Our Atlanta Delegates hit the NEWS!

After such an amazing trip to Atlanta for the Internation Federation's General Assembly, Holly and Tracey found themselves headlining a newspaper article for The Highland News Group.

The article written by Alex Johnston read:

TRACEY AND HOLLY SHOW CITY'S CARING SIDE - IN ATLANTA

PAIR HEAD TO US ON MISSION TO HELP ADULTS WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES

Atlanta, Georgia was the backdrop for an adventure like no other for a pioneering pair from Inverness. Deputy Community Leader at L'Arche Inverness, Holly Hiles, travelled to the city with core member Tracey O'Mara to participate in the charity's General Assembly, an event which is held every four years.

L'Arche supports adults with learning disabilities in communities across the world, and has been in Inverness since 1975.

At the meeting, non-verbal communicator Tracey (49), who has learning disabilities and Holly (25) took part in discussions about the Discrimination Act and Civil Rights Movement, as well as agreeing the direction of the L'Arche Mandate and helping welcome a new community to the organisation.

Chosen because of Atlanta's significance as the birthplace of Martin Luther King's Civil Rights Movement, Holly and Tracey spent 10 days there staying with host families before they travelled to Holly's native Canada for a further 10 days, where they stayed with her family.

Speaking after the visit, Holly said: "We were there to represent both Inverness and people who are non-verbal. There were more than 500 people at the assembly, from all over the world, including communities in India, countries in Africa and across North America. It was a huge conference, and we worked hard for the 10 days we were there.

"We were able to help found a new community in Atlanta, as well as bote for two new international co-ordinators and the new mandate, which was agreed on for several years.

"One of the things that was really special was all 500 people were broken up into groups and went out into the city to work in a community. We went to working in a working class nursery for parents who have to go back to work just weeks after their babies are born because they are so poor."

Holly, who moved to Inverness six years ago, also said: " We raised more than £2000 for the Atlanta part of the trip through events such as a fundraising party, a raffle and a tombola. One L'Arche community in France even donated a large sum of money for us. Tracey organised a sponsored walk through the Crown area, which a lot of people were involved with.

"Tracey really enjoyed her time in Atlanta. It was her first time travelling so far and for such a long time. The experience was great because she was able to be herself and communicate to people, becuase they were L'Arche people. We were free to walk away and not worry that she couldn't speak, because others would know how to and she loved meeting new people everyday."

L'Arche Inverness assistant co-ordinator, Heather Bergink (28) said: " It was a massive adventure for Holly and Tracey, and we were all so proud of them both. We have heard they made a big impact on those who were in Atlanta, people have said they were such stars. It was great for Inverness to be able to have a voice at the assembly, and we were one of the only UK centres to have a representative with a learning disability. I can't wait to see all their photos!"

Donations cna still be made for Holly and Tracey's efforts at www.justgiving.com/ atlantapilgrimage

What a great story and press for us in Inverness!

Bon Voyage Tracey and Holly...

Tracey and Holly were busy all week packing their belongings ready to travel to the General Assembly in Atlanta. They will be staying with Bill and his family when they arrive in Atlanta for the weekend before the meetings start.

The community has put together many fantastic gifts and Meagan White has very skillfully put all the videos from our Commitment and Belonging process to make a very beautiful and somewhat emotional presentation.

Most importantly, Tracey has gone armed with lots of mini Irn Bru bottles, shortbread, L'Arche candles and other items which represent Scotland and our community.

Now that the girls have taken off from Glasgow to arrive in Atlanta tonight we can proudly announced that we have managed to raise 70% of our £3000 goal with a fantastic total of £2,100! Thank you to everyone who put some input and gave very generous donations - it has been very much appreciated. The donating page: http://www.justgiving.com/atlantapilgrimage is still up and running for any last minute donations :)

Now that the meeting will be beginning soon you can keep up-to-date with all the documentation and decisions by logging onto: http://inter.larche.org and use the username: federation along with the password: raphael.

Good  Luck to all involved!

Sun shining for Atlanta Pilgrimage...

