ICAN of Northeast Iowa

Financials …or Why are we always doing fundraisers?

Nov 6

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We’re at it again! ICAN of Northeast Iowa is in the middle of TWO different fundraisers right now! And if you’re thinking to yourself, “hey, didn’t they just have a fundraiser not long ago?”… the answer is Yes, we did. (In September we had our “Make Change for Change” , aka the “Baby Bottle” fundraiser collecting your spare change! )

Currently, we’re selling Younkers Community Day coupon books!
AND…
We have an online auction via MissionFish!

Please help ICAN of Northeast Iowa by participating in our fundraisers!

Then again, maybe you’re wondering “Why is ICAN of Northeast Iowa raising money all the time? What do they spend their money on? They are a non-profit organization, and they don’t even pay their volunteers, why do they need money?” Well, I’m glad you asked!

Let’s look at an example like our October 2012 monthly meeting – aka Healthy Pregnancy Class.

These were our costs:

• 3 babysitters for 3 hours each = $58
• 20 Door Prizes: $60
• Kid crafts/activities: $25
• Food for adults and kids: $20

Total Costs: $163

Donations received at event:

• Babysitting donations: $11
• Donation envelopes: $38.93
• “Eye-Can” donations: $10

Total monetary donations received: $59.93

In-kind donations of food and crafts for kids: valued at $25

So essentially our expenses exceeded our income by about $100. This is why we do fundraising all the time.

As a local chapter of our parent organization, we are required to complete financial reports every 6 months. Here is the 6 month financial report outlining our financial activity from Jan – June 2012. This is what we actually spent money on:

ICAN Six month report – June 30, 2012

And here is OUR WISHLIST of things we’d like to do… some of which we have, and some we need more money to be able to begin!

ICAN absolutely needs your financial support to further our mission and our focus on PREVENTION, RECOVERY and ADVOCACY.

We CAN change the culture of birth! We CAN improve maternal-child health! We CAN increase healthy birth options! We CAN empower families to make the decisions that are best for them in their unique situation!

Your donations of money and time are the only way our organization is funded and able to function! We appreciate your support!

Healthy Pregnancy Class 2012

Oct 12

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Click on the poster to RSVP via FACEBOOK!

Professional Subscriber Spotlight: Next Generation Midwifery, LLC

Apr 27

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Guest post written by Leilani Hall, CNM – of Next Generation Midwifery, LLC. ICAN of Northeast Iowa is excited to welcome Next Generation Midwifery as a Professional Subscriber to our chapter! Leilani is a midwife with a passion and a vision for seeing the next generation be born!  She has started Next Generation Midwifery, a private practice and midwifery training program. Leilani is eager to meet with women who are seeking resolution to past hurts and is also accepting clients for preconception visits.

___

At the start of 2006 I was stuck in a pit of depression.  Sleeping and crying were my daily activities, mixed with waves of despair.  Somehow I mustered enough strength to go to work most of my scheduled days, but one weekend my husband talked to my manager to tell her what was going on at home and that I wouldn’t be in for a few days.  I was humiliated…and frozen with fear.

Why was I so depressed…and suicidal?

My many attempts to find a ‘good counselor’ failed.  My husband joined the search.  He found a counselor who took a different approach to these issues:  Spirit-led prayer.

What is Spirit-led prayer?

Spirit-led prayer is basically listening to God.  In a prompting so gentle, He speaks through words, pictures, memories, visions, songs, or other ways unique to you.  He reveals what is at the root of the problem…then He shines His LIGHT on it, showing His perspective…which brings freedom and healing.

The facilitator helps by praying alongside…reflecting, clarifying, and encouraging.  What at first might be dismissed as ‘just imagination’, later becomes obvious that it was an intricate path of healing.

A Beautiful Beginning

For once a week over the next few months, I sat before the LORD, and let Him counsel me…and love me…and show me what was missing.  I felt like Swiss cheese:  I had holes in my identity, emotions, beliefs.  I’d gotten this far with various coping techniques and my natural abilities, but this was the time for significant healing.

Each session a heaviness lifted.  After only a few weeks, I felt like I was living again.  He lifted me out of a pit of despair, and gave me a new song.

Does Spirit-led prayer work for healing birth-related trauma?

Yes.  This type of prayer applies to many different types of issues, both simple and complex.  As I hear and read of the pain expressed by so many women in ICAN and the community, my heart yearns for everyone to know that there is hope for healing.

It is my desire to offer this type of prayer to women who are struggling with issues related to their birth experiences.  My first act as a midwife is to meet with women for these one-on-one sessions.

Today, when I see symptoms of my own pain surfacing, I turn to Spirit-led prayer as one of my tools for healing and wholeness.

May it be a source of healing for you, as well.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bFddhSQ-xs

Frequently Asked Questions:

If I am not a Christian, can I still participate in this type of Spirit-led prayer?

Yes!

What are your qualifications to facilitate these sessions?

My training as a lay person is in a type of Spirit-led prayer called Theophostic Prayer Ministry.  My professional training is in nursing and midwifery.  I am not a counselor or therapist.  If there are issues that arise that would be better addressed by a counselor, I will recommend this.

How long is each