NEXT US TOO GENERAL MEETING - TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2002
CAMPUS AUDITORIUM, WILLIAM OSLER HEALTH CENTRE, 7:00 - 9:00 P.M.
BRAMPTON MEMORIAL HOSPITAL, 20 LYNCH STREET, BRAMPTON, ONTARIO.

SEPTEMBER 10 WALTER "WALLY" SEELEY, C.P.C.N. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
As our first speaker of the new season, Wally will discuss "Living Proof," the Canadian Prostate Cancer Network's first national awareness campaign. Here's how it all started:
A year and a bit ago the support groups in Newfoundland got the idea of gathering prostate cancer survivors from every area of the province and photographing them as a group. The campaign promoted the fact that early detection is the basis for successful treatment of prostate cancer by presenting these chaps as the "living proof" that it works. The basic message of the campaign was: "See your doctor - get the test." 
The C.P.C.N. will be promoting this idea across the country as the first national Prostate Cancer awareness campaign. We are very excited about this major step on behalf of Prostate Cancer victims. As we are all aware, Prostate Cancer is the often neglected brother of Breast Cancer. This campaign should do a lot to change this. 
By now you should have received a pamphlet from the C.P.C.N. with our label on it requesting funds for this worthwhile campaign. Any funds donated will be tax deductible and 20% of all donations made by our members will be returned to Us Too - Brampton.
For more information, check the CPCN web site at http://www.cpcn.org.
 

JUNE 11 "COMPUTER NIGHT" & "POTLUCK DINNER" 
37 members and 14 of their partners attended the final event of our 2001 - 2002 season. Don Grant managed the Computer Night very well, even though his technical advisors were scattered throughout the world that night. The fact that Don is able to do so well with the complicated environment at the hospital should give encouragement to all potential computer users in our membership ranks. We hope to run a similar event in the future at a location where each participant can get some actual "hands on" experience that should help reduce the mystery of the subject.
Finally, our June potluck dinner followed. Our Secretary, Marg Butterly and her husband, member Sean, spearheaded this year's dinner. Initial fears that they might have to work miracles vanished as attendees brought unexpected and delicious contributions. 

UPCOMING MEETINGS
Our October 8th meeting will feature Urologist Dr. Stanley Flax, back by popular demand. He will discuss "Laparoscopic" surgery and what's new in the Brampton area.
Also on the planning board is a specialist on Cryosurgery for our November 12th meeting. At press time we were still working out the details. 
At our Christmas social on December 10th, we hope to bring you a very high level political figure from the Brampton area. More in next month's newsletter. 

"US TOO" PROMOTIONAL SHIRTS & HATS
We will be purchasing more Us Too - Brampton shirts and hats. These items are available to members at subsidized prices of $30 and $5 respectively. They are top-quality items as current owners will tell you. Don Grant still has a few shirts in stock for the larger members of the Chapter. 
 

NEW MEMBERS
The September New Member meeting will be held at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, September 24 in the auditorium  Morris Rambout has taken over as the New Member Coordinator, replacing Alec Gardiner who has kindly offered to be available as Special Consultant. Don Grant will serve as Morris's assistant as he did with Alec. 
The following people have joined our group since the June meeting: Manuel & Zitalina Baptista, Bruce Francisco, Gordon & Thelma Gopsil, Bob Green, Doug & Mary Anne Herlovich, Bill & Jane Hutton and Don & Bev Malcolm.

FINANCES
Our last year of operation exceeded expectations in a number of areas, thereby significantly increasing our bank balance. This gives your committee the resources needed to plan and carry out projects deemed necessary for the future. Here are some of them, in no special order: 
(1) Financial support for the Canadian Prostate Cancer Network's "Living Proof " campaign in 2003. 
(2) Purchase of a computer projector to improve presentations to you in both general & new member meetings and to outside groups that request our information. 
(3) A donation to William Osler Hospital in recognition of their generous, unceasing support of Us Too. 
(4) Incorporation as a charitable corporation has been accomplished over the summer; next we will register Us Too as a Charity for income tax purposes, thereby expanding our potential funding sources. 
(5) Opening an information room in Brampton is still considered necessary and is beginning to look more possible.
Many members gave their time and effort unselfishly this past year in order for this chapter to achieve its improved financial status. We are grateful to all who assisted by soliciting & making direct donations, by purchasing theatre tickets, by participating in the golf tournament and by serving on one or more active committees. 
On another note, we understand that Bramalea Live Theatre is again considering Us Too - Brampton as one of their primary donation targets. Instead of allowing us to sell up to 200 tickets as they did last year, they are considering donating the entire theater seating to us on March 19th 2003, a week after March break. Further details will be announced to us later. However, if we decide to go ahead with this we will need volunteers from the membership to form a committee to handle it. Our ladies are especially invited to get involved.
- Gerry Brunjes, Finance
 

AWARENESS REPORT
After a rigorous summer of training, Ian Smith, our intrepid Awareness Coordinator, is off to walk across England from west to east in an inspiring effort to increase awareness of Prostate Cancer in both Canada and England. His route is from St. Bees, Cumbria, to Robin Hood's Bay, North Yorkshire, a distance of 300 km (190 miles). 
His sponsored walk is in support of the Prostate Cancer Charity, London, England and the Brampton Memorial Hospital Foundation, William Osler Health Centre, Brampton, Ontario.
Check out Ian's web site at http://www.coast2002coast.net/ to follow his progress. And don't miss the great write-up on Ian's walk and on Us Too! on page 3 of the Friday, August 30th issue of the Brampton Guardian.
 

