Hello (again) everyone!
Can you believe we are less than one month from our largest event of the year?! We have a busy month of planning ahead of us, but this also means that we will have a busy month of exciting news and fun things to share with you. Please make sure to check your email on a regular basis, as we will be sending one to two emails per week from now to the Conference. Each email is important and necessary. If you need to look for past emails you can always check out our SC19 Message Page rather than searching through old emails.
We have been working with all our speakers and presenters to build what is going to be another amazing conference! We will soon be ready to send you all the details so you can choose your sessions, but until then, here is a sneak preview:
Norma D’Agostino will speak of anxiety and PTSD; Scott Adams will give you the latest news on exercise; Genevieve Stonebridge will offer you some tools to calm your mind and will also speak of body image and self-compassion; Jocelyn Brown will give guidance around advance care plans, legacy, and pain management; Heather Palmer will defog your brain; Andrea Warnick will present on grief, guilt, life, and joy; and Karine will offer some support to our amazing supporters. We are also working on some additional stuff around storytelling and a few more sessions and we will also have yoga, meditation, Nia, and other opportunities for you to move your body!
Your 2019 social committee also has some great optional activities up their sleeves to help you fill up your “free time” like a spa night, a scavenger hunt in Niagara Falls, games night (there is a super cool bowling alley on site!), mindfulness, and a paint night! [Please note: some of the social committee activities may have additional costs associated with them. We will let you know as soon as we can about those details.] Julie will be back with another karaoke night at the hotel, and Sunday night’s “after party” is beach party themed (think: luau, Blue Hawaii, and under the sea).
This wonderful line up will be spiced up by keynote speakers, panels, stories from your peers, and an afternoon trip to see Niagara Falls!
The icing on the cake? Actor/comedian/cancer survivor Daniel Stolfi will make us laugh, cry, and cry laughing with his show Life After Cancer – A Survivor’s Story Ten Years Later.
If that doesn’t make your long weekend, I don’t know what will!
Stay tuned for the full schedule.
Deadlines and Reminders:
- All travel information must be sent to [email protected] by April 29, 2019 – even if you are driving, please let me know before April 29 so we can plan accordingly.
- If you need transportation from Toronto to St. Catharines, you must reserve your seat ($10 round trip ticket) on our charter bus. All tickets must be purchased by May 1. Reserve your seat here. Buses will be leaving from Pearson International Airport at 1:30 p.m. SHARP. All participants must be checked in with YACC staff by 1:15 p.m. at the latest. We will return to Pearson on Monday, May 20 and expect to be at the airport by noon.
- For anyone requiring financial assistance, your forms were due last Monday. If we have not heard from you at this point (unless you just got off the waitlist this week) we are assuming you no longer need financial assistance. If you still do, you need to let me know ASAP as our budgets are getting tight and flights are getting more expensive.
- We will be coordinating roommates with the hotel over the next few weeks. If you are coming with a supporter, you will be paired with them automatically. If you would like to be paired with a survivor buddy, just let me know and we can make it happen. If you are coming on your own, don’t worry! You really are not alone, as there are many of you attending on your own. We will do our best to pair you with another survivor who will have a lot in common with you.
- If you are planning on bringing a supporter with you, but they have not yet applied, they must do so as you did online. We do have a waitlist started, but we expect cancelations over the next few weeks.
- For anyone who does not need travel assistance, but would like to raise money to help your buddies, you can sign up on our fundraising page to participate in the Expansion Pack.
- For anyone who is able to pay their registration fees, you can do so here.
Last, but not least, if something has come up and you no longer think you can make the event, please let me know as soon as possible. We do have a long waitlist for the event, and the sooner we can confirm these individuals the more time they will have to plan and book their travel.
If you have a question about the event, I would recommend visiting our FAQ webpage first. If you cannot find the answer to your question there, shoot me an email and I will get back to you as soon as I can.
Share, support & inspire,
Lesley
