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Co-Op Reminders: Budget General Meeting

When: March 24, 2024 3:00PM

Where: Calgary Curling Club

Included in the 2024 Sunnyhill Co-op Budget document is:

1) Background information outlining Sunnyhill’s financial position
2) Detailed budget compiled from committee requests.
3) Three separate budget scenarios that show the impact of what a 2%, 4% and a 6% increase in the Economic Housing Charge would have on Sunnyhill's net income and financial position. Please note the expenses are identical in each scenario on the detailed budget provided. The only change is the housing charge.

Please review in advance. There will be an opportunity at the meeting to address questions prior to the vote. We are only voting on the 2024 budget. Decisions made at the meeting will not bind Sunnyhill in future years.

Co-Op Reminders: Reading Group

When: Tuesday, March 5th at 6:30pm

Where: The Curling Club

We are still working our way through the Alberta Cooperatives Act. This week we will be learning about the Capital Structure of Cooperatives (whoop whoop). You don’t want to miss this one, it will be gripping! We promise a great time getting to know each other better over a few dry pages and a cold beer. The Cooperatives Act can be found here.

February Good Food Box Order

Submitted by Marion Gauzer

Have you heard about the Good Food Box but aren’t sure what it is?

Good Food Box is a Community Kitchen program that allows Calgarians to buy a variety of fresh fruit and vegetables at an affordable price. The contents vary from month to month depending on seasonal availability. Orders can be picked up at our Sunnyhill Co-op “depot” which is unit 2.

The next Good Food Box delivery date is February 29. To place an order, please fill out and submit our online order form no late than noon on February 20. If for any reason you can’t submit your order online (or you have any questions), please email me (mgauzer@yahoo.ca) with your order information.

You can pay for your Good Food Box:

  • with cash (in an envelope with your name on it) when you pick up your order OR

  • by sending an email transfer to Belle Auld (belleauld@gmail.com) before February 29.

Boxes come in three sizes (*weights are approximate):

Small Box: $30 15-20lbs* of fruits and vegetables

Medium Box: $35 25-30lbs* of fruits and vegetables

Large Box: $40 35-40lbs* of fruits and vegetables

Nature Corner

by Scottie Potter

The Great Backyard Bird Count February 16-19, 2024

Take part in this annual global event by taking 15 minutes each day to record the species and number of birds you see around you. Submitting them online through the eBird app helps scientists better understand and protect birds!

Muskrats: Wetland Gardeners

Missing the colour green this time of year? Visit the lagoon on Prince’s Island Park and you may see a muskrat munching on vibrant water plants they dredge up from the pond bottom.

These large members of the vole family are an important part of wetland communities, as their selective feeding fosters a wider diversity of plants, in turn attracting birds and insects.

Nature Corner

by Scottie Potter

Winter Waterfowl

The lagoon on the east side of Prince’s Island Park is an excellent spot for winter waterfowl watching. Although mallards and Canada geese are by far the most common waterfowl species you’ll see, many others overwinter in Calgary. It is always worth checking amongst the throngs of mallards and geese for other species, including wood ducks, common goldeneyes, and hooded mergansers.


Merlin: The Free Bird ID App

Needing help identifying a bird? The Merlin app can help! Not only does it have a step-by-step guide to narrow down a bird you’ve seen, it also uses your photos and audio recordings to identify a bird. Check it out here or in the app store of your choice!

Neighbour Shout-Outs

“I would like to give a shout out to my neighbour Kathleen. Kathleen was incredibly welcoming to my roommate Janet and myself when we moved in two years ago, and continues to always greet us with a smile. She generously allows us to use her driveway as ”visitor parking” whenever we have guests come over (which is often!), and gifts us with goodies on every holiday. The biggest and most amazing thing Kathleen has done recently was over this past flu season. Both Janet and I were sick for a few weeks in November with a bad flu. Kathleen offered to walk Phil (my 7 month old puggle). I had a hard time accepting that offer as I thought it far too much to ask. Kathleen insisted it was no trouble to her at all, and she walked Phil twice a day like clockwork for nearly two weeks! As a neighbour, Kathleen has made us feel like we are exactly where we should be, and it is home. Best wishes to you all!”

— Leslie Sweder, 748

First Good Food Box Order for 2024

Submitted by Marion Gauzer

The first Good Food Box delivery date for 2024 is February 1. To place an order, please fill out and submit our online order form no later than noon on January 23. If for any reason you can’t submit your order online, please email me (mgauzer@yahoo.ca) with your order information.

You can pay for your Good Food Box:

  • with cash (in an envelope with your name on it) when you pick up your order

  • or by sending an email transfer to Belle Auld (belleauld@gmail.com) before February 1.