RELAY FOR LIFE
For the first time, Us Too - Brampton entered a team in the Relay For Life, which took place at the Caledon Fair Grounds on June 21 & 22. In the past, the prostate cancer support group has had members complete the "Survivor Lap" which starts the event. 
The Us Too team completed the noncompetitive relay, with members walking from Friday evening until Saturday morning, and raised over $1,000 of the more than $130,000 total pledged. 
This event originated as a pilot project in Ottawa in 1999 and has rapidly spread to other communities. Last year the various Relay For Life events raised more than $3.7 million in 31 locations across Canada. These annual events are operated by the Canadian Cancer Society. The Us Too team plus a number of additional Us Too members attended a Survivor Reception before taking part in the initial Survivor Lap. A good time was had by all. This year's team members have pledged to field a team again in 2003 and to do even better based on the lessons learned this year. 
- Jim Dorsey, Relay for Life Team Captain 

THE US TOO! BRAMPTON 2002 CHARITY GOLF TOURNAMENT
Seventy-nine ( 79 ) golfers teed off on Monday June 24th at the Acton Golf Club in our second annual Us Too - BRAMPTON Charity Golf Tournament. The cost of $60 per golfer included green fees, a power cart, water & power bar, a barbecue lunch and prizes for all participants.
The shotgun scramble event raised more than $3,500 for prostate cancer awareness. Additional funds were raised by two "twoonie" holes and a $500 grand prize draw.
The "Ivy Norris" memorial plaque was awarded to the winning foursome: Mike Tetlaw, Jim Ward, Tom Hancock and Renzo Castellarin.
Thanks to all the participants, the generous prize donors, the golf course staff and the many volunteers who made this a very successful day.
- Morris Rambout, Golf Committee Coordinator 

CHAIRMAN'S MESSAGE
Wasn't that a beautiful summer!! From a wet spring to the constant sunshine we have enjoyed for the past two months. We are commencing our 9th season as a support group; from lowly beginnings we continue to grow into the prominent group around the GTA.
This has taken a lot of work from each and every one of our committee personnel and throughout the summer they have maintained communication to ensure that our coming year will be informative and of interest to one and all. 
As a group we remain dedicated to helping newcomers and their spouses through the worrying period and spreading the word of awareness wherever we can. Your continued support and attendance makes it all worthwhile. 
See you on September 10.
- Fred Norris (905) 877-8092 fred.norris@sympatico.ca

"PARTNERS"
We propose to form a ladies' group called "Partners" within Us Too - Brampton. This group would meet as required during the year. The objective would be to spread around the many duties that have been handled by one or two of our partners up until now. 
Some of the possible involvements: serve on the New Member Committee to talk to spouses of the recently diagnosed, send flowers / plants to sick members, share the refreshment duties at monthly meetings, organize our two social nights in June & December and volunteer at our various awareness and theatre events & at our annual charity golf tournament. However, the most important and difficult role would be to help during the sickness and demise of a member. 
This is not a unique idea; several other support groups have their partners involved under such names as "Hand in Hand" and "Side by Side". We have tried to set this up before and failed, but now we have the strongest group of women in our ranks that we have ever had. I would like to assist the ladies in establishing a "partners" group by chairing the first meeting. Marg Butterly has offered her condo as a site for the first get-together. Your thoughts on this idea would be greatly appreciated.
- Don Grant, Member Relations 

OUR NEW WEB SITE www.ustoo-brampton.com IS ON-LINE!
Our new web site is now in full operation. It is the same old great site with a new name: "UsToo-Brampton.com".
The registration of the new name and the conversion from the old site to the new one was done by Mukul Luthra. Mukul and Don Grant will maintain and update the web site's contents. 
The original designer and web master of the site, Peter Dutch of Essex England, will continue to act as a consultant to Us Too! We hope to enjoy a visit with Peter when he comes to Canada to visit relatives in Brampton in early September. (Gee, if he happens to be here on September 10, he could be a guest of honour....)
We thank Don for his efforts and for his generosity in providing Us Too with a free web site for the last few years. 

WE HAVE TO CUT OUR COSTS
The Steering Committee has set a policy whereby any member who has neither attended a meeting nor remitted the $10 annual fee for 2001-2002 will no longer receive the Newsletter or be telephoned monthly, commencing in October. This was a difficult decision, but this fee has not been changed since our inception in 1994 and does not even cover the cost of supplies to print and distribute the Newsletter and to maintain our web site.
This action is not being taken out of greed or spite but out of realism. We assume that those individuals who meet the two criteria no longer need our services, hopefully because they are now free of our deadly enemy. Our scarce resources can then be reallocated to those members who are in need. 
Any member who ends up being "struck" from our rolls can be reinstated at any time by simply paying the current annual fee. Needless to say, anybody who ever needs our assistance is welcome to call upon us at any time. We are here to serve those who need us.