CDIC news – Page 2 – Children's Design International Collection, registered charity, Canada BN 770946317 RR0001

Chezuba and Neha have our back

Recruiting highly skilled volunteers can be challenging for an all-volunteer charity with acute strategic planning needs. These past several weeks, we have been assisted by Chezuba in finding the right talent, and develop a comprehensive fundraising strategy adapted to our mission and vision.

Chezuba is a platform that empowers individuals to make a meaningful impact on their communities and beyond through volunteering. It was founded with the vision of creating a bridge between skillful, passionate volunteers and organizations striving to make a difference. Chezuba believes that volunteerism is not just about giving back; it’s about personal growth, community building, and creating a ripple effect of positive change.

Chezuba helped recruit Neha Panchal. Her strategic thinking acumen combines local commitment with global sensitivity that matches our values and networking. Hailing from the vibrant nation of India, Neha is a multifaceted development sector professional with a profound passion for community advocacy and a deep love for the environment.

Neha Panchal is not only a dedicated professional but also a passionate advocate for environmental protection and community service. She proudly co-founded the Vadodara Garden Lovers Group, a community of over 4000 members dedicated to nurturing green spaces. Additionally, she is an active member of the Creative Group of Women of Waghodia Road, where her passion for community service and environmental preservation continues to shine. Her commitment to community service is further exemplified by her role as Director of Community Services at the Rotary Club of Vadodara Heritage. With a wealth of experience in the development sector, Neha’s professional skills shine brightly, encompassing proposal development, documentation of MOUs, project compliance management, reporting, and program evaluation.

Neha’s dedication goes beyond her professional pursuits, as she has an extensive history of volunteering domestically and internationally across a wide range of causes, including animal welfare, arts and culture, children, disaster and humanitarian relief, economic empowerment, environment, health, poverty alleviation, and social services. She is the Volunteer Fund Raising Strategist for our Collection.

Donate a motorized vehicle

We are partnering with Donate a Car Canada to accept your vehicle donation from anywhere in Canada. Donate a car, a truck, a RV, or even a boat. You will be provided free towing, or you can drop off your vehicle to maximize your donation.

When you donate your vehicle to our charity through Donate A Car Canada, it will either be recycled or re-sold (depending on its condition, age and location). Donate a Car Canada will look after all the details to make it easy for our charity. You will receive a tax receipt after your vehicle donation has been processed!

1-877-250-4904

**Red car on the road**. By Mathieu, c2000. Source: CDIC-CIDE.

ERIC inspires us

We collect and preserve cultural objects made by children, and we make those objects available for research purposes and for public interest. We believe it is important that children take part in the conversation about what they create, what they value, and whether they want to preserve or share memories or not.

For this reason, the CDIC’s board of directors has recently decided to publicly commit to upholding and promoting the principles laid out in the Ethical Research Involving Children (ERIC) Charter. The statements included in the Charter were collectively developed by the Centre for Children and Young People at Southern Cross University, Australia, and UNICEF’s Office of Research, Innocenti. It took several years of discussions and hundreds of researchers participated in the consultations that resulted in a compendium now available online in several languages.

Academic research in the humanities has increasingly used participatory methods, and the movement for open sciences has gained momentum in recent years. Meanwhile, children’s human rights have yet to become common knowledge and universally acknowledged. At CDIC, we believe it is important that collection contributors and collection users know that we care about children’s agency and well-being above all.

***ERIC Charter cover image***. Source: UNICEF Office of Research, 2023.

SHCY conference 2023

Well over 150 childhood and youth historians took part in person or virtually, in the Society for the History of Children and Youth’s conference this past few days, at the University of Guelph, Canada. All about childhood then and now, and what to make of it, the organizers granted us the opportunity to set up an information table, so that we could introduce our mission and collection to attendees.

The atmosphere was friendly and the hybrid sessions, and panel discussions aplenty, over two and a half days. This was a great opportunity to see historians in action in their “cultural habitat.” We were thrilled to contribute an image from the collection for the conference poster and program.

SHCY 2023 conference poster and program cover. Volunteer introduce CDIC to attendee. Source: CDIC-CIDE.

#ArchivesUnited – International Archives Week 2023

Each year, the International Council on Archives holds a world wide awareness campaign that promotes this invaluable human activity. We join the effort by reminding our followers and supporters to take good care of their personal archives, including their children’s contributions to their family history, and for the greater good in our collective experience. Take action by donating items to archives such as ours, so that future generations can be inspired to do the same.