Good Food Box is a Community Kitchen program that allows Calgarians to buy a variety of fresh fruit and vegetables at an affordable price. The contents vary from month to month depending on seasonal availability. Boxes come in three sizes (*weights are approximate):

  • Small Box: $30, 15-20lbs* of fruits and vegetables

  • Medium Box: $35, 25-30lbs* of fruits and vegetables

  • Large Box: $40, 35-40lbs* of fruits and vegetables

Post Christmas Thanks

Submitted by Brenda Williams

Post Christmas thanks:

to the secret Santa who made their very own delightful Christmas wrapping paper surrounding yummy chocolate hearts, and

to the secret Santa who brought me oranges and candy canes, and

to the secret Santa who brought me unique goodies from the UK;

and to the people who identified themselves with Christmas cards and other thoughtful items (Bean your handmade card was lovely)...

THANK YOU!!! It's wonderful to experience the absolute joy of giving and the pleasant surprise of receiving. I am sure that since Santa knows all, Santa will know I am grateful, but I thought I'd put it in writing just to be sure.

Gratitude for Sunnyhill - Spreading Holiday Cheer 🎉

Submitted by Rachel Rose

 

Thankful for so much at Sunnyhill. A big shout-out to the Buildings Committee for all of your help over the last month. Between a new toilet, mysterious outlet failures, and a late-night burst pipe/hot water tank emergency, your speed and conscientiousness in getting this all resolved have been amazing. Special shout-out to Heidi, who came one morning to patiently drain our tank, Paul (next door) who came late at night to stop the water gushing down our walls, JP for indulging our toilet shopping adventures, and Jan in the office for being a wonder organizing so much!

I also want to take a moment to thank Brenda Willman for her incredibly thoughtful, creative, and kind seasonal gifts over the past few months. My children are ever thankful for your attention and care, and it’s a gift to see your creativity in action. Thank you.

Today, it feels great to be in a community full of all kinds of care and attention.

SHC Winter Bingo Card

Submitted by Communications Committee

 

GET READY for an exhilarating 6 month adventure as we dive into the Bingo challenge! IT’S BLACKOUT TIME! Let the games begin – excitement guaranteed! 🌟🎉

 

With each task conquered:

  • Write the date you completed it.

  • Capture the moment with a photo.

  • Write a quick note about what you did for it.

 

Once you have checked off all tasks, take your sheet to the office for verification and a shot at the SPECIAL PRIZE – a professional family photo shoot by our own Sharmeen for the first 5 triumphant households!



SHC website https://www.sunnyhillhousingcooperative.com/   (Co-operatives Act can be found here)

*To submit to SHC newsletter, send to Communications Committee at sunnyhill.communications@gmail.com

**To join SHC FB group https://www.facebook.com/groups/487391184613455/

YYC Events Not to Miss in December!🎄

Submitted by Sharmeen Ajmal

Gear up for a month of festivities in Calgary this December. Explore the city's vibrant holiday spirit with a variety of events and activities:

  • Enchanting Light Displays: Witness the magic of the season through dazzling light shows across Calgary.

  • Cultural Celebrations: Immerse yourself in diverse cultural events and performances happening at various venues throughout the month.

  • Winter Wonderland Adventures: Embrace the winter wonderland with outdoor activities like ice skating, sleigh rides, and more.

For detailed information on these events and more, check out what's happening in Calgary this December here or check-out www.visitcalgary.com. Stay in the loop and make the most of the holiday season in our vibrant city! 🌟❄️

December - It’s not just for Christmas

Submitted by Brenda Willman

I did a little digging around the world wide web to find out what others celebrate around the world in December. Most of this is extracted/copied from Time Magazine, Wikipedia and individual websites devoted to the particular celebration.  If any of this is wrong, I did my best to fact check against individual sites 😊  Can we believe what we read on the internet?

December 8 BODHI DAY

Day of Enlightenment, celebrating the day that the historical Buddha (Shakyanumi or Siddartha Guatama) experienced enlightenment (also known as Bodhi).

December 12 FEAST DAY – OUR LADY OF GUADULUPE

Mexicans and Mexican-Americans often celebrate the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the patron saint of Mexico who symbolizes patriotism and devotion.

December 7 – 15 HANUKKAH

The eight-day Jewish holiday of Hanukkah begins Dec. 7. A central part of the Jewish Festival of Lights entails the lighting of a nine-branched menorah each night. (The ninth candle is used to light the others.) The ritual symbolizes how one day’s worth of oil miraculously lasted for eight days during a battle between a small group of Jewish people and the powerful Greek-Syrian army in 165 B.C. Customary foods include latkes (potato pancakes), sufganiyot (jam-filled donuts) and brisket. Children often play with a dreidel (a spinning top with Hebrew letters).

