Power Walk for Dress for Success - Event Info

Haven't Registered yet? There is still time! You can register online or come by Saturday morning at Oakridge.

 

Location

·         The event begins and finishes at Oakridge Center (located at Cambie St and 41st Avenue, Vancouver).

·         When you arrive at Oakridge center, please head to the West Galleria, near the Apple Store and the Bay. 

·         The map of the route is available for download on the DFS Vancouver website here.

Transportation

·         If you are arriving by car, please park outside Kin’s Fruit Market on the west side of Oakridge Centre.  We will have volunteers to guide you from there.

·         If you are arriving by Skytrain get off at 41^st-Oakridge Station on the Canada Line and enter through the main doors nearest to the station.  Our volunteers will guide you from there.

Schedule

8.00am             Registration Opens

8.15                 Complimentary yoga class taught by Chantal O’Sullivan starts. Mats provided by lululemon Oakridge

9.00                 Event Starts

9.30                 Walkers Depart

A few extra reminders

•  The event is rain or shine so check the weather in the morning and dress accordingly
• Please bring your own reusable water bottle so that you can stay hydrated.
• Dogs are welcome to join, provided they are well-behaved and owners pick up after them.
• We want to thank you for your time and support, so we have tons of cool raffle prizes and treats, like hand massages after the walk so plan to stick around for a bit

Get Social

We encourage you to share your involvement with the 2012 Power Walk!  Like us on Facebook.  Follow us on Twitter (@DFSVancouver) and use the hashtag #2012PowerWalk.  You can also join the event on LinkedIn to connect with your fellow Power Walkers!

Keep spreading the word and feel free to bring friends; they’ll be able to register on site.  We can’t wait to see you all on Saturday!

If you have any questions, please email us at powerwalk@dfsvancouver.org or call 604-408-7923.

A chat with Chantal O'Sullivan

We’re excited to be starting the Power Walk for Dress for Success 2012 with a yoga class taught by yoga guru Chantal O’Sullivan, owner of Shanti Yoga in Tsawwassen and Oakridge lululemon athletica Ambassador. 

We asked her a few questions to try to pick her brain about everything from yoga to yummy eats.  Here’s what we learned:

Dress for Success:  Why do you love yoga?  

Chantal:  I love how it makes me feel. Every single time I practice, I discover something new about myself, my body and my mind. I think we're all naturally happy as people, but sometimes life can bog us down. Yoga helps us to peel away the layers, and shine. This is why l love teaching and feel so grateful to get to share yoga daily.

DFS:  Do you have any tips for new students, or people who haven't tried yoga?

C:  Go slowly and ask questions. Don't suffer or try to work through pain. Yoga is for everyone, it's not just for the bendy, pretzel people. Find a studio near you, then pop in and start asking questions. You won't regret it. 

DFS:  Do you have any recommended yoga resources to share? 

C:  There are so many different ways to engage with yoga that most people don’t know about!

If you already practice yoga and have a good grasp of alignment, it's great to look at some online yoga options. For instance, I teach classes for www.yogo.tv, where people can subscribe monthly and practice at home.

Secondly, my yoga studio, Shanti Yoga, offers retreats for all levels on Galiano Island and in Tofino. These are great ways to deepen your practice and have fun. If you go to www.shantiyogabc.com, details for November getaways can be found in the “retreats” section.

Also, many studios in and around Vancouver bring in master teachers from around the world and share workshops — Semperviva in Vancouver does a great job with this.

As far as books, there are so many great ones out there!  Good ones to start with are Meditations from the Mat by teacher Rolf Gates, as well as The Eight Human Talents by Gurmukh.  

Trude - Power Walk Ambassador and Inspirational Woman!

It all started with Trude a more mature woman joining our Professional Women's Group (PWG), a career development program for Dress for Success clients who have found jobs. 

Trude looked depressed and without hope. She told us that she had breast cancer and her healing journey took all her savings. A Dress for Success suit gave her the confidence to work part-time and the PWG meetings provided her with a new outlook on life. 

With the help of her PWG mentor, she successfully moved up four pay grades. Turning 65 years “young”, she decided to take on the leading role in the PWG CAP, a project that provides PWG members the opportunity to volunteer and give back to the community. With her passion for promoting wellness, she has recruited PWG members to either become coaches to help people exercise or to become participants that are coached to exercise regularly. 

Trude was also recently featured as Fred Lee's Person of Interest: Read her story here

At the moment, Trude is encouraging everybody to join the Power Walk.

Fundraising Tips for Power Walkers

We are now three weeks away from the Power Walk for Dress for Success 2012!  We know that you’re all excited to raise money for a worthy cause and we’d like to share a few tips on how to maximise your fundraising.

1. Start now.  The more time you give yourself to fundraise, the more you’ll be able to collect.  Give donors time to consider the positive impact that they can make in the lives of disadvantaged women, and they’ll surely donate generously.

2. Set a fundraising goal for yourself and write it down.  By having your target on paper, you’ll hold yourself accountable to raising your set amount.  Make a timeline on how much you would like to raise by what dates so that reaching your goal is manageable.

3. Make a list of potential donors.  Reach out to friends, family, neighbors, co-workers, and anyone else who you think could help out.  If you participated last year, previous donors are a great place to start because you already know that they’re invested in the cause.  Remember, the number one reason that people don’t donate is that they haven’t been asked!

We believe that each one of you can meet and even exceed your personal and team fundraising goals.  Through your efforts, we can help Dress for Success empower women and make a positive impact in their lives!

