Operation Triumph

Short hiatus ... Back soon!

2009-08-17T19:42:00.004-04:00

Dear Readers,

It's been a while since I've blogged ... 2009 has been quite the year and Operation Triumph has basically been on hiatus since the passing of my beloved mother, Mei Ling, on April 24. She'd fought valiantly for years and showed me what true courage was ... I miss her dearly.

We did hold a small but successful fundraiser "Laughter with Sprinkles on Top" on May 27 in honour of my mother, originally to be held on April 29, but postponed due to obvious reasons. Now I need to be quiet for a while to heal but my team and I, Operation Triumph, will be back soon to again push forward with our efforts to help vanquish cancer!

Much love to you all for your continued support and encouragement ... Thank you.

Bonnie Mak
Captain, Operation Triumph

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Originally published in www.irongoddess.ca :

When it FINALLY hit me that I would lose my mother to an incurable cancer, my heart and soul cried out in anguish and that "little girl" inside of me, with insecure, selfish, little girl needs of love and affection, awakened and wailed.

I realised how much I still needed my mother.

And though I knew it would be difficult, the inevitability was that I would have to let her go, ready or not. So, for every day that I still had my mother, I loved her as deeply and tenderly as I could.

Some people have bitterness and resentment towards their parents during their adult lives. I felt none of this towards my mother and realised that life was too short for blame. Could haves, would haves, should haves. None of this meant anything in the face of death. No point in ruminating over what wasn't perfect, for the Universe knows I was far from it.

I dedicate the following to my beloved mother, Mei Ling, who passed away peacefully on April 24, 2009 after a courageous three-year battle with cancer.

I will always love and miss you, Mom ...

Native American Prayer

I give you this one thought to keep
I am with you still – I do not sleep
I am a thousand winds that blow
I am the diamond glints on snow
I am the sunlight on ripened grain
I am the gentle autumn rain
When you awaken in the morning’s hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight
I am the soft stars that shine at night
Do not think of me as gone
I am with you still – in each new dawn.

"Awakenings" Spirituality Workshop

2008-07-05T22:15:00.000-04:00

What an absolutely wonderful workshop! Thanks to teachers Michael Rudder and Nicole Moronval for their very interesting and informative workshops. The room filled with serenity and positivity as we opened up our hearts and souls to this beautiful inner journey. Everyone enjoyed the experience!

Michael Rudder, who has 35 years of experience studying and practising various meditation techniques introduced us to "Synchronicity High-Tech Meditation", which is a powerful technique that combines the knowledge of the great wisdom traditions with the cutting edge of modern technology. It does not include a belief system, and there are no rituals or cultural conformities involved.

Nicole Moronval has been teaching development classes and workshops since 1984. She is best known for her mediumship and intuitive counseling, and her powerful motivational discourses. Nicole presented "Energize your life!" We are all vibrational beings, living in a vibrational universe. Abraham-Hicks calls this "the secret behind The Secret." There is an invisible web of Universal Energy and Consciousness, which has been called "the divine matrix," that connects all life on this planet and beyond.

Kudos to both teachers, Michael and Nicole, for taking us all on this remarkable journey! Thanks to Melanie Richards of Happy Tree Yoga for sponsoring the event and providing us with such a beautiful space! And thanks also to all the participants for your generosity.

Soul Travel, India

2008-04-30T23:57:00.000-04:00

Another fantastic slide show by Jonathan Clark.

Tonight's photo exposition was the last in a trilogy entitled "Soul Travel" and covered Jonathan's 5-week trek to India in November 2007. Special guest singer, Jackie Celemencki, closed the show beautifully by singing an acoustic set in sanskrit, adding a wonderful touch to an already visually stunning show. Jonathan, what a wonderful surprise you gave us with all those digitally recorded sounds taken right from your trip!

Thanks to our sponsors, Confusion and AV-Solutions, and of course to our favourite photographer, Jonathan Clark and our wonderful singer, Jackie, whose voice gives you shivers!

