June 2007 - Quebec English Literacy Alliance

Peter Gzowski Invitational, Quebec 2007
Keynote Speaker,
Mark Kelley.
Just some of the Gala night
Silent Auction items.
Cocktails at sunset
by Lac Brome.
ow - the 2007 Quebec PGI is now
W part of our history. Once again
QELA had the honour of hosting the Quebec
PGI. It was a wonderful event- from
the launching Gala Benefit dinner to the
last word from our poet laureate- L. Ian
McDonald. We do not have the final total
of the funds raised this year, but we know
that it was a success.
This year’s Gala dinner with our guest
speaker, Mark Kelley was a sell out. The
atmosphere was that of a charming garden
party. The cocktails were served on
the lawn and the
dinner in a room
with a million dollar
view - the sunset
was a show in
itself. Mark Kelley
spoke so eloquently
about his
adventures as a
CBC journalist.
What I shall always
remember
of Mark was how
down to earth
and approachable
he is. Mark
has seen what a
lack of literacy
skills can do and
fiercely supports adult literacy.
This year’s gala had a first - a silent auction.
Thank you to everybody who donated
items and a special thank you to
Sherbrooke Air, who donated three return
airline tickets to Toronto. Mrs. Evelyn
Blackwood, the winner of two
tickets, is already planning a
“a theatre trip” in the fall. This
event could never have happened
without the help of the
Gala committee so capably
chaired by Gerda Duncan of
Knowlton. The generosity of
the Knowlton residents shone
once again.
The actual golf day ended up
being the hottest day of May.
No complaints were heard
about the sunshine at all and all golfers
had a great time. Wendy Seys had her
volunteers in all the right places and the
day went off as smoothly as possible.
Even though we had to change the format
from a shot gun to a regular tee off schedule,
everybody was in such a good mood
that few complaints were heard
This year Keith Ward from Lachute was
the recipient of the Co-operators Learner
Achievement Award. Keith received a certificate,
a beautiful pen and $200.00. He
spoke very movingly about his trials as an
adult learner. Congratulations Keith!
Because of the generosity of our sponsors,
we had
enough articles to
have another silent
auction at the
golf tournament. I
would like to express
a very special
note of appreciation
to Hannah
Productions for
the huge donation
that they made.
Everybody that
won articles left
with smiles on
their faces. And
as is the tradition
our day ended
with a poem read
by our Poet laureate L. Ian MacDonald. A
special thanks to Tasha Kheiriddin who
wrote the poem that Mr. MacDonald read.
L to R: Ilze Epners, PGI-QC Committee Chair; Michel
Laflamme, Director-General of Air Sherbrooke and
Evelyn Blackwood, winner of two return tickets to
Toronto, compliments of Air Sherbrooke.
And so another PGI becomes history. Because
of the hard work of all the committees
- with Patti Moore and Cathy Nolan
chairing our silent auction items, Karen
Ingalls for all her creative PR materials,
Gary Briand working hard to get corporate
sponsors and Carolyn Marsh pulling all the
golf details together and doing all the behind
the scenes work of book keeping and
thank you letters – our event was again a
huge success. I wish the next chair and
organizational committee much success
and know that we can count on all the
QELA members to give a helping hand.
Thank you and happy golf.
- Ilze
Please see page 8 for this year’s poem!
QELA CONTACT, Vol. 3, Issue 1, Mid-June 2007 Page 6