Mike Ryan to Receive National Award

September 17, 2013 By

Mike Ryan, Founder & CEO, Clean Scene

For a quarter of a century, Mike Ryan, has tirelessly and passionately worked to steer youth away from drugs, addiction and crime and to, instead, pursue a purposeful life. He has credibility. Mike was a addict and criminal himself who turned his own life around and has become a nationally recognized leader in addiction prevention, education and addict care.

The Canadian Criminal Justice Association will present Mike Ryan the 2013 Restoration Award, given to former offenders who have overcome the challenge of their past and made an exemplary contribution towards rehabilitation, restoration and a more humane and effective justice system.

The award will be presented to Mike at the 34th Canadian Congress on Criminal Justice in Vancouver, October 2-5, 2013.

Mike’s goals are first to educate and inspire the youth of Alberta to lead drug and crime free lifestyles. Secondly to reduce the stigma of addictions so that recovering addicts can become healthy and accepted members of society with productive futures.Thirdly to create a new facility to treat youth addictions and reduce the numbers waiting for treatment. Lastly to help our communities in Alberta and across our country understand the dangers facing our youth and in doing so reduce the amount of drug related crime.

I congratulate Mike on his well deserved award and thank him for his commitment to youth.

Filed Under: Inspiring Lives, Mentor, Parenting Tagged With: , , , ,

A Child Teaches | The Greatest Gift

May 11, 2013 By

Harrison, Janice, Carson and Jorgia Moore

 

On this Mother’s Day I want to share a wonderful true story about motherhood from my friend Janice Moore.

“When I had my first child, Jorgia, I was twenty-five. Jorgia was the first grand-child in the family and everyone was excited. When I came home from the hospital the house was filled with flowers.”

“When I had my second child, my son Harrison, there were fewer flowers when I came home. In my thirties, I had my third child,  my son Carson. There was only one bouquet of flowers when I came home. Jorgia and Harrison, who were young at the time, fought over who would give me the flowers. The bouquet was a little worse for their efforts.”

“I sat on the couch looking at the mangled flowers on the coffee table and said to Jorgia, ‘It’s sure is different bringing home the third baby than the first baby’ , thinking it was sad there isn’t as much celebration in bringing Carson home as there was when I brought home Jorgia.

“You’re right mom!,” Jorgia said. “When I came home there was only two people here to love me. Carson has four people here to love him.”

“With a tear in my eye I held out my arms and Jorgia came to me and we hugged. From that day, I try to remember that love is the greatest gift.”

Janice, is now a single mother. “Some people say it must be tough to be alone. I’m not alone. I have my three children. They add so much to my life. Loving them and being loved back is the best gift.”

Janice Moore is the Director of Development at Junior Achievement where, as part of the management team, she is focused on making a difference in the lives of young people here in Edmonton and Northern Alberta.

Happy Mother’s Day Janice, and to Mother’s everywhere.

Filed Under: Great Teachers, Life Wisdom, Parenting, Values Tagged With: , , , ,

Please Join Me: Attend This Concert

September 3, 2012 By

 

 

See and hear all of these amazing Edmonton Singer Songwriters in one concert.

Anna Beaumont | Brian McLeod | Brooke Trelenberg | Carling Hack |

Christin McCauley | Erin Mulcair | Jay Willis | Jordan Kaminski |

Martin Kerr | Rob Hewes | Roland Majeau | Susan jane Hodge

Under the direction of veteran music producer, Rob Hewes and featuring the Celebrate Band.

 

At the Spring “Off Broadway” Concert the response was overwhelmingly positive.

 

“It blew me away! A real nice variety. I loved the whole mix.”

Annemarie Petrov, Executive Director, ESO

 

“One of the best concerts I’ve seen in years!”

Tami Dowler-Coltman, Principal, Victoria School of the Arts

 

“Each artist impressed us with the quality of their music and writing. It’s uplifting.”

Neil Wilkinson, Ethics Commissioner, Alberta

 

See the concert trailer.

For more information visit the concert website.

 

This concert is 100% sponsored so that all the ticket revenue can empower youth.

100% of Ticket Revenue Donated to charities that support youth.

Youth Empowering Self Talk Initiative in Edmonton High Schools – students helping students improve their self talk supported by funding from this concert!

