{"id":30385,"date":"2018-10-05T03:59:37","date_gmt":"2018-10-05T10:59:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=30385"},"modified":"2018-10-03T11:07:44","modified_gmt":"2018-10-03T18:07:44","slug":"vintage-paddles-for-auction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2018\/10\/05\/vintage-paddles-for-auction\/","title":{"rendered":"Vintage paddles for auction"},"content":{"rendered":"

Members of the Tikun Olam Gogos show off some of the paddles being auctioned, until Oct. 10. (photo by Paula Simson)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Last fall, Sue Hyde, dragon boat master and member of Tikun Olam Gogos<\/em> (which loosely translates as Grandmothers Repairing the World), walked into a board meeting with a hand-painted paddle she had decorated herself. Her idea was to sell paddles like it to raise money for the Stephen Lewis Foundation\u2019s Grandmothers to Grandmothers Campaign, which supports grandmothers in Africa who are raising children orphaned by AIDS.<\/p>\n

Tikun Olam Gogos is a Jewish charitable organization, sponsored by the Sisterhood of Temple Sholom, and it is dedicated to fundraising for Grandmothers to Grandmothers. The board was in favour of Hyde\u2019s idea \u2013 and one of the board members bought the paddle on the spot. Paddles for African Grandmothers was born.<\/p>\n

Hyde had access to more than 30 vintage paddles and the Tikun Olam Gogos asked various artists to paint them. The resulting paddles are being auctioned off until Oct. 10 at tikunolamgogos.org\/on-line-auction.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe paddles were done by a selection of different artists, including one stand-up paddle done by a Syrian refugee,\u201d Tikun Olam Gogos member Sunny Rothschild told the Independent<\/em>. \u201cThe rest are meant to hang on the wall. The paddles are amazing, intricately carved as well as painted. Some are two-sided and some aren\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
Tikun Olam Gogos makes bags and other items to raise funds, which will be for sale at the group\u2019s Many Rivers to Cross event Oct. 13. (photo by Paula Simson)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The fundraiser will culminate with an evening concert on Saturday, Oct. 13, featuring the City Soul Choir and a meet-and-greet with the artists. Winning bidders can pick up their paddles then.<\/p>\n

Marie Henry, the founder of Tikun Olam Gogos, also spoke with the Independent<\/em>. The Tikun Olam Gogos are part of the Greater Vancouver Gogos, which includes more than 25 groups.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was visiting in-laws in Kelowna, and I went to a public market and saw a stall where women were selling beautiful tote bags. I found out they were supporting the Stephen Lewis Foundation,\u201d she explained. \u201cI came back and joined the group in Vancouver, but the only problem was I was the only Jew in the group and events kept conflicting with the Jewish calendar. \u2018This is crazy,\u2019 I thought, \u2018I\u2019m going to form my own group.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Henry did just that, in 2011. Today, the group, which is named after the Jewish concept of repairing the world (tikkun olam) and the Zulu word for grandmother (gogo) has Jewish and non-Jewish members. Henry said that only some of the members are actual grandmothers, with the rest being \u201cgrand others.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are a few hundred Grandmothers to Grandmothers groups across Canada, as well as organizations in the United Kingdom, Australia and the United States. Tikun Olam Gogos has sold more than 2,000 tote bags, with all profits going to the Stephen Lewis Foundation. That\u2019s some $200,000 in donations from tote bags, said Rothschild.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe admin costs are 11% of all the monies raised, one of the lowest rates of all charities in Canada,\u201d Henry added.<\/p>\n

While Henry takes care of notes and minutes and other administrative details for the group, she said, \u201cWe have a lot of really talented women in the group, like Sunny, who takes responsibility for part of the group and helps run it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rothschild joined Tikun Olam Gogos almost four years ago, when she was slowing down her career as a lawyer and had more time for volunteer work. She is active in sewing the group\u2019s signature tote bags, as well as taking turns selling them at local craft fairs, where the Gogos get a chance to tell people about their work and the Stephen Lewis Foundation. \u201cThat\u2019s the best part,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a Post-it up in my house \u2013 \u2018May my life be for a blessing,\u2019\u201d said Rothschild. \u201cThis is one of the things that I do because I want my life to be meaningful and to have mattered.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reason that I started this group when I found out what they are doing,\u201d said Henry, \u201cis to help these grandmothers raise up to 15 grandchildren. My grandchildren live a life of privilege and I feel so horribly guilty that these women in their senior years have to suffer so horribly badly. Doing this, I feel useful. In the final analysis, we are performing tikkun olam.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think that the governments in Sub-Saharan Africa understand the revolution that is going to take place because of these women becoming empowered,\u201d said Rothschild. \u201cThere are amazing stories of what women are doing, standing up for their rights. It\u2019s really quite amazing what\u2019s happening.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe support that we give them helps them to do that,\u201d added Henry. \u201cI see this as the same to the way that suffragettes in North America stood up for their rights, and here it\u2019s happening in a similar way nearly a hundred years later.\u201d<\/p>\n

For now, Henry and Rothschild are hoping the community will come out to support Paddles for African Grandmothers at the Many Rivers to Cross concert.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll be selling tote bags,\u201d said Rothschild. \u201cPeople can buy a glass of wine, there will be food too \u2013 it will be a lovely event.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tickets for the Oct. 13, 7 p.m., show at Temple Sholom can be purchased via tikunolamgogos.org\/events<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Matthew Gindin<\/strong> is a freelance journalist, writer and lecturer. He is Pacific correspondent for the <\/em>CJN, writes regularly for the <\/em>Forward, <\/em>Tricycle and the <\/em>Wisdom Daily, and has been published in <\/em>Sojourners, Religion Dispatches and elsewhere. He can be found on Medium and Twitter.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Members of the Tikun Olam Gogos show off some of the paddles being auctioned, until Oct. 10. (photo by Paula Simson) Last fall, Sue Hyde, dragon boat master and member of Tikun Olam Gogos (which loosely translates as Grandmothers Repairing the World), walked into a board meeting with a hand-painted paddle she had decorated herself. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":30386,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[5902,8390,8391,5900,8392,1325,1959,5901],"class_list":["post-30385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","tag-africa","tag-city-soul-choir","tag-marie-henry","tag-stephen-lewis","tag-sunny-rothschild","tag-temple-sholom","tag-tikkun-olam","tag-tikun-olam-gogos"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30385","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30385"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30385\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}