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Weekly News Recap: May 7, 2021

Vincent Duckworth

Weekly News Recap: May 7, 2021

(Photo credit: simonejoyaux.com)

Sir Denys Lasdun, English architect said, “The architect’s job is to give a client not what he wants but what he never dreamed that he wanted; and when he gets it, he recognizes it as something he wanted all the time.” Just substitute “fundraising” for “architect.” -- Simone Joyaux

SEASON 3 OF FUNDRAISING ASK ANYTHING

We are midway through our third season of our popular Fundraising Ask Anything Zoom Chats. Our next session will take place on May 21: What happens when your new normal is 65% of what it used to be? Or how about when something that was not possible pre-pandemic is now suddenly very much available? During times of calamity, there is also opportunity. Partnerships, mergers, and all manner of inventive and creative associations are being discussed and announced. Join us as we host a panel of experts who have or will be doing both. Mergers, co-habitation, and natural bedfellows: Fierce collaboration in the time of COVID.

Register here

SOME GOOD NEWS

  • 'Crazy odds': Minneapolis mom gives birth to three kids, each two years apart, all on the same day (Star Tribune) #CrazyCool "April 6 is a special day for Britt and Chris Bernard for three reasons: Gideon, Eleanora and Conrad. The northeast Minneapolis couple recently had a birthday picnic for 4-year-old Gideon and 2-year-old Eleanora, both of whom were born on April 6. Then, Britt went into labor. Later that day, she gave birth to Conrad, making for a triple birthday in the Bernard family — 'the trifecta,' as Britt describes it."

  • Alberta man takes impromptu hair, make up lesson at local college to help aging wife (Winnipeg City News) ALBERTA STORY I love this story. I love this man. "Having your hair and make-up done can give a good confidence boost and an Alberta senior, who has gone viral, is brushing up on cosmetology to help his wife who can’t do it for herself anymore. The man, who did not want to be identified, is not your average beauty school student. Delmar College of Hair and Esthetics in Red Deer says he arrived unannounced Thursday and asked if there were any upcoming lessons he could join. The school director, Carrie Hannah, asked him if he was free for a class right then and there."

  • Number of Americans fully vaccinated tops 100 million (AP News) #CongratsAmerica "Disneyland reopened on Friday and cruise lines welcomed the news that they could be sailing again in the U.S. by midsummer, as the number of Americans fully vaccinated against COVID-19 reached another milestone: 100 million."

  • Steelers Draft Pick Najee Harris Hosts Draft Party at Homeless Shelter Where He Used to Live (Sports Illustrated) #Humbling. "A few hours before the start of the 2021 NFL draft, former Alabama star Najee Harris visited a homeless shelter, Greater Richmond Interfaith Program (GRIP), as they hosted a draft watch party in his honor. It was a homecoming of sorts for the Steelers' No. 24 pick, as Harris, his four siblings and his parents lived in that shelter for several years growing up."

  • Drag performance brightens ailing grandmother's day before going viral (CBC) OTTAWA STORY #GrabATissue This is beautiful. "When Eric discovered his grandmother didn't have much longer to live, he wanted to share a part of himself that would bring her joy. So the 28-year-old drag performer from Ottawa, known as Sunshine Glitterchild on stage, brought his show to the facility where she had entered palliative care."

TOP TEN STORIES OF THE WEEK

  1. Simone Joyaux Is Dead (Agitator) To me, she was a friend, a leader, and a fierce advocate for the profession and for fundraisers. We will not see her like again. RIP Sim One. "The 44-year veteran of board development, strategic planning and organizational management, died Sunday, May 2nd in Providence, Rhode Island of a massive stroke. She is survived by her life partner Tom Ahern."

  2. Amazing opportunity today only! Oilers 50/50 in support of Central Alberta Child Advocacy Centre (Todayville) RED DEER STORY So awesome! ViTreo is proud to be working with the Central Alberta Child Advocacy Centre "Thank you to the Edmonton Oilers and Edmonton Oilers Community Foundation organizations for involving us in this incredible opportunity to share our story. This platform will help create more awareness across the country regarding the issue of child abuse and the need for Child Advocacy Centres."

  3. WATCH: Burman University in Lacombe breaks ground on new library (Red Deer Advocate) LACOMBE STORY Congrats to all! ViTreo is proud to have played a role in making this happen for Burman and its students. "Burman University has officially broken ground on its new 18,000-plus square-foot library. The university, located in Lacombe, livestreamed its groundbreaking ceremony [this past weekend]."

  4. Volunteers deliver food to Muslims stuck in isolation while marking Ramadan (Calgary Herald) CALGARY STORY Nice work CFN! ViTreo is proud to be working with Caglary's Centre for Newcomers. "Several Calgary community groups are providing food hampers to aid Muslims in need during the holy month of Ramadan. In the past year, the Calgary East Zone Newcomers Collaborative has delivered 5,185 food hampers to nearly 26,000 people, helping those in need due to the COVID-19 pandemic."

  5. Edmonton-born Greg Abel picked as Warren Buffett's successor as Berkshire Hathaway CEO (CBC) CANADIAN CONTENT #GoEdmonton! "The Oracle of Omaha has named his successor, and the man he's singled out to be his heir apparent was born and raised in Edmonton. Berkshire Hathaway vice-chairman Greg Abel will be the next CEO of the conglomerate after founder Warren Buffett is no longer in the job, the company revealed over the weekend."