Youth Empowerment and Support Services – YESS, formerly Youth Emergency Shelter – awakens and empowers at risk youth by first providing safety and then fostering the healing from homelessness, abuse and addiction and by supporting job preparation and education in partnership with other agencies.

Junior Achievement – awakens and empowers youth through in-class discussion, materials and exercises about financial literacy and the economics of staying in school and through the life-changing experience of starting and running a real business in the JA Company Program.

Free the Children – Free The Children domestic programs educate, engage and empower hundreds of thousands of youth in North America and the UK to realize their full potential as agents of change. Their international projects, led by their holistic and sustainable Adopt a Village model, has brought over 650 schools and school rooms to youth and provided clean water, health care and sanitation to one million people around the world, freeing children and their families from the cycle of poverty.

Literacy and Learning Day – Literacy and Learning Day helps parents support the education of their children by providing the insights of world renown keynote speakers (examples: Barbara Coloroso, David Bouchard) the advice of experts on a host of parenting and education challenges through workshops and other resources all for free. This enables the parents to help awaken and empower their children.

Please join me and attend. Bring some friends.

 

Celebrate! Songs of the Human Condition

Sunday, September 16, 2012 7 PM

Jubilee Auditorium

11455-87 Ave.

Tickets $20 plus service fees

Tickets available At

Ticketmaster

By phone: 1-855-985-5000

Thank you, I hope to see you there.

 

 

Filed Under: Charity, Inspiring Lives, Mentor, Parenting, Personal Development, Philanthropy, Teaching By Example Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Day I Found My Dad

June 17, 2012 By

I have two memories of my biological father. I remember him beating me with a belt as a young child for not drinking my milk and I remember my mother sobbing after his abuse. He left when I was seven. I never knew why. I didn’t care.

The man I refer to as dad is my stepfather. He was caring, kind and supportive. He was also an alcoholic, which caused some chaos and problems in my life. But, on balance, I was so fortunate to have him as my dad.

My fondest memory is the day my mother, who managed the money and was very frugal, gave dad the money to go buy a new pair of shoes. He desperately needed them because there were holes the size of quarters in the soles and he used cardboard inserts to prevent walking on his socks.

Later that day he returned by bus, since we had no car. I saw them coming down the street my brother Randy riding a tricycle and my dad pushing a used two wheel bike for me. No gears. No fancy brakes. But to me it was beautiful. It is also the best gift I have ever received.

My mother was furious. And my mother knew how to do furious. She loved my dad and felt he needed new shoes way more than Randy and I needed bikes. Of course she was correct, but this was about more than a bike, or shoes.

Until that day I had wondered if I was just part of the package when my dad asked my mother to marry him. I felt like I had never had a dad. Not really. That day I knew my step-father loved me. If he was willing to make the sacrifice of the shoes and the wrath of my mother, he had to care. I was twelve, and finally, I had a dad.

A short time later, in 1959, my dad asked to adopt me. I said yes in a heartbeat. Melvin Wesley Anderson officially became my father and dad.  My dad wasn’t perfect, who among us is? But he loved me and always had my best interests at heart.

He died in 1974, at 61, from cancer but he lives on in my heart.

Filed Under: Parenting, Values Tagged With: , , , , ,

Humbling Author Moment

April 17, 2012 By

Last week I had a humbling author moment. As a new author, autographing books is an unfamiliar but exciting experience. Imagine how thrilled I was when Wendy Keiver, President of the Literacy and Learning Day Society here in Edmonton, told me they wanted to buy 60 copies of my book, Inspiration to Live Your MAGIC!™ to give as a thank you gift to all the volunteers.

Later, Wendy called to say that they had put a personal thank you label in the front of each of the books and would appreciate it if I would write a personal autograph to each volunteer. “I’d be thrilled,” I said, wondering what it would be like to do that many autographs at one time.

As I was signing the autographs, I realized that every one of these people were volunteering their time to support the attending parents efforts to help their children learn. It was these volunteers and the sponsors that made it possible for about 1,000 parents to attend this one day event for free. This year, the 10th Anniversary, featured two keynote speakers and 26 workshop sessions for the parents to choose what they felt would be most helpful to them.

