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AUPE News & Updates
Member Updates
Member Update: Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2004
Women’s Committee seeks
contestants for ‘AUPE Idol’ competition
EDMONTON — AUPE Convention delegates will have a golden
opportunity to showcase their talents while raising money for breast
cancer research during the first-ever “AUPE Idol” competition
and auction Oct. 13.
The AUPE Women’s Committee is organizing the event, at which
union members will entertain delegates before facing a panel of
judges.
The panel will include two AUPE vice-presidents and, possibly, a
celebrity judge, said Membership Services Officer Susan Maruca,
staff advisor to the committee.
The top three contestants will be eligible for prizes, Maruca said.
Members of the audience, meanwhile, will be able to bid on auction
items that appear on stage during performances, which will run from
7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Maruca noted that the committee’s founding chair, Linda Wallace
of Local 003, died of breast cancer several years ago. “We
will always support raising funds for the Canadian Breast Cancer
Foundation, out of respect for Linda and to honour her.”
In addition to the auction items and prizes, Local 001 has donated
a $5,000 travel package, which will be raffled off by the committee
during Convention. Only 2,000 tickets (at $5 each or three for $10)
will be sold.
The Women’s Committee has also arranged for the sale of Canadian
Breast Cancer Foundation pins for $10 and pink ribbons by donation.
“The statistics are frightening,” said AUPE Vice-President
Lynne Gingras, current chair of the Women’s Committee. “One
in eight Canadians will be diagnosed with breast cancer, and one
in three Canadians will be diagnosed with some sort of cancer.
“Male breast cancer, which currently has a high fatality rate,
is also on the rise,” Gingras noted.
Breast cancer will touch almost every AUPE member, a member of their
family or a colleague at work, she concluded. “I want my daughters
to grow up in a society that has found a cure for breast cancer.”
For further information about participating in the AUPE Idol contest,
contact Maruca at 1-800-232-7284 (414-7973 in Edmonton), or e-mail
her at s.maruca@aupe.org |