After a week of dark rainy days the sun came out just in time for the pilgrimage that Holly and Tracey organised around Inverness. Everyone seemed to enjoy the event which had a good turn out particularly because of the weather!

A big thank you to all those who took part - the total collected was a good £40 and still counting...

 

Up-date on Atlanta Fundraising...

At the end of April Amy organised a fundraising event to coincide with the 5th Anniversary of The Workshops. The event raised £257 in two hours which Amy hugely appreciated.

During the event there was many games organised such a hook the L'Arche boat, Tombola, Stalls, Guess Holly and Tracey's seat on the plane, blow football, pin the tails style games but with Tracey in the plane and Holly to find her suitcase but the biggest seller of all was paying a small fee to throw a wet sponge in the face of a workshop/ office assistant - for obvious reasons I guess! :)

Thomas used his artistic skills to create even more beautiful faces around The Workshops. Most people were reluctant to have their faces painted but from the look of Amy and Thomas I think you can see the reason why ... very scary!

To end the afternoon a huge cake was brought out to enjoy by all and Simon did his quiz which we have wrote about before but what better way to end a day of fundraising but by  - Everyone getting their wages!!

The grand total so far is £1895.00 which is now 61% of our £3000 goal. A big thank you to all community members, Angie, David, Fiona, Patricia and L'Arche Agen for your generous donations.

If anyone would like to make a donation to help towards reaching our goal please log onto: http://www.justgiving.com/atlantapilgrimage or get in touch on 01463 239615.

A HUGE THANK YOU TO ALL!

Pilgrimage for Atlanta...

Tracey and Holly are organising a pilgrimage on Sunday 20th May from Saorsa to MacTalla and then finally to Brae where there will be a lunch prepared for all involved in the walk. We hope that many of the assistants from the houses and workshops will participate as well as core members.

The walk is quite long so it is okay for people who want to take part in the walk to join the group either from town (if they are at church in the morning) or from their house when the pilgrimage arrives there. This walk is sponsored so all those who wish to participate must let Amy know by Friday 11^th May and they will be provided with a sponsor sheet.

It is realised that some people are not comfortable asking people for sponsors which is okay, however, if you want to take part we would suggest that you would then make a donation personally – no matter how small as every little helps.

The pilgrimage will take place at 11am, starting at Saorsa and finishing at Braerannoch. Everyone participating would be asked to make their own way to Saorsa. Below is a map of the route.

Thank you to all the community for their continuing support of the Atlanta fundraising effort.

Our Atlanta Delegates...

As some of you may know the L'Arche Inverness delegates for the International General Assembly in Atlanta have now been confirmed as Holly Hiles and Tracey O'Mara.

The L'Arche International General Assembly runs only every four years and is going to be held on June 1st - 10th in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. This is an important meeting for all L'Arche communities throughout the world as it gives all the delegates an opportunity to:

• Experience many different languages, religion/ cultures

and encounter celebrations of work and discovery.

This meeting is a very important part of our community's commitment & belonging to L'Arche International. For those who may not know where Atlanta is; there is a map below with Atlanta marked with a red star! 

As you can see Holly and Tracey will be travelling many, many miles away...

This meeting will mark an important time of transition for the International Federation as it will be a reviewing the years past and the management, adopt a new mandate, appoint new leadership and board members as well as establishing it's new constitution.

Throughout the 10 days there will be time for the delegates to meet each other and also interact with people and places in Atlanta - the birthplace of Martin Luther King Jr - the youngest man to ever receive the Nobel Peace Prize!



So... Last week our community held a gathering in Braerannoch to begin gathering the information for our delegates (Holly and Tracey) to present at the meeting. Holly prepared a very interesting and accessible slideshow presentation for all of us to ponder over which led to the following questions:

1. What makes you happy in L'Arche?
2. What is the gift of L'Arche around the world?
3. Please draw or paint what is good in L'Arche?

We as a community hope now to gather enough feedback to begin the preparations for the meeting. We are also going to begin fundraising for part of this trip, so if anyone would like to help or donate money - please contact Amy/ Holly our main office on 01463 239615.