Dear Editor:
This week, a member of Burnaby Gogos picked up three jars of pennies from a woman who called because she'd been saving them since noticing the Burnaby NOW article, "Grandmothers want change." Since that article appeared, we've sent close to $2,000 worth of coins to the Grandmothers to Grandmothers Campaign, Stephen Lewis Foundation, and our members have more in their homes, ready to roll.
The response from individuals, business owners and staff and councillors from Burnaby city hall is inspiring.
It's heartwarming that the community trusts a Burnaby NOW article enough to invite strangers into their homes to pick up coins and to drop them off at our events, assuming we will keep our promise to send all funds to the Grandmothers Campaign. We do!
The campaign, launched in 2006, works with grassroots projects in 15 sub-Saharan African countries that serve grandmothers and children who have been orphaned by AIDS. Burnaby Gogos is one of more than 240 Canadian groups that stand in solidarity with African grandmothers and have promised not to rest until they can rest.
We welcome new members (you don't have to be a grandmother to join) and will be collecting pennies until there aren't any more. For more information, visit www. greatervangogos.org, email burnabygo [email protected] or phone 604-437-0283.
Hannah Diamond, Burnaby Gogos
