Latest News from IBCPC
“We are making a difference”
President reviews 2011 and sets goals for 2012
Procrastination can often be an effective ally. Let me explain. In July, the editorial staff
of this newsletter was getting ready to put it to bed, as they say in the industry, when the
editor turned to me and said: “Jane, you will have been President of IBCPC for a year
when our November edition is published. You need to write a retrospective and
visionary article for the membership.”
“Are you on it?” she would inquire at appropriate moments, and I would groan.
It
seemed like such a daunting task.
My phone rang late one October day -- a call which gave this message its focus. It was
a friend of a friend who wondered if I could help. She has a friend who is a doctor in
Serbia. It turns out it has only been in the last ten years that the Serbian medical
community has been able to treat people diagnosed with breast cancer. And now they
have survivors! My friend’s friend’s friend’s doctor friend wanted to know how to start
a support group for Serbians who are now living with breast cancer.
As IBCPC President, I have met many health care professionals worldwide among them
Dr. Adriana Bonifacino in Rome last summer. (You can read about our meeting in the
July 2011 edition.) Dr. Bonifacino sits on a European Union committee of medical
professionals who deal with all aspects of breast cancer. I was able to put the two
doctors in touch.
This is what we are all about! Connecting with each other! From Serbia to Vancouver to
Rome and back to Serbia. We are making a difference in the world of breast cancer
awareness.
The IBCPC Steering Committee set three goals for our first year, and we have made
good progress as we have:
• Doubled our membership from fifty to over a hundred teams in eleven countries
• Established effective communication channels by:
1. Updating and maintaining our website
2. Producing four editions of our Newsletter
3. Setting up a database
4. Networking with teams around the world
• Established process and time lines for the selection of the 2014 Festival
(Submissions due November 30, 2011)
We would like you to get involved too. Please encourage family and friends to subscribe
to our newsletter, visit our website and consider volunteering some of your time and
talent to us.
On behalf of the Steering Committee, thank you for putting your trust in us. We are
committed to building, managing and representing the International Breast Cancer
Paddlers’ Commission, an organization whose mission is to support and promote the
participatory and inclusiveness of breast cancer dragon boat paddling.
We thank you for being brave, for picking up a paddle, and for being a vibrant symbol
of the benefits of exercise while living with breast cancer.
Paddles up ‘til next year. Go
gently and keep well.
25th February 2011
The criteria for Hosting the 2014 IBCPC Participatory Festival are now available.
You will need to register your interest here. The criteria will then be sent to you via Email.
18th December 2010
The IBCPC news bulletin is now available.
It contains:-
Greetings from IBCPC,
An Interview with Dr Don McKenzie,
Praise for Peterborough going Pink ,
Thanks to Scotiabank,
Memories of Peterborough
and a Timeline for the 2014 Festival. To read the IBCPC news click this news bulletin link.
It will open in a new window and you will be able to save it and print it to circulate to anyone who would like to read it.
9th. November 2010
Hello! Bonjour! Buongiorno!
November 1st has arrived and the International Breast Cancer Paddlers Commission (IBCPC) now has its first elected Steering Committee in place. On behalf of the Committee I want to say how excited and pleased we are to be in position to continue and expand the work of the IBCPC. We thank Michelle Hanton (Australia), Eleanor Nielsen (Canada) and Mary McAvoy (New Zealand) for their significant contribution which was instrumental in getting us to this day. Happily we can tell you each of these amazing women has offered to continue to assist us in any way they can.
We also want to extend our thanks to the Peterborough team for the well organized, happy and successful festival this past summer. For those of us who attended we came away with many memories, new friendships and renewed energy for our mission of raising awareness about living life to the fullest after being diagnosed and treated for breast cancer.
As you will see from our website: www.ibcpc.com the Steering Committee has representation from a number of our member countries. Jo Parry from Australia brings a wealth of experience and knowledge about the breast cancer paddlers movement in Australia, while Betty Solley does so from the United States and Louisa Balderson from the United Kingdom. Jenny Yule and I round out this group with our experiences in Vancouver with Abreast In A Boat and our work in the past three years with the Steering Committee of the IBCPC.
The Steering Committee is focusing on four goals for the immediate future. We want to expand our membership to include many new teams. We want to establish effective communication channels with our membership. We want to get our organization in good working order and finally we expect to announce to the membership early in 2011 the process and time line for the selection of the 2014 International Breast Cancer Paddlers Commission Festival.
You can expect to hear from us periodically as we report on our work. Look for our first news bulletin in the weeks ahead. We look to you as the members to give us your input and to consider volunteering to help us.
On behalf of the Steering Committee I want to thank the membership for putting your trust in us. We will do our very best to meet our responsibilities in building, managing and representing the International Breast Cancer Padldlers Commission, an organization whose mission is to support and promote the participatory and inclusiveness of breast cancer dragon boat paddling.
Paddles Up!
Jane Frost
President, IBCPC
1 November 2010
The new IBCPC Board takes over as of today (Nov 1st). I am delighted that this new board has good representation world wide. I know that each member very much looks forward to working with the IDBF as it increases IBCPC membership in countries with breast cancer dragon boat teams and establishes it in those countries as yet without.
The new Steering Committee is:
President
Jane Frost
Vancouver, Canada
Vice-President
Jo Parry
Brisbane, Australia
Secretary-Treasurer
Jenny Yule
Vancouver, Canada
Development and Membership Director
Betty Solley
Philadelphia, USA
Communications Director
Louisa Balderson
Windermere, UK
Michelle Hanton OAM
Immediate Past President
IBCPC
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Inaugural Congress of the IBCPC took place in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada on June 11th 2010 where the Constitution and ByLaws were adopted and the Advisory Committee formally appointed.