Senior Women are one of the featured groups in this year's Vital Signs Report produced by the Edmonton Community Foundation and Edmonton Social Planning Council.  The report shares Edmonton data for senior women related to income, health and wellness, engagement, living arrangements, and demographics.

This webinar on year-end fundraising will share key fundraising techniques that will help you cut through the clutter and grow your year-end revenue. In this webinar you'll learn:

• Some of the best days and times to send emails to stand out in the overcrowded inboxes
• How to send highly relevant emails that will get opened and help raise more money in December
• How to create high converting, year-end donation pages to make the most of this high traffic season

Is your organization looking for ways to create meaningful cross-sector partnerships? One of the fastest-growing corporate citizenship programs is skills-based volunteering-in which corporate employees use their business skills to help a nonprofit solve a complex operational problem. The Knitting Factor brings together three key conditions that enable skills-based engagements between the private and nonprofit sectors to create strengthened, sustainable solutions that don't come undone when partners part ways. This webinar explores:

• What is meant by "The Knitting Factor" and the framework for applying this concept to your organization
• Real world examples of how skills-based volunteering develops long-lasting partnerships
• Tactics to move cross-sector partnerships from transactional to transformational
• Best practices for using skills-based volunteering as a talent development tool

When placing a value on volunteering, it has become common place to use a wage replacement formula to come up with a dollar value for the volunteer time. Others have tried to calculate the fair market value for the service provided. While talking about the thousands, millions, or billions of dollars worth of time or service given captures people's' attention, it still falls short of capturing the full story. 

This webinar will provide an overview of the models and tools available to measure impact, provide highlights from the Conference Board of Canada's recent discussion paper, The Value of Volunteering, and introduce participants to the Value of Volunteering Wheel.

To address complex challenges, organizations must be innovative in their approach. Successful innovators continue to grow and adapt their programs and services to support vibrant communities.

This webinar is an introduction to the world of social innovation. Join Volunteer Alberta to learn about the social innovation journey, and what tools exist to help tackle some of our most challenging and complex issues. Register by October 15.

Wouldn't it be great if there was an easy-to-follow strategy that helped organizations engage event guests and turn them into donors? This webinar will show you how to make guests feel the love at your event and turn that into long-term supporters. You'll learn:

• How to apply donor-centric messaging to your event
• How face-to-face beats smart phones every time
• How to use post-event engagement to keep the love flowing

Men's Sheds are welcoming, respectful, and inclusive spaces that provide opportunities for men of all ages and abilities not only to build projects, but also to build community.  Sheds could be places to work on hobbies, share stories, drink coffee, cook, or build/fix something while simultaneously forming positive relationships and increasing neighbourly connections.

The Men's Shed concept began in Australia, and is a grassroots, bottom-up movement driven by the members it serves. Men share their skills and learn new skills from other Shedders by participating in a variety of activities of their own choosing (e.g., woodworking, painting, cooking activities, etc.). It is an opportunity for men to be both teachers and learners while sharing stories, venting, or simply having a coffee and working away at projects.

There are four Men's Sheds in Edmonton open to men of all ages and abilities:

• The Downtown Men's Shed meets Thursdays at The Churchill (10015 103 Ave) from 7-9 p.m. as well as Fridays at Sage Seniors Association (15 Sir Winston Churchill Square) from 2-4 p.m.
• The Beacon Heights Men's Shed meets Wednesdays at Jubilee Park (12037 43 Street) from 7-9 p.m.
• The Pehonan Elders Men's Shed meets the third Monday of the month at Bent Arrow Traditional Healing Society's Parent Link Centre (11666 95 St) from 6-8 p.m.
• A brand-new Shed launched September 2018 and it is currently not named. The new Shed meets Mondays at SEESA (9350 82 St) from 1-4 p.m.

New members are encouraged to drop in and participate, or to help host additional Sheds throughout Edmonton. For more information on the Men's Sheds Initiative, call 780-809-9404.

Waste Services is considering changes to the way Edmontonians sort and manage their waste and they need your input. 

Everyone plays an important role in managing our waste, caring for our city and protecting our environment. Thanks to your participation, Edmonton actively recycles, reuses, composts and safely disposes of household chemicals at Eco Stations. As a city we still have a ways to go to reach our goal of keeping as much waste as possible out of landfills. 

Have your say and help the City of Edmonton shape a new long-term waste strategy for Edmonton. Residents, apartment and condominium stakeholders, and businesses and institutions are all encouraged to participate.

Join this drop-in knitting/crocheting group that makes blankets for the homeless or any one in need. Call 780-342-8625 for more information.

Mindfulness is all about cultivating deep self-awareness and a state of well-being. Beginning a regular practice of mindfulness and meditation has been shown to improve health, emotional regulation, focus and performance in all areas of life. Join these powerful sessions where you will learn the fundamentals and explore various tools and techniques to help balance your mind and emotion and awaken to the joy and vitality of the present moment. Call 780-483-1209 for more information.

Because many Edmonton seniors give back to the community by serving on boards, we thought this webinar might be of interest. During this webinar, you will get the tools and step-by-step instructions to become an awesome and impactful nonprofit board member.

Get your Christmas shopping done early at this craft fair. MWSA will also have a pancake breakfast, bake sale and book sale. Everyone is welcome. Call 780-496-2997 for more information.

Join CLSA for a musical afternoon as their in-house bands entertain with a wide assortment of musical genres from classical to campfire. This event, initiated by the Edmonton Schoolboys Alumni Band, will also feature talented seniors from Swingtime, Edmonton Firefighters Alumni, the Lions Seniors Big Band and others. Register in person or call 311 (barcode # 640561).

In celebration of Fung Loy Kok Taoist Tai Chi® International Seniors' Day, an Edmonton group is hosting an introductory class from 10 a.m. - 12 p.m. followed by High Tea. RSVP to [email protected] by October 30. For more information review the poster or call 780-489-4293.

Share your experience - Become A Mentor

The Boys & Girls Clubs Big Brothers Big Sisters of Edmonton & Area is offering a rewarding group activity. If your seniors residence, seniors centre or other facility has a minimum of 10 Mentors interested in participating in intergenerational mentoring, they will bring children from a local school to your location.

• Who are the Mentees: Elementary school aged children who could benefit from the support of a mentor
• Who are the Mentors: Anyone who would like to spend time with a young person to help them achieve success through fun and friendship
• Commitment: One hour per week or bi-weekly for the duration of a school year
• Application process: interview (30 mins on average); references (2); security checks and training

If you believe your residence, centre, or facility would be interested, contact Talia at 780-822-2503 or [email protected].

Study Title: The Effects of Intensive Expiratory Muscle Strength Training (EMST) on Respiratory and Speech Function in Healthy Younger and Older Adults

Purpose: Studying how two weeks of respiratory muscle training can improve how your breathing muscles work and how this exercise impacts breathing and speaking abilities

Looking for

• Healthy adults ages 18 to 35 years and 60 to 80 years
• Native speakers of English
• Hearing (unaided or aided) and cognition within normal limits

How much time?

• 2 lab visits (1½-2 hours)
• 20 at-home training sessions over two weeks (30 minutes each)

Location
Speech Research Laboratory (Dr. Boliek's lab, Corbett Hall 3-61)

What will participants do?
Breathe forcefully into a small hand-held tube to exercise your breathing muscles

If you're interested in participating, contact Alesha Reed at 780-492-7256 or [email protected].