This year again, for International Archives Day, June 9th, we take the opportunity to launch our fundraising campaign until November. Use our CanadaHelps donation form. Past support helped us make the collection available and searchable online, as well as attend community and professional events, where we meet people and build awareness for the cause.

Oh, mother!

With Mothers’ Day just around the corner, time is right to praise them and their vital contribution to humanity. Did you know that our collection spans several generations of mothers? This is to say that we celebrate them pretty much 24/7. Case in point, three women, three mothers, three doers who are among those who made the collection a reality.

Lisette Tremblay had saved drawings, collages and school works that she made as a child and a teenager in the 1940s. She kept to herself that she had preserved these items dear to her for decades, while raising a family, and until reaching the venerable age of eighty. She did the same for her children, most of whom are also represented in the collection. The collection even includes a collage by a great-grand-son of hers. The fonds named after her spans over sixty years, and is the most significant in this respect.

Gisèle Dallaire’s children are also well represented in the collection. The images were made in Montreal during the late 90s and early 2000s. Gisèle was an early supporter of the idea of our collection, long before it was even incorportated and established. Her two children were adults at the time of their contribution. It was a family initiative.

Sangeetha Gnanavel is from a new generation of mothers. She began volunteering with us from the early days of our activities, and has been a great supporter during the challenging outset of the pandemic. She helped us reach out to young families, precisely where children’s art is created, and also too often discarded, sadly.

Mothers, save your children’s art! Children, say thank you mom.

**The parrot**. Paper cut collage, 1940s, by Lisette Tremblay. Source: CDIC-CIDE.

Welcome to a new board member

It is with great pleasure that our organization welcomes Nish Parameswaran, our new board member. Bringing her energy and leadership to the table for a two-year term, Nish will help our Collection reach new heights and new followers.

Nish Parameswaran is a Science and Business graduate from the University of Waterloo, with over twelve years of experience in Logistics and Operations. She is a results-driven professional with a passion for creating efficiencies and driving change.

As a mother of two young children, Nish finds inspiration in their creativity and curiosity, which drives her to bring new ideas and fresh perspectives to everything she does.

We would also like to express our many thanks to Maya Grubisic and Dilshani Ranaraja, who both completed their terms with us this spring. Their ongoing support brought to life our current strategic goals and committee structure. Under their watch, we navigated the pandemic and our online visibility kept growing impressively. Thank you!

National Volunteer Week 2023

We join Volunteer Canada and all its affiliates in celebrating citizens who engage in volunteer activities around the world. Thank you to our current and past volunteers for their support and dedication in making our collection a reality.

We are actually looking for extra help on two of our standing committees this coming year, so please visit our committee mandates page and consider joining us, be it in person or virtually.

For the little ones, Volunteer Canada has this fun coloring page. Bring your colors to this week’s celebrations and share them for everyone to see you care.

In the ad below, a drawing from our collection made in 1970. It shows church goers all smiles on a bright sunny day, part of a religious class scrapbook.

**Volunteer Week 2023**. Sources: Volunteer Canada and CDIC-CIDE.

Ask about us at the HPL’s Locke Branch

Residents of the Kirkendall neighborhood in Hamilton (Canada) can now ask to browse our binder at their local public library branch on Locke street. It contains sample reproductions from our collection, ranging from the 1940s until now. Paper copies of our Contribution Form are also available on site, so families can add their own treasures at will. Locke street is the focal point of this friendly community, with small retail stores, good restaurants, busy cafés, and nearby schools.

We are glad to welcome the Hamilton Public Library in our Collection Partners Program. Other public and school libraries please feel free to inquire.

**Locke Branch**. Source: Hamilton Public Library.

Here we come, Archeion

A few weeks ago, we joined Archeion, an online service provided by the Archives Association of Ontario. A little over one hundred records, or about a fifth of our collection is now accessible on the platform, and all items will eventually make their way there. For easy access from our website, simply click on Browse the collection from the menu to the right.

For now, three of our fonds are visible on Archeion. Together, they present images from the late 1970s until recently. Our images from earlier decades will be added as we continue entering new records in the system.

Special thanks to Jazmine Aldrich, Archeion Coordinator, for kindly assisting us in this important step forward. Many thanks also to volunteer Michael K. Chow, who helped us identify the best online database solution for us.