Author: Jeff Goldie

Featured Jeff Goldie

Scona Initiative is here!

Every year, Strathcona High School organizes a school-wide fundraising campaign for an Edmonton Not-for-profit organization that focuses on community development work either locally or internationally.  They call it the Scona Initiative.   This year, the Scona student body selected Sombrilla’s Honduras CAL program as their organization and program of choice!   CAL (Computer Assisted Learning) is an alternative Jr. High education program designed for isolated remote communities in mountainous Honduras.   This 5-minute video captured the imagination of the Scona students.    Between December 13 of this year and February 2025, students will be seeking sponsors for the 24-hour bike-a-thon.  Anyone interested in sponsoring or participating in the bike-a-thon should contact Sombrilla at connect@sombrilla.ca

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Featured Jeff Goldie

CAL Project receives our Seacan!

On September 27th, a Seacan from Canada arrived in Honduras with a load of computers, sewing machines tools and other materials. Sombrilla’s Computer Assisted Learning project is dependent upon having sufficient computers for the students to work on. Here in Canada we can receive donations of good used computers, then we need to get them to the project in Honduras. In late 2019 a computer collection initiative began and with its success came the idea of filling a Seacan with computers and other items which would be used to support education and vocational programs.

In March 2023, a 40′ seacan was purchased and the task to load it at the Warkentin farm in Tofield began. Over the next 14 months the Seacan was loaded with about 500 computers, 110 sewing machines, 800′ of chain-link fence and many vocational tools. On June 18, 2024 a 100 T crane lifted the Seacan onto a truck and it was bound for the Edmonton Railyard.

On September 27th, the container arrived in Puerto Cortez, Honduras and was transported by truck to the learning centre in Santa Cruz. Our ACH partners got to work unloading and preparing to convert the Seacan into a classroom for the new vocational training program that will be offered to youth as they graduate from grade nine.

Thank you to everyone who worked so hard to make this happen and to the donors who provided the funds. 

Featured Jeff Goldie

International Dinner – Nov 2nd

This years Keynote Speaker is Malcolm Azania speaking on “Breaking Barriers to Education in Latin America.” 

Saturday, November 2nd, 2024 at the Polish Hall 10960 104 street, Edmonton.
Doors open at 5 PM and Dinner is at 6 PM.

Check out our Silent Auction items, and help us achieve our development goals by participating in our Live Auction.

Live entertainment featuring former World Champion Irish dancer Damien Noone, accompanied by daughters Molly and Annabelle.

Tickets are $45 per person, or buy a table for 8 ($320) or a table for 10 ($400).

Follow link to purchase tickets (Eventbrite Sombrilla International Dinner Tickets)

Jeff Goldie

Take Five does Canadiana with Alfie Myhre

Sombrilla invites you to join us for an afternoon of music, food and learning in support of our Computer Assisted Learning Project in Honduras. The project breaks down barriers to education by providing a means for youth who would otherwise be excluded to continue their education beyond grade six.

Music will be provided by Alfie Myher and local singing group Take Five

We will be joined virtually by Dunia Molinas, the leader of our projects in Honduras with some inspiring stories of the work we are doing there.

Dinner will follow – a corn roast, sausage on a bun (vegan and gluten free options available), cookies for dessert.

Where: Ukranian Center, 11018 97th street, Edmonton

When: Sunday June 9th, 2024 starting at 3:00 PM

We hope to see you there! Tickets are available on Eventbrite, by eTransfer to Sombrilla (donate2sombrilla@gmail.com) or from Sombrilla Board Members and Volunteers, email Wendywbaergen@hotmail.com

Jeff Goldie

Sombrilla’s AGM

Please join us as we gather to celebrate our year, to recognize the contributions of our members, supporters and volunteers and to elect our new board. All Sombrilla members in good standing can vote and memberships will be available at the meeting.

This year we are happy to welcome Bill Howe as our keynote speaker. Bill will be speaking on the need to find ways to reduce the barriers to education and how Sombrilla projects are doing that in El Salvador and Honduras. 

