 Zooms meetings, an increase of 6 groups over 2022.
Our newest meeting is a face-to-face meeting located in Sidney, British Columbia with our newest convenor, Elizabeth Tayelor-Menzies. The meeting is held on Mondays at the Work BC location on Monday’s at 12 PM PST. We welcome Elizabeth to our LifeRing family and appreciate her time as a volunteer. Here is a bio of Elizabeth.
""" Hi I am Elizabeth Tayelor. I am 63 and retired 8 years ago due to disabilities. I live in Sidney BC. with my Daughter her Husband, and two Granddaughters. I moved here from up Island after retiring from a Service Manager position at an Auto dealer in Edmonton. I was born and raised in the lower mainland of Vancouver. I had a very troubled upbringing including being bullied by family and friends, drinking at the age of 8 with parental supervision. My Mom was a narcissist alcoholic. Alcoholism was in our family. By 12 years old I became the parent in the house, including cooking meals and house cleaning. At 15 or 16 I was in the bars a few nights a week. Things got worse before they got better. I felt as if I never fit in anywhere. I moved to Edmonton shortly after high school graduation. Moved back to BC and attended BCIT for Automotive. Moved back to Alberta I don’t remember a lot of my life. I do remember that I was always alone. I had 6 kids as I never wanted to be alone. A lot of the time I was the only parent. Relationships didn’t work. I walked out of most of them due to alcoholism, or abuse. I raised my kids as best as possible. Almost three years ago I lost my oldest Son to drugs and alcohol. He was almost 41. This I will never get over. I started attending LifeRing meetings. The meetings helped me to understand addiction. I learn so much at each meeting. I felt compelled to help others, as I was helped so much. I stopped drinking almost 3 years ago now and I won’t look back, only forward. My life is so much better now. I have a wonderful Man in my life. I have a community of sober friends that really helps, and I took my life back. I have 11 Grandchildren that makes my life smile and fills my heart with happiness. I have many hobbies to keep my mind and body focused and busy. Stained glass art is one of my passions. Being outside in nature is another passion. I kayak, ride a motorcycle, as well as garden, even knitting, and crocheting. I made over 200 hats last year for seniors in Sidney. Life is so much better with LifeRing. """
We also have a new “closed” meeting in Kelowna at the Bridgeway Residential Treatment Facility. This meeting started at the end of August and goes on a rotational basis, one month it’s an all men’s meeting the next month it’s an all women’s meeting.
We have also started to promote our organization through a few Facebook groups; Stop Drinking by Choice, Sailing the Sober Seas, and Freedom Fighters. These groups continue to grow our exposure and participation.
Our new website continues to improve thanks to George Gidora. We’re all excited to see some significant improvements, including our new logo. The new site is much easier to navigate and we always look to improve content and information to share with our visitors and participants alike.
On November 18th via Zoom we held our Annual General Meeting. We went over the accomplishments of the past year and what we look forward to in 2024. In attendance was Jamie, Barb, Dave, Maureen from our current board of directors and our guests, Paul, DJ and Chris. During the meeting our board was disbanded and new board was chosen. Without the help and dedication of our board members LifeRing Canada would struggle to accomplish our goals.
The new board has not changed but we hope to include a couple of new members as their time becomes more available. We again welcome Jamie Itterman, Barb Ross, George Gidora, Dave McConnell, and Maureen Flynn-Anderson.
I would like to personally thank all of our convenors (not including our board members), we couldn’t do it without you; Paul Veronsky, Evelyn Williams, Sanjit Rao, Jason Taylor, Gord Mastervick, and Elizabeth Tayelor-Menzies.
We continue to grow our client base in communities and via Zoom. Continue to check our website for any updates in meetings. Another new addition is our fast-growing Facebook page “LifeRing By Choice”. It is a private group, which Jamie has been advertising many new features. If you want to join, send your email request to our email address – info@liferingcanada.org .
We continue to canvass for additional convenors, as more facilities are looking to start meetings. It’s only a few hours a month, and it feels great to give back. Reach out to any of us to find out more or send an email to info@liferingcanada.org.
As members of the LifeRing Community, what do you want to see, do you have suggestions that we should know about? As we grow LifeRing Canada it is important that our community participants know we are there and want to hear from you.
As a not-for-profit organization, donations are always appreciated. Our method of contributing to LifeRing Canada remains unchanged:
Mail a cheque to 23642 112A Ave. Maple Ridge, BC V2W 0C8
Donate on-line using www.Canadahelps.org
Donate through *Paypal
*With Paypal option you can choose from multiple ways you can donate, which include specific denominations and occurrences. Contributions are made easy when setting up a monthly donation in any amount. To set up your donation click directly to our main donation link - https://liferingcanada.org/donate All donations are eligible for tax receipt from our charitable number 8446 83516 RR0001.
On our website we show you what your donations provide to us and what special events that are important to you, i.e., in memory of a friend, tribute and memorial gift.
Again, we all thank you for helping us help you! We always look forward to your feedback through our main email address info@liferingcanada.org or any of direct email addresses below, including our new board members.
Email Contacts are:
Jamie@liferingcanada.org
Barbara@liferingcanada.org
George@liferingcanada.org
Dave@liferingcanada.org
Maureen@liferingcanada.org
Sincerely,
Barbara Ross
VP LifeRing Canada