Tips for Power Walkers

 With the Power Walk quickly approaching, you may be starting to think of the best ways to find success on the day of the walk.  Here are a few tips from our spokesperson, Elisabeth Walker-Young.

1. Start training now.  Begin slowly and gradually work up to longer walks at a quicker pace.  Leaving yourself ample time to train will ensure that you can safely prepare your body for a positive, fun, and injury-free Power Walk.

2. Wear good shoes and comfortable clothes.  Being comfortable will ensure that you can focus all of your attention on the walk instead of on sore feet.  If you wear layers, you’ll be able to stay warm at the beginning of the walk and cool off later on once your heart-rate is high.

3. Set goals for yourself.  Elisabeth Walker- Young says that setting challenging yet achievable goals has played a big part in her success as a Paralympian.  Try to set a long term goal, such as beating last years’ time, and then work backwards, setting short term goals, such as times per week that you’ll train, which will help you reach your desired end result. 

4. Most importantly, have fun!  Train with a friend so that you can share some laughs and encourage each other to reach your full potential.  Take advantage of some of the gorgeous walks that Vancouver has to offer and use them as your training grounds.  The False creek loop, English Bay, and Stanley Park are all great places to train and are sure to provide you with stunning scenery and beautiful views.

Power Walk Profile - Elisabeth Walker-Young

We are so excited to have Elisabeth Walker-Young on board for the second year as the face of Power Walk for Dress for Success Vancouver! 

As a four-time Paralympic gold medal winner in swimming, Elisabeth is an unstoppable woman who radiates commitment and drive.  After participating in 4 Summer Paralympic games, she now serves as the assistant Chef de Mission for the 2012 Canadian Paralympic team, helping lead them to excellence at the upcoming London 2012 games.  As an active contributor to her community, Elisabeth was honoured to carry the torch for both the Olympic and Paralympic torch relays in 2010, an experience which she says was charged with indescribable power and energy.

Elisabeth is an advocate for a healthy, active lifestyle, something which she shares through her extensive work in the community, teaching spin class at a local community center and through volunteering, educating different clubs, coaches, athletes, and sponsors.  Her strategy for fitting physical activity into a busy schedule is to make exercise a part of her daily routine and to challenge herself with new activities so that staying fit is fun.

Elisabeth has managed to overcome obstacles as an accomplished Paralympic swimmer and she is happy to share her tools for success.   She stresses the value of setting goals in different areas of your life which are challenging but achievable.  Goals that are written down will hold you accountable and will help you reach your highest potential.  Elisabeth says that the most important factor in realising your goals is to never listen to naysayers or anyone who tells you that “you can’t.” 

Elisabeth’s interest in Dress for Success stems from her desire to “empower people to challenge themselves, see themselves differently, and try something new.”  We are so thrilled to have such an inspirational woman as part of our team and we can’t wait for you to meet her at the upcoming Power Walk.  

Breakfast Club - Round 3

The Breakfast Club, the fourth program introduced by Dress for Success Vancouver, completed its third cycle of sessions last week.

This 12 week program is aimed to provide the participants with an arsenal of practical skills that they can use as they search for employment. With space and coffee donated by Chubb Insurance, the participants discussed their struggles, accomplishments and held each other accountable. (Huge thanks to Emma for your tasty, tasty baking and Kathy for your incredible hospitality!)

Karen McDonald, one of the coordinators of this cycle was committed to providing the clients with tangible skills that they can use in the reality of job search.  Along with Andrea Potter (long time Dress for Success Vancouver volunteer) and Antoinette Ridout, they covered the STAR exercise, Telephone Etiquette and went into great depths with interviewing. .


Here are a few of the Thank You's from the participants!

Thank you for getting me on the right track with my job and helping me build a solid foundation for my new career.  I was going in the wrong direction and the extraordinary advice that you gave me and our group was invaluable!  The gift that you gave us was inspiration combined with practical toughness.  This was the reason so many of us got much better jobs than we would have without your guidance.  Thank you again.

 T.M.

 "Thank you for your energy, life experiences and knowledge.  Verbal examples bring to life what everyone feels everyday but rarely act upon. I know what I have learned through this time at DFS / Breakfast Club, is that people do care and are willing to freely help others succeed.  It is hard to say in a small statement how great this has been.  I have learned, cried and appreciated everyone in the class.  I will remember all the quotes, expressions periodically and when I do I will smile.  I wish for you all to be safe, healthy and believe in yourselves and what you feel.  Keep up the great work and know you all will be lovingly remembered". 

J.S.

 What I will take away from the sessions with you, Karen, Antoinette, and Andrea are your:

• 'go get it' attitude - you always convey this sense of finding a way to get a job (via networking, by cold calling, by dig-deep researching target companies)
• belief in us - that we have something very much worth offering the companies/institutions out there  
• openness to share your insights, own career stories  
• desire to see us succeed.

          A.A.

 I am truly grateful for all the great ideas and help that you provided me and our group.  When we were stuck in our job search or did not know who to contact at a company - you always came up with new answer or different method that we could try.  The creative solutions that you offered our group helped us tremendously.  I know that you kept asking me, "Do you need any advanced education or training for being a Fashion Stylist?"  Well the answer is yes and thankfully the Bay pays tuition!  Thank you.

T.M.

Huge thanks to Karen, Andrea and Antoinette for your commitment to the clients and their success.  With your help, 3 clients found full time work, 1 part time (to supplement her small business) and 2 contracts.