I'm looking forward to the encore presentation of this show Wednesday, May 14. See you there!

Jonathan, Bonnie, Amjad, and Amjad's friendMichael, Niki and OliverJonathan, Amjad and Amjad's friend Erik and GeoffBonnie and Geoff

Selected images from the show:

Farewell to Don Kirk

2008-04-23T09:19:00.001-04:00

An actor friend of mine that I've done countless workshops with passed away from cancer last night. I am so sad. I had been meaning to go see him at some point but wasn't sure how to approach him and his family since I'd never had contact with him besides for acting ... now I feel so bad ...

Rest in peace, Don. You were a great man and a fantastic actor.

Soul Travel, Burning Man

2008-04-10T15:46:00.001-04:00

What can I say?

The fundraiser last night was superb and was well-attended, so much so that I didn't have time to take photos before the show since I was incredibly busy at the door.

Jonathan Clark, you are incredibly talented and delightfully entertaining and I thank you for your generous contribution to Operation Triumph.

Tom from AVI Solutions, I thank you for donating the screen rental. It's incredibly awesome to see Jonathan's images on that 92" screen.

Edward from Confusion, I thank you for allowing us to use your wonderful space and for again supporting our charitable endeavour.

And thank you to all of you who attended and enjoyed the show! India's next on the agenda on April 30th, we'll have some surprises ... see you there!

Here are some of our guests hanging out post-show:

And here are a few selected images from the show:

Celebratory Potluck!

2008-04-01T02:25:00.005-04:00

So now that the website is officially launched and we've had our first event, we figured it was time to get together and enjoy good food and good company. We were a small group as it seemed that this past weekend was a favourite either to become ill or get out of town.

Nonetheless, we were able to welcome three new members that day, Jacky, Erik and AJ. Thanks so much for coming by and sharing your company.

We were presented a special treat by Jacky. A short acoustic set accompanied by her incredibly beautiful and touching vocals. This woman sings with her heart and soul and sends shivers up your spine. She is charismatic and engaging and a fantastic story teller. Jackie sang a haunting song in Sanskrit and even though I didn't know what the words meant, my heart somehow knew and I was moved to tears.

Jacky will be performing a benefit concert for Operation Triumph in the near future. Don't miss it!

Incredible how the team has grown so quickly. Geoff said maybe it's the exponential factor ... We're up to 12 new members!

Soul Travel, From Auckland to Montreal

2008-03-20T17:15:00.021-04:00

A huge thanks to all those who attended our first fundraiser last night. Your support means a lot to us. Here are some pics from the fantastic evening:

Jonathan Clark, the photographer

Yes, that is a 92-inch projection screen provided by our generous sponsor, AV-Solutions ... Thanks Tom! The images were wonderfully huge!

Operation Triumph (left to right):

Annie Gendron, Jonathan Clark, Bonnie Mak, Véronique Champoux, who just joined the team (yay!) and Geoff Brown

And here's Edward Zaki, working hard as usual ... Thanks Ed for donating the use of your fabulous space on the second floor of Restaurant Confusion.

So, a very fun and funny evening indeed. (Jonathan, was on fire!) We hope you'll be able to come out to our next events in the Soul Travel photo exposition series, held again at Confusion:

Burning Man - Wednesday, April 9

India - Wednesday, April 30

Cheers!

Some pics from the show:

Comment l’Opération Triomphe a débuté …

2008-02-19T23:24:00.003-05:00

L’idée de former un équipe de bienfaisance m’est venue pour la première fois en 2006 alors que je m’entrainais et amassais des fonds pour participer à Ironman Canada comme membre de Team Diabetes de l’Association canadienne du diabète. Ayant amassé des fonds au cours des années passées pour différentes organisations à buts non lucratifs, j’ai pensé qu’une structure flexible permettrait aux gens voulant participer d’avoir un plus grand choix dans leur façon de contribuer au projet.

