The last month has been humming with activity that included preparing for an NFP class, meeting with the WRHA, co-ordinating several presentations about Serena, having the privilege of participating in some of these events myself, meeting with a very lively group of young people who fielded a lot of good questions, preparing Christmas mailouts, attending the AGM of one of our funders, and getting appreciation gifts for some of the awesome people at the MHC.

Let me tell you about some of these wonderful people…

Friendly and helpful Paulette in the mailroom helps out with faxes, unjamming the photocopy machine, calls to let me know about registered letters… and keeps me up to date on her family of horses!

The very helpful people at the front desk of the Misericordia Health Centre pleasantly pass along packages of charts and information packages, receive payments and boxes of thermometers, and notify me to come by and pick them up.

The very patient and ever-helpful guys in Security open the copy room for me after hours so that I can do my photocopying when umpteen others aren’t waiting in line while I make multiple copies of reports, kit materials, flyers, etc. They also unlock the classrooms and boardrooms for me, the swimming pool for an early morning dip for some Serena volunteers – as well as making comments to be careful when walking to my vehicle after late classes, etc. They have even unlocked my office door for me (without comment) when I locked myself out. How good is that?!

And the people in housekeeping – they don’t just empty my waste baskets, you just can’t beat them for finding locations to host the classes, juggle dates, and hey, you should see the shiny new floor in the Serena office that quickly came about as a result of a casual comment about the great job they were doing stripping and polishing the floor in an adjoining office!

What would Serena be without volunteers? We know we can count on several couples who are experienced users of NFP to humbly present their story, and to enthusiastically pass along the information of natural family planning to others.

The awesome Serena Manitoba teacher-couples gave 120 people full instruction in natural family planning so far this year. When you add preparation time, followup sessions, and telephone counselling to actual class time, that’s an awful lot of volunteer hours, folks! God bless them!

Our next scheduled class will be on January 8, 2007 from 7-9 p.m. Remember this is a great session for beginners in natural family planning, or a wonderful refresher for those who may have taken a class some time ago. It also serves as a wonderful opportunity for those working in the area of marriage preparation to audit a class. You are most welcome! Just call us to make arrangements at 783-0091, or toll free at 1-866-317-5362.

Wishing you a wonderful season filled with life-giving experiences shared with family, friends, co-workers, and perhaps some new acquaintances. Let’s remember to open our hearts and homes to those less fortunate. Afterall, who would appreciate it more?

Merry Christmas!