December 13 - SALGIRAH KHUSHIALI 

Is a celebration of the birthday of present (Hazar) Imam, Aga Khan IV, on December 13 held by Nizari Ismaili Shiʿi Muslims.

December 20, 21 or 22 DONGZHI FESTIVAL

there is an old saying that Dongzhi (/dong-jrr/ 'the Winter Solstice') is more important than Chinese Lunar New Year. Dongzhi has an important place in the traditional festivals of China. It is usually celebrated on December 20th or 21st, when the night is longest and the day is shortest in the northern hemisphere. A traditional holiday celebrated by many Chinese people, Dongzhi has a long history and certain notable customs.  The main Chinese Winter Solstice traditions are worshipping the Heaven and ancestors, and counting Nines of Winter. In addition, there are Dongzhi Festival dining customs in different regions of China. Dumplings and glutinous rice are the most popular. Foods like mutton, ginger, and dikon which warm the body up are also popular.

December 21 – December 25 PANCHA GANAPAT

A modern five-day Hindu festival celebrated from 21 through 25 December in honour of Ganesha.

December 21 YALDA

Yalda Night or Shab-e Yalda, "Night of Birth", or "Birth of Mithra", is the Iranian winter solstice celebration which has been popular since ancient times.  According to Persian mythology, Mithra was born at dawn on 22 December to a virgin mother. He symbolizes light, truth, goodness, strength, and friendship. Herodotus reports that this was the most important holiday of the year for contemporary Persians.  In modern times Persians celebrate Yalda by staying up late or all night, a practice known as Shab Chera meaning 'night gazing'. Fruits and nuts are eaten, especially pomegranates and watermelons, whose red colour invokes the crimson hues of dawn and symbolize Mithra.

December 21 – January 1  YULE

Wiccans and Neo-Pagans celebrate the winter solstice (the darkest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, on Dec. 21) through the festival of Yule. The winter solstice marks the shortest day and longest night of the year; Yule celebrates the re-emergence of the sun and the days beginning to grow longer again. The festival was first celebrated in Scandinavia as a Norse festival.

December 23 FESTIVUS  (for the rest of us)

A newer addition to the calendar thanks to the fictional Mr. Costanza, a character on the TV show SEINFELD

December 25  CHRISTMAS

Christians celebrate Christmas largely to commemorate the birth of Jesus. But the festival has also been adopted as a secular family holiday by people of all faiths. It’s marked by an exchange of gifts as well as excitement for the arrival of Santa Claus.

   

December 26 – Jan 1 KWANZAA

The week-long holiday of Kwanzaa honours African-American heritage; it’s a cultural holiday as opposed to a religious one.  Black nationalist Maulana Karenga created Kwanzaa in 1966 as a way to unite the African-American community following the Watts Rebellion in a predominantly Black Los Angeles neighbourhood. The rebellion led to 34 deaths—two-thirds of which were individuals shot by police or National Guard troops, per the Associated Press. It also resulted in more than 1,000 injuries.  Karenga laid out seven key principles for Kwanzaa: unity; self-determination; collective responsibility; cooperative economics; purpose; creativity; and faith. Its name comes from the Swahili phrase “matunda ya kwanza,” which translates to “first fruits.” Kwanzaa celebrations draw from African musical and storytelling traditions.

December 26 ZARATHOSHT DISO

Founded by the Prophet Zoroaster more than 3,000 years ago, Zoroastrianism is one of the world’s oldest monotheistic religions. Zoroastrians honour the death of their prophet on this day, typically by visiting a fire temple and offering prayers.

December 31 NEW YEAR’S EVE

The day every new year is met with anticipation around the world, as revellers party, set off fireworks, set resolutions and countdown to midnight to welcome in new beginnings. In many post-Soviet countries, the holiday is celebrated with traditions similar to Christmas, such as the arrival of gifts from “Grandfather Frost.”  You have to be a follower of the Gregorian Calendar for this to really be New Year’s eve.  There are a few other calendars in our world, and some people celebrate the beginning of a new year at a different time.

December 31 ŌMISOKA

Japanese traditional celebration on the last day of the year.  One custom of Omisoka is bells ringing out the old year called Joya-no-kane in almost all of the temples. The bell is struck one hundred and eight times because there are one hundred and eight Bonnou which are all human desires and passions in a human's mind. People get rid of Bonnou by hearing the bells before New Year's Day. The last bell is struck on the New Year's Day wishing people to live without Bonnou in the New Year. In the shinto shrine, the ceremony called Oharai is held for removing stains of a year.

And then there are some other special days in December 

  • Dec 10  - Human Rights Day

  • Dec 17 – in Canada how could we forget National Maple Syrup day!