Peu de temps après m’être joint à Team Diabetes, ma mère qui est diabétique, a reçu un diagnostique de cancer et j’en étais terrassée. J’ai déjà perdu deux tantes et un oncle au cancer et ils me manquent toujours après toutes ces années. À ce moment, le but de ce projet est devenu très clair : cette équipe amasserait des fonds pour la Société canadienne du cancer puisque celle-ci rejoint tous les types de cancer, et non pas un seul.

De par les projets de bienfaisance auxquels j’ai participé, j’ai compris une chose : les gens veulent aider et croient en ce que j’essai d’accomplir. Leur appui et leurs encouragements étaient incroyables et je ne l’oublierai jamais. Ça m’a fait réfléchir … est-ce que ça ne serait pas incroyable d’employer toute cette bonne volonté pour créer quelque chose de positif et qui ferait une encore plus grande différence? Je ne voulais pas que les gens voulant participer aient des limites, que ce soit pour les événements sportifs auxquels ils peuvent prendre part, le bénévolat qu’ils veulent faire ou les activités de financement à organiser. Un autre but du projet serait de sensibiliser les gens aux différents types de cancer et aux traitements disponibles. L’aspect le plus important serait de donner une voix à tous ceux qui ont été touchés par le cancer et qui ont besoin d’en parler ou d’être entendu, commençant par moi …

Nous n’avons plus à nous sentir impuissant … nous pouvons choisir de faire une différence et de se joindre à la lutte contre le cancer.

J’ai partagé ce projet avec mes amis qui ont décidé aussitôt de s’impliquer. Après plusieurs rencontres de planification, un nom et une structure ont été choisis. Peu après, nous avons reçu l’appui de la Société canadienne du cancer.

L’Opération Triomphe est devenu réalité.

Chaque personne qui se joint à l’équipe, qui visite le site Internet ou le blog, qui participe à un événement ou qui fait un don au projet a une raison bien à elle de participer.

Je dédie ma contribution à cette lutte contre le cancer à ma mère, Mei Ling, qui est malheureusement en phase terminale puisqu’elle ne peut plus recevoir de traitement. Elle a été, et est encore, mon inspiration pour cette équipe de bienfaisance. Elle m’a montrée a être à généreuse et à l’écoute des autres.

Je t’aime tellement maman ...

How Operation Triumph started...

2008-02-10T17:26:00.001-05:00

The idea of an "umbrella charity team" first came to me in 2006 while I was fund-raising and training to participate in Ironman Canada as a member of Team Diabetes, Canadian Diabetes Association. Having fund-raised for various charities over the past years through athletic and social events, I thought this sort of flexible team would allow people more choice in how they could contribute.

Shortly after I joined Team Diabetes, my diabetic mother was diagnosed with cancer and I was devastated. I had already lost two aunts and an uncle to cancer and I still miss them all though several years have passed. The fund-raising goal behind this "umbrella charity team" became clear. It would help the Canadian Cancer Society since it was not specific to any one type of cancer but to all.

One thing that I learned on each of my fund-raising journeys was that people wanted to help and believed in what I was trying to accomplish. Their support and encouragement was incredible and I will never forget that. This made me think ... wouldn't it be amazing to put all this goodwill together to create something positive, something that could make an even bigger difference? I didn't want any limits to which races someone could run or which events someone could organize or volunteer at. It was also important to me to create awareness about cancer and its treatments, but most importantly, I wanted a voice for those affected directly or indirectly by cancer who wanted or needed to talk or be heard, including myself.

We don't need to continue to feel helpless ... we can choose to make a difference and fight against cancer.

I spoke about this idea with my friends who committed right away and after several planning meetings, we came up with a name and a structure. Shortly afterwards, we received backing from the Canadian Cancer Society ...

Operation Triumph became a reality.

Each member who joins the team, and each person visiting the website or blog, attending an event, or making a donation will have his or her personal reason or reasons for contributing.

I dedicate my contribution in this fight against cancer to my mother, Mei Ling, who is unfortunately terminal as she can no longer receive any treatments. She is my inspiration for creating this team and taught me to be kind and unselfish.

I love you so much, mummy ...