On January 16, the annual Smile Dinner was held in the Sacred Heart Church basement. The dinner was developed for women who are involved with CEASE and Kindred House. Guests were able to take bags and fill them with donated personal care items, clothing, shoes, purses, accessories, and the like. The women enjoy an evening of socialization, manicures, makeovers, photos, entertainment, and food.

Hosted by Shauna Forsyth, Olga Iwanyshyn, and Karen Dalman, this year’s event was sponsored in part by Sacred Heart Church of the First Peoples, Father Jim Holland, Universal Dental Laboratories Ltd., Daniel Yeung, Imperial Sovereign Court of the Wild Rose – Reign 30 (Empress Kelsey Breeze and Emperor Jacque Strappe), Normand’s Fine Dining, Normand Campbell, and London Drugs. Special thanks goes to MLA Chris Neilson’s office and his amazing Executive Assistant Maria for scouring the concrete and plains hunting down the bags for the women to use.

We had over 100 women attend the dinner this year. Music was provided by the Rock and Roll Society, and we also had Rob Gurney’s amazing Zumba. A full-course dinner was served and all guests were provided with take-home treats.

Special thanks to all the volunteers who assisted in setting up on the day of the event and clean-up.  

Shauna lives in McCauley.