Barbara Coloroso

When I opened a book and saw the name Barbara Coloroso, one of the sponsored keynote speakers, I stopped. For 38 years, Barbara has been an international best selling author, speaker and consultant on parenting, teaching, school discipline, positive school climate, bullying, grieving, nonviolent conflict resolution and restorative justice. She has appeared on Oprah, CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN and NPR and has been featured in the New York Times, Time, U.S. News & World Report, Newsweek and many other publications. Barbara Coloroso is most well known for her “Kids are Worth it!” series.

David Bouchard

The next copy of my book to autograph was for the other sponsored keynote speaker, David Bouchard. A former teacher and principal, David is one of Canada’s all-time best selling authors (over thirty-five best selling books, published in many countries and languages) and a much sought after public speaker. Through his keynotes and presentations he champions literacy and promotes Aboriginal culture. David Bouchard’s books have won several prestigious awards, including the Order of Canada for literature in 2009, Canada’s highest distinction.

Bouchard believes shared responsibility is the first step to succeeding in reading, saying. “We do not need new curriculum or harder working teachers in order to get our students to read. We need parents, teachers and administrators who read. The key lies in modelling.”

Barbara and David are heroes of mine. What could I write? Since my book is called Inspiration to Live Your MAGIC!™ I typically write, the persons name and “Live Your MAGIC!” and sign Larry. In both of their books I wrote, Barbara or Dave, and “You are living your MAGIC! You inspire me. Larry.”

I was honoured to sign every one of those books and grateful to every volunteer. And grateful to express my feelings in a unexpected way to two of my heroes. Thank you Wendy Keiver and the Literacy and Learning Day leaders for the privilege.

Filed Under: Great Teachers, Inspiring Lives, Life Wisdom, Parenting, Philanthropy, Teaching By Example, Values Tagged With: , , , ,

Literacy and Learning Day Full!

April 9, 2012 By

Congratulations to Wendy Keiver and the team at Literacy and Learning Day for filling their 10th Anniversary Event on April 14th. Sell Out is not the right term because parents attend free – including lunch.

For all ten years my wife Janet and I, through the Randy Anderson Learning Fund (named for my brother Randy who had dyslexia), have proudly supported this parent initiated event to provide learning and teaching resources to parents to help their children learn.

Barbara Coloroso

 Keynote, Barbara Coloroso will speak on Cyber Bullying

 David Bouchard

Keynote David Bouchard will speak on Reading: The Ultimate Cultural Challenge.

There are also a host of workshops on an variety 0f parenting and education topics. My wife and I are so proud to be associated with the dedicated Literacy and Learning Day team of leaders and volunteers. Visit their website for more information Literacy and Learning Day

Filed Under: Great Teachers, Mentor, Parenting, Philanthropy, Teaching By Example Tagged With: , , ,

Faith in You

February 14, 2012 By

One of life’s greatest treasures is someone who believes in you. Especially, when you are having doubts. Having someone who is always in your corner that’s devotion. It is a precious blessing.

Faith In You!, posted with vodpod

 

Filed Under: Parenting, Personal Development, Values Tagged With: , , ,

You Can Let Go Daddy

January 31, 2012 By

As a father, when your children start to seek and achieve their own independence, we can sometimes have mixed feelings. We’re proud and we also might feel less needed or important. Letting go and letting our children fly on their own as they are able is what good parenting is about. It isn’t always easy.

 

Filed Under: Parenting, Teaching By Example, Values Tagged With: , , ,

Bullying Is A Choice

January 24, 2012 By

Bullying is a choice. Enabling bullying, by ignoring or cheering a bully, is a choice. Bullying or enabling a bully are bad choices. Make a better choice. Reach out and support someone who has been bullied. That’s a choice can save a life.

Short Video: The Locker


 

Filed Under: Leadership, Life Wisdom, Parenting, Values Tagged With: , , ,

Wet Cement

January 17, 2012 By

Sometimes the opportunity to be patient and kind is also an opportunity to get angry. It’s a choice. Do like this man did – choose patience and kindness.It’s a better choice for the young boy; and, it’s a better choice for you.

Wet Cement, posted with vodpod

 

Filed Under: Parenting, Teaching By Example, Uncategorized, Values Tagged With: , ,
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