The meeting will be hybrid again this year. There is a link to our Zoom for those who would prefer to join us remotely. The zoom link will be active from 6:30 to 7:45 pm.


Please note that there may be a library strike staring in the next few days. If the library is closed on February 27th due to the strike, we will make other arrangements. Watch for an email with a new location.

6:00 – 6:30 refreshments and socializing
6:30 – 7:45 Keynote and business meeting
7:45-8:15 refreshments and socializing

Keynote Speaker Bill Howe: Removing Barriers to Education

Bill is passionate about issues of education, global citizenship, student voice and student agency. After a year in Nicaragua and seeing the political activism and contributions of adolescents and young adults, he left a career in engineering to become an English Language Arts and philosophy teacher, believing that change will come through the engagement of youth.

Throughout his career he has been involved with numerous student-led activities, learned from and with students in various social justice groups and worked in every level of education, from K to post-secondary, consulting, Alberta Education, university, and the Alberta Teachers’ Association. Expanding his understanding and appreciation of the challenges and opportunities of education, he has had the privilege of travelling to many countries of the world and has had two brief assignments in Uganda through Project Overseas.

After 32 years in the classroom and completing his PhD in education addressing the challenges of education, polarization, and complacency, he continues to work with struggling students at Centre High and teaches periodically at the University of Alberta
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As a volunteer on several committees and boards, he is involved in numerous projects researching and supporting global citizenship, student mental health and belonging, and striving as much as possible to support education of, by and for compassion, relationships, and generative difference.

Jeff Goldie

Snowfall and Psalms: A Classical Winter Concert

American soprano Emma Petersen and musician David Vazquez warmly invite you to a charity concert on November 25, 2023, from 12 PM to 2 PM at the Holy Trinity Anglican Church in Edmonton.
In collaboration with Sombrilla, this musical initiative aims to raise funds for a crucial project in El Salvador.  The project facilitates scholarships for young adults from rural communities, enabling them to pursue post-secondary education. Upon completing their education, these young adults contribute back to their communities, sharing their skills and knowledge with local youth and nurturing a cycle of empowerment and education.

The concert’s rich musical repertoire will be a blend of classical and seasonal music, with selections from Handel’s Messiah, Debussy, Poulenc, and cherished Christmas staples. While admission is free, we encourage attendees to reserve a ticket and consider making a generous donation to support this life-changing cause for young adults in rural El Salvador.

Reserve a ticket here

Jeff Goldie

Introducing Rachel Levee, our Keynote Speaker for the International dinner

Pathways to Partnership: Centering our work in community and communication
Rachel (she/her) is the current Interim Executive Director of the Alberta Council for Global Cooperation.  Prior to holding this role, she was the Director – Spur Change Program, while her colleague Andréanne Martel was on parental leave.
Before joining the ACGC team, she was the acting Executive Director, and former Vice-president of the Board, for the Pacific Peoples’ Partnership, a Canadian NGO dedicated to supporting the work of Pacific Islanders through community-led initiatives. She is also active within her local community as a volunteer with her child’s school and as a member of the Canadian International Council (CIC), including previously acting as Community Advisor, and former co-chair, to the South Vancouver Island (SOVI) chapter of the British Columbia Council for International Cooperation (BCCIC). For five years away from paid work, she had the privilege of spending the majority of her moments with her young child, and prior to this time, she was the National Coordinator for the ICN (Inter-Council Network).She has worked and volunteered in various capacities with partners both locally and internationally, including AMREF Health Africa, Shanti Uganda, and Class Afloat, largely focused on community building, knowledge sharing, and good practices in non-profit governance. She loves cycling but has trouble changing tire tubes, and she is currently working her way through reading the books she bought last year, because she tends to be overly ambitious about her reading time. She is currently enjoying the shifting of the seasons to autumn, as she joins the ACGC team from and lives with gratitude on the lands the Songhees and Esquimalt Nations of the lək̓ʷəŋən Peoples (also known as Victoria, British Columbia.