I apologize for not getting a letter off sooner but as many of you will know, our Women's Institute branch has taken on a quilt project for those in Goderich who have suffered great losses due to the tornado that hit our town in late August. To date we have 86 households on our recipient list and we plan to distribute sometime in January.
 
It was with great sadness that myself, Margaret Ogar and Joan Jackaman, as well as many, many WI friends visited with SOS secretary Joanne Erickson at the time of her husband's death. We continue to offer Joanne our support and sympathies as she faces her first Christmas, New Years, anniversaries, birthdays. Each one is monumental but we know Joanne to be strong and trust in her family and friends for the necessary support during these difficult times. Our thoughts continue to be with our friend, now and always.
 
For those who have not read the previous messages on our web site, I encourage you to do so. The graphics of the bookmark handout mentioned for the 'walk the world' event, in an earlier posting, has not yet come to be. The friend who is in that line of work who I had hoped would have a sampling by now, has also been very busy getting her latest local history book to press and it was released this past Saturday. With Christmas looming however I find it unlikely that we will see anything before mid-January. I will pass any and all design samples to the membership via email as soon as I receive them. We will have an electronic vote on the final product as time is very short from our annual meeting to the 'walk the world' event.
I encourage everyone to visit the web site and have a look at what Joan Jackaman has accomplished. And I thank Joan for her on-going work on the web site.
 
Along with the completion of getting a bank account for our organization (finally), for those who may not have paid their dues as yet, you can do so by cheque made payable to Southern Ontario Support. During these first few months and even years, it is vital to our societies survival to maintain your membership as we get our rather large wheels in motion.
One of those large wheels is our 'not for profit' status which Margaret and I have almost finished the paper-work for. These many pages of information will be sent by mid-January. Thank you Margaret for your work in this difficult area.
 
Margaret Ogar and Joan Jackaman have offered to check into a couple of possible venues in London for our 'walk the world' event. London seems to be pretty central and I trust many of our SOS members are planning to gather sponsorship and help spread the word of not only SOS, but of ACWW as well.  I have contacted the office in the UK asking if there is an 'e' version of the sponsorship forms so they could be emailed to our membership for easy distribution. If available, I will send it along as soon as I receive it.
 
For many of us this is a time for family and friends, food, laughter and layers of memories and promise of memories yet to be made. For some it is a particularly lonely time, and one not easily suffered through, when we might linger over memories of those no longer with us. Regardless of circumstance, I wish you all the best possible time surrounded by loving family and friends. I wish you all a solid foundation of memories from which you can draw upon on less festive and easily distracted days.  Merry Christmas everyone. Have a safe and happy holiday.
 
 
Debbie Bauer