Bow Valley Giving Tuesday. December 3, 2024

OOPS! This is a blog that didn’t get posted in 2024.

But, as Community Lead for Bow Valley Giving Tuesday, I am happy to report that we hosted two great events — one in Banff and one in Canmore — and over 100 people gathered for inspiration and a local celebration of the power of community kindness. This message invites you to connect with me if you are interested in participating in Giving Tuesday 2025.

Save the Date: December 2, 2025

Gratitude grows when a gift received is recognized and acknowledged as a gift. Sounds simple, doesn’t it? But sometimes we don’t recognize a kind word or a smile or a sunny sky as the gift that it is. It’s time to stop and think about the 5 G’s of the season:

Giving. Gifting. Growing. Gratitude. Grace.

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life.
It turns what we have into enough, and more.
It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity.
It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend.
It turns problems into gifts, failures into successes, the unexpected into perfect timing, and mistakes into important events.
It can turn an existence into a real life, and disconnected situations into important and beneficial lessons.
Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.

• Melody Beattie •

Research confirms that Gratitude is a pro-social tool that emboldens a person’s commitment to act. This is also a personal truth of mine: Knowing my reasons to be grateful motivates me. Gratitude is my kind of activism!

With gratitude for the privileges in my life, I am investing precious time and energy in the things that matter to me — family, friends and community relationships.

Generosity as a form of community activism? You betcha!

Grassroots Gratitude has made a community commitments to be the local lead of Bow Valley Giving Tuesday (BVGT) movement. 2024 was year three of my five-year personal commitment and you’re invited to join us on December 2, 2025 for Year 4.

By encouraging people to convene and shine under a banner of kindness and warmth, I am promoting a culture of love, abundance, gratitude, inclusion, and ideals related to “Yes. You matter”.

Thanks to our BVGT local committee of ten talented volunteers, Grassroots Gratitude is the community lead for this initiative and you can find program details on my website. 

• The theme for Canada’s Giving Tuesday movement 2024: Generosity unites communities.
• Bow Valley Giving Tuesday Tagline… no act of generosity s too small. 
• Giving Tuesday is the World’s largest Generosity movement
• Giving Tuesday is an annual celebration that takes place on the first Tuesday after American Thanksgiving, after Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

For those of us who had the privilege of being nurtured by caring mothers, you will understand my inspiration. It is my mother’s voice ringing in my head…

To whom much is given, much is expected

Looking at the world through the lens of experience and abundance, I know how lucky I am. Thank you, Mom.

Giving Tuesday 2024 is now in the rear view mirror.

Thank you notes and personal pledges have landed in post-office boxes. Over 60 pieces of mail had to wait for the postal strike to end and letters to be delivered.

As  the Bow Valley’s Community Lead, it makes total sense to me that every community in Canada would want to gather around the themes of giving, giving back, paying forward, saying thank you and celebrating generosity, of every shape and size.

The Giving Tuesday theme “Generosity unites communities” resonates deeply for me as our communities of Banff – Canmore – Exshaw — Mînî Thnî – Jasper – Calgary and surrounds keep reaching out, stepping up, continuing to support each other — with empathy, kindness and caring.

Do you have an idea you would like to share?  As founder of Grassroots Gratitude, I am proud to act as the local community lead for Giving Tuesday, the world’s largest generosity movement and am eager to hear what you think.

THANKS TO All Volunteer Committee members: Steve Ashton, Marlo Reid, Katie Fedoration and (pictured in photo, Left to Right): Angela Helie, Cheryl Ello, Jayme Doll, Lorraine Widmer-Carson, Shawayne Dunstan, Alicia Charlton.

THANKS TO all of the speakers and donors who supported the event — it takes a village

• Banff Mayor Corrie DiManno
• Canmore Mayor Sean Krausert
• Ebony Rempel, YWCA CEO and Banff Host, 
• Evia Helie, Founding member of Banff Elementary School Kindness Club
• Marlo Reid
• Steve Ashton
• Cathy Geisler and the Pauw Foundation
• Downtown Sally
• Adam Robb, HOWL Adventure
• The Iron Goat
• Brett Ireland, Bearhill Dining
• Laurie Edward, Banff Canmore Community Foundation
• Shawayne Dunstan, Banff Poet
• St. Michael’s Church, Canmore
• Banff YWCA
• WildFlour Bakery
• AfterGlow Lifestyle
• Banff Gift Baskets
• The Cooperators
• Ashton Construction Services
• Roam Transit

Finally — If you have an interest in learning more about Giving Tuesday and my initiatives in the area of thoughtful, grateful leadership, please do get in touch! Thanks to all who shared their time, talents and treasures, ensuring that the spirit of kindness and generosity lives on, in this precious corner of the planet.

And don’t forget to mark your calendar December 2, 2025! Because, when it comes right down to it, and in the words of one of our youngest attendees, generosity and giving are expressions of Love. Who are you generously loving today?