*PLEASE HELP ESTHER HART*

Wednesday, November 29, 7:00PM
Benefit Concert For ESTHER HART, at Lula Lounge


Esther Hart is a Toronto mom. Her daughter, Sophie, will soon turn three. Just after Sophie’s birth, Esther was diagnosed with colorectal cancer and has been battling this disease ever since.

In March 2006, Esther received the worst news of her life: the cancer had spread to her lungs, uterus and spine. This woman, known for her beauty, compassion, humour, and zest for life, now accepts her cancer is terminal. Her goals are heartbreaking:

*to be able to take her daughter to JK next September
*to leave Sophie with some memories of her mommy

Esther’s only hope for prolonging her life is through expensive drug treatment not covered by OHIP. A growing league of supporters, powered by Esther’s original west-end “mommies” group has already helped her through one drug trial. Even now, she is living beyond her original prognosis.

Actress Cynthia Dale is helping arrange "A Night Honouring Esther Hart" this most special Benefit Concert taking place on Wednesday, November 29th, 7:00PM at the Lula Lounge - amazing talents lined up include: jazz artist Molly Johnson and writer Jane Urquhart.

The site started by Esther’s mommy friends: www.friendsofesther.com

The site regarding the benefit concert: www.lula.ca


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ANOTHER GOOD CAUSE:





Thursday, November 30
2nd Annual Fair Trade Holiday Shopping Festival


Featuring:
Guatemalan weaving from Asociación Maya de Desarrollo, Solola, Guatemala;
Fair trade PLUS coffee from the El Paraíso Co-operative of the Campesino Committee of the Highlands (CCDA), Guatemala.
Fair trade coffee from Cooperative "Producers' Union Maya Vinic", Chiapas, Mexico

Thursday, November 30
10:00AM - 3:00PM
Fleck Atrium, Rotman School of Management
105 St. George Street, Toronto


*Asociación Maya de Desarrollo is a weavers' co-operative committed to preserving the ancient art of backstrap weaving. Inspired by nature's palette, the weavers are hand-dyeing rayon chenille, silk and cotton yarns. They are creating unique pieces of wearable art by combining the innovative use of fibres and traditional Mayan designs. Organizing themselves together since 1987, its members are cultivating leadership roles for Mayan women and building a better life for themselves and their communities. There is a now a thread of hope and economic opportunity for over 200 weavers in the mountains of Sololá, Guatemala.

*Café Justicia is Fair Trade PLUS, shade-grown, organic coffee produced on the volcanic slopes surrounding Lake Atiltán in the Guatemalan highlands. The coffee is produced by campesinos on the El Paraíso Co-operative of the Campesino Committee of the Highlands (CCDA). The CCDA is an organization founded in 1982 and mandated to peacefully defend the rights of workers on large coffee, sugar and cotton plantations in Guatemala; recover lands stolen from the Mayan communities over the past century; promote organic and traditional Mayan agriculture, and protect the cultural rights of Guatemala's Mayan majority.

*The Cooperative "Producers' Union Maya Vinic" is comprised of some 700 coffee farming families located in 36 highland communities in the municipalities of Chenalhó, Pantelhó and Chalchihuitán, in Chiapas, Mexico. Inspired by the traditions of their ancestors, Maya Vinic is organized and operates in keeping with a respect of local culture, language, reverence for the Mother Earth and traditional forms of self-government. Maya Vinic is born out the wider civil society "Las Abejas", an organized response to the prevalent injustice in their communities and in the hopes of promoting positive change and autonomous development by pacific means. The plight of their communities came to the public eye in the aftermath of the infamous Acteal Massacre, where 45 men, women and children were killed by paramilitary forces and thousands more displaced from their homes.


For more info please contact Ken McGuffin:

[E] mcguffin@rotman.utoronto.ca
[T] 416-946-3818