Press

http://www.vancouversun.com/life/cross+Canada+pilgrimage+name+love/2752328/story.html

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/british-columbia/widows-walk-for-love-continues-activists-legacy/article1518170/

Info and PDFs for folks wanting the press release and other info..
Press release

Fool for love

The 101 day+ walking pilgrimage for love

In brief:

April 1 2010, Shaira Holman, artist, performer and artistic director of the Pride in Art Society is walking  over a 101 days for love, across Canada, as part of a fundraiser for marginalized GLBT folks.

In full:

When Catherine White Holman died in a plane crash off Saturna Island, a whole community mourned the loss of this beloved and innovative social worker. Hundreds of people lined Victoria Drive, paying tribute while her coffin was carried to her wake. Her memorial website overflows with messages from friends, colleagues and clients.

“Catherine was a remarkable person,” said Tevor Corneil, a physician at Three Bridges Community Health Centre in Vancouver where Holman was a founding staff member, part an interdisciplinary team providing free primary health care to marginalized populations. “I have worked with Catherine for 15 years, since I started out as a resident, and I have seen her help thousands of people.”

Chief among the mourners is her spouse, Shaira Holman, who on April 1, will set forth on a 4000 km walking pilgrimage across Canada, to honour her wife’s memory and to raise money for the Catherine White Holman Memorial Legacy Fund for GLBT’s individuals living in poverty.

“Catherine was an advocate for the disenfranchised,” Shaira Holman said. “The reason Vancouver has queer health programs like Boys R Us, Pride Health Services and the Transgender Care Program is because of Catherine’s work to create services for queers, transsexuals and street homos. She made space for us. She literally wrote the book on the care of GLBT patients:  Guidelines for Transgender Care and Care of Transgender Adolescents, which is used by social workers and medical professionals all over the world. She was a founding staff member at the Three Bridges Clinic and worked on the frontlines of the HIV epidemic. She saved lives because she listened and acted with compassion and love. Now she is gone.”

Holman will be leaving Vancouver on April 1 and walking for over 100 days. Only one woman has ever walked all the way across Canada. Asked why she’s taking on such an arduous journey, Holman said, “I’m not walking because I want to, but because I feel have to put one foot in front of the other. I can’t do Catherine’s work. All I can do is try to keep going, to honour her. I will be counting on the kindness of friends and strangers to help me make this pilgrimage, by providing food and shelter along the way. I’m hoping to get to Toronto for Pride Day July 4th, because walking for love is So Gay and then after that on to St Catherine’s”

Holman will be keeping a blog and the route is posted on Google Maps. She will start off on Highway 7 and then take the 3/3b. From Medicine Hat east, she will be on Highway #1.  People are welcome to join in the walking at any point in the journey.

Shaira has started the fund by providing $3000 seed money and hopes to raise at least $200,000.

So Far Supporting the walk and the Catherine White Holman Memorial Legacy Fund is, the Pride in Art Society, Techdonkey.com, and Mountain Equipment Co-op. Sophie’s pet palace and Around the Back Chiropractic
I hope you can support this monumental walk and the continuation of this important woman’s work.

There are many ways you can help out, for more information please go to;

www.SdHolman.com/walk4love

More about Catherine:

http://www.vancouversun.com/Remarkable+social+worker+among+people+killed+Saturna+plane+crash/2291224/story.html

http://www.xtra.ca/public/Vancouver/A_tribe_of_broken_hearts_bids_Catherine_White_Holman_farewell-8016.aspx

http://www.sdholman.com/catherine/

http://sdholman.com/walkforlove/catherines-legacy

Maps and Info about Shaira’s route of travel:

http://sdholman.com/walkforlove/route

There are several ways to donate to the Catherine White Holman Memorial Fund. You can make a

contribution to the Catherine White Holman Memorial Fund at CCEC Credit Union (101-2250

Commercial Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5N 5P9). You do not need an account number to donate to

the fund – simply advise the bank teller that you would like to donate to the Catherine White

Holman Memorial Fund. CCEC is wheelchair accessible.

We have also set up a Paypal account to facilitate online donations to the Catherine White

Holman Memorial Fund. To donate online please visit Paypal. The e-mail address for donations is

donate@sdholman.com

We thank you for your support of the Catherine White Holman Memorial Fund. If you have any

questions about the fund, please e-mail donate@sdholman.com.

100 days, 100 nights, before you know a mans hearts…. and a little more before he knows his own…..

Sharon Jones