  • December 27 – National Fruitcake Day- though not described as such, it seems like the day you can secretly toss your fruitcake in the garbage, though if you ask me, and if you use my Grandmother’s recipe for Fruitcake Haters Fruitcake, you might be pleasantly surprised and may not want to toss your fruitcake in the garbage.  Recipe follows.  You’ll get strong arms stirring this mixture! (and go broke buying the ingredients)

Fruitcake Haters Fruitcake (a light fruitcake)

An old family recipe so apologies that it follows the Imperial measuring system.

  • 2 cups butter

  • 2 ¼ cups firmly packed brown sugar

  • 1 cup honey

  • 10 eggs

  • 4 cups sifted flour

  • 2 tsp cinnamon

  • 2 tsp baking powder

  • 1 tsp allspice

  • ¼ tsp salt

  • 3 lbs (1.35 kg) dried apricots

  • 1.5 lbs (700 g) pitted dates or prunes or figs – chopped.   I use only prunes and figs because I don’t like dates, unless they involve dinner and a movie

  • 1 lb golden raisins – I use a mix of raising, currants and dried cherries

  • 2 lbs pecan halves or walnuts

  • 1 cup apricot nectar (they don’t seem to make this anymore so last year I used a peach/orange juice)

  • ½ cup light cream

  • 2 tbsp lemon juice

  • Optional:  1 cup brandy or 1 cup orange liqueur – my fruitcake typically is alcohol free so I just an extra cup of the fruit juice

  1. Cream butter, sugar honey

  2. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each

  3. Mix remaining dry ingredients in a separate bowl

  4. Mix remaining wet ingredients in a separate bowl

  5. Add ½ dry ingredients to the creamed mixture – stir

  6. Add wet ingredients to the creamed mixture – stir

  7. Add last ½ dry ingredients to the creamed mixture – stir

  8. Add fruit and nuts – mix well

  9. Bake at 250°F for 2.5–3 hours or until a toothpick stuck in comes out dry.

Makes four 9 x 5 loaf pans (after all that work, that seems like not a lot to share, but it is filling so even a gift of ½ a pan is a lot)

Jamaican Christmas Cake

If you’re looking for a dark fruitcake – try this one!

  • 1.5 cups flour

  • 1 cup butter

  • 1 cup sugar

  • 4 eggs

  • 1 tsp baking powder

  • 1 tsp cinnamon

  • ½ tsp allspice

  • ½ tsp salt

  • 1 tsp vanilla

  • Finely grated rind of one lime or lemon

  • 2 tbsp of ‘browning’ you can find this in an international aisle – I use Grace’s

  • 4 oz of mixed peel (that weird candied peel they sell in the baking aisle at Christmas time)

  • 4 oz of cherries (also weird candied stuff from the baking aisle – so I substitute dried cherries)

  • ½ pound of chopped prunes- I use figs and prunes

  • 1 pound raisins

  • 1 cup of wine (no alcohol – use 1 cup of grape juice)

  1. Cream butter, sugar and browning until soft and fluffy

  2. Sieve all dry ingredients together

  3. Beat eggs and wine together

  4. Add egg mixture to creamed mixture

  5. Add fruits to creamed mixture

  6. Add flour and other dry ingredients and fold in. DO NOT overbeat when mixing

Bake at 350°F for 1.5 hours or until a toothpick stuck in comes out dry – in a 9 inch round pan

For an island kick, once cooled, pour a small bottle of rum over the cake, wrap in plastic wrap and next tin foil and leave it alone for a few weeks.  You can then pour on some more rum and let that soak in as well, or open it up and eat it.  Again, my cake has no alcohol so if you want the rum flavour you could add 1 tsp of rum flavouring when you add the vanilla.

Shout-Out to My Neighbour! 💌

Submitted by Sharmeen Ajmal

Special shoutout and heartfelt appreciation to my outstanding neighbour, JP. His kindness and welcoming vibe have turned Sunnyhill into more than just a place to live – it's a real community. JP goes above and beyond, not just with building tips (seriously, the man's a maintenance wizard), but also by sharing the goodness from his garden with us. Fresh fruits and veggies? JP's got us covered, making every meal a flavour-packed delight. It's neighbours like JP that make Sunnyhill the awesome place it is. Thanks, JP, for doing what you do, you are appreciated! 🌟🏡


New Privacy Officer

Submitted by Ximena González

In the last general meeting, members elected me as the new privacy officer of our co-op. 

While I’ll be reaching out directly to all committees that handle personal information, I wanted to encourage members to reach out to me directly. If you have any questions or concerns about what we’re doing to protect each other’s personal information at Sunnyhill, please email me at ximagoda@gmail.com.

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