  6. Repurposing of Calgary’s heritage buildings aims to strike balance between preservation and development (CREB Now) CALGARY STORY We love this balance. ViTreo is proud to be working with cSPACE "When the shuttered King Edward School was transformed into cSPACE King Edward, an incubator for artists, non-profits and entrepreneurs, it proved an ambitious example of the economic, environmental and social benefits of preserving, rather than demolishing, Calgary’s historic buildings. 'It not only created a great workplace that feeds creativity, but it’s an environmental story,' said Deeter Schurig, president of cSPACE Projects and one of the leaders of the transformation of the abandoned South Calgary school – built in 1912 with former Alberta Premier William Aberhart as its first principal and closed almost a century later in 2011."

  7. The story behind the blistering speed of COVID vaccine development (CBC) Science is amazing! "Past pandemics can bring our experiences with COVID-19 into focus, whether by reassuring us that we're far from the first people to face a serious outbreak or by showing us how similarly our ancestors reacted to the threat of illness. It's also impossible to understand the efficiency of our medical response to COVID, especially the speed of vaccine development, without looking to the past. Before COVID, the fastest a vaccine had ever been developed was four years. Researcher Maurice Hilleman swabbed his sick daughter's throat in 1963 and had a mumps vaccine in hand by 1967. By comparison, a recently approved vaccine for Ebola took over 20 years to refine."

  8. Why generation Xers threw aside our apathy and embraced vaccines (CBC) CANADIAN CONTENT As either the last Boomer or the first X-er, I can relate."The lowering of the vaccination eligibility age was mostly prompted by vaccine-shopping boomers refusing good vaccines. I don't want to make sweeping generalizations here, because plenty of Boomers did their duty admirably, but wacky Aunt Janet posted a thing on Facebook about AstraZeneca and blood clots, and some people started screaming like babies with boom-boom in their diapers. I grew up smoking cigarettes at the mall as an unsupervised gen X child, so I'm not worried about risks associated with a vaccine."

  9. No way universities will return to jam-packed lecture halls, Canadian researcher says (CTV) CANADIAN CONTENT I concur. "A University of Calgary professor says universities need to modernize themselves and adapt to the advent of remote learning, which isn't going away anytime soon. [...] While the pandemic has forced classes to be held online, [he] thinks online learning in some form is here to stay, and that universities will 'lose their geographic boundaries."

  10. Bill and Melinda Gates Are Divorcing After 27 Years of Marriage (New York Times) #What? "Bill and Melinda Gates, two of the richest people in the world, who reshaped philanthropy and public health with the fortune Mr. Gates made as a co-founder of Microsoft, [have] said that they were divorcing. For decades, Mr. and Ms. Gates have been powerful forces on the world stage, their vast charitable contributions affording them access to the highest levels of government, business and the nonprofit sector."

SEVEN LIFE AND CAREER HACKS

  1. 11 Phrases to Be More Persuasive Without Being Overly Pushy (Personal Growth) Great stuff here. "...41 percent of the average person’s workday consists of influencing, persuading, and convincing the people around us."

  2. 5 Phone Calls You Should Make Every Week to Get Ahead in Your Career (Forge) Brilliant! I make some but not all of these calls. You should too!

  3. Sleep Almost Immediately with Methods from the Military and Hypnotherapy (Happy Brain Club) I don't often have this problem but...when I do, this advice beat counting sheep. #NotBaad

  4. The 4 Word Question That Can Improve Your Life (Personal Growth) "What will they say?" This is a great question. What do you want them to say?

  5. Is your name spiky or round? Scientific study shows people judge you based on the sound of your name (Boing Boing) As someone with a spiky name, this was fun to read.

  6. Follow Elon Musk’s Advice and Skip the MBA. Read These 10 Books Instead (Entry Level Rebel) Elon is likely more right than wrong here. Cohort network aside of course ;-)

  7. 10 things to quit immediately… (Sohail Zindani) #7 and #8 are about clarity. I have always hated #6 and #2 is the bomb.

  8. The ‘Pyramid of Hate’ that Brought Down Basecamp (Marker) Very interesting insights into corporate culture. Not just Basecamp's...this could apply to us all.

TOP THREE GIFTS OF THE WEEK

  1. A $2.25 million donation to support nurses at the MUHC (Intrado) MONTREAL STORY You are amazing Herta! Thank you and RIP. "The estate of Herta Vodstrcil has left a $5 million donation to the MUHC Foundation in support of various departments at the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC), including $2.25 million to support the enhancement and training of nurses."

  2. CWRC commits $2 million to the University of Alberta in wheat breeding activities (Manitoba Crop Alliance) EDMONTON STORY #MoreWheatBetterWheat "The Canadian Wheat Research Coalition (CWRC) – a collaboration between the Alberta Wheat Commission, Saskatchewan Wheat Development Commission and Manitoba Crop Alliance – has committed $2 million over five years towards a core breeding agreement with the University of Alberta (U of A). The investment will fund research activities through the U of A’s wheat breeding program with a specific focus on developing new Canadian Western Red Spring (CWRS) and Canadian Prairie Spring Red (CPSR) wheat varieties."

  3. Samsung heirs sign on donation for SNU Hospital (Korea Herald) "Samsung Electronics and Seoul National University Hospital agreed [...] to launch an official team to coordinate a 300 billion won ($267 million) donation from the bereaved family of the late Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee for children with cancer and rare diseases."

LAST WEEK'S MOST POPULAR STORIES

Welcome to our recap of the week's news, articles, and information of note. ViTreo Group Inc. provides this information for the benefit of our clients, associates, staff, partners, and stakeholders. The content is collected and curated by ViTreo President and CEO Vincent Duckworth. If you would like to submit a link for consideration, please send an email to info@vitreogroup.ca

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