Big news for our groups and leaders in September…

As we say goodbye to summer and welcome in the fall season, we are saying goodbye to some of our amazing group leaders and welcoming a slue of new ones.

First, an enormous thank you to Russ, the leader of the Poly group for the past two years. Your dedication and commitment will not be forgotten, please don’t forget us in your adventures and know that we are truly grateful to you and all you’ve done for us. Another so long to Sophie, the founder and initial leader of the Bisexual’s group. Your sassy self is sorely missed… but we will carry-on the torch you lit. Thank you for bringing this gift to us. We also say goodbye to Andreas and the Sex Nerds group, originally founded by Phuong from JoyToyz. We enjoyed hosting your group and sharing your passion for as long as we did. You have taught us important lessons in gender neutral dichotomy and that has in-turn evolved a new language at the ALCC. Thank you!

Second, we are thrilled to welcome so many new leaders to the ALCC this month!

We have the wonderful Sean and Eric Cote as our new Poly group leaders and instead of leading together that have agreed to host one Francophone and one Anglophone group so we can accommodate as many folks as possible. That is fantastic news! Please note the time change from 5-7pm to now 3-5pm. We are fortunate to have these two great leaders!

Next we have the fabulous Roger & Mx_Prince now leading the Bisexuals group which has gone through enormous changes. They now meet on the 2nd Sundays from 5-7pm. This active duo has been creating social events outside the ALCC to encourage more meaningful connections! Thank you to both of you.

Darth Daniel is joining myself in the BDSM group and will be offering some incredibly interesting topics and guests so stay posted. His energy brings us much to look forward to.

Then we have Sara-jay and Vanessa who have taken over the Gender Empowerment group, and what a perfect team! They are both welcoming and understanding to Trans* challenges as they identify as Trans* themselves. I’m very confident these two will be making some great leaps for our Trans* community on many fronts. Thank you ladies!

Last, but not least, we have Danny Boy who has been incredibly ambitious in regards to issues for people with disabilities. Though we have not yet officially announced this group as it’s still in a preliminary phase through the Board of Directors, I feel confident that we will be able to iron out any kinks by October. A name has no yet been decided but watch for it and stand back because Danny is on a serious mission! Thank you for your unwavering spirit Danny, we look forward to welcoming you to the team!

Now this is all quite amazing since we’ve imposed many new responsibilities that might otherwise frighten the lot away. But NO… they have accepted this challenge and hopefully with great competence and consistency. That is what we need to run such an important organization and without that and all our volunteers, we simply couldn’t exist! We are increasing our expectations of our leaders because it is THEY who encourage attendance and the growth of the groups. They will now have the responsibility of:

1)  Planning and putting together thought provoking, educational discussion groups, short films, activities, or exploring different topics related to their group.

2) Publicise their groups wherever possible (The ALCC already advertises on our medias and creates their events but the group leaders promote as well)

3) Being engaged and passionate about building up their groups

4) Regular write-ups from their group at the end of each Sunday (English and French)

5) Providing topic of discussion one month in advance for our website

6) Leading their groups page on the ALCC website

7) Sharing our ALCC website postings and info for their group on their social media

6) Creating printed materials for people looking for resources (we have a templates)

7) Following the Group Coordinator Contract (ex: maintain safe space policy, lead in conjunction with our mission, arrive early for set-up, etc.)

Whew, that’s a lot!

Here’s a little feedback from this Sunday’s past Poly and Bi groups:

” … our main subject for the Bi Group was “Coming out” and we adressed a dozen angles around that subject… We had about 14 participants and it went really well, although 4 people arrived late and that it was really disruptive…” – Mx_Prince

“… the bi group and poly 101 were both fantastic and well attended. Congrats…! I think it’s great that we do this all on the same day. Cheers…” – Roger

“… it went well, 16 total attending…” – Sean

We’ll check back again to see how these groups evolve, you don’t want to miss a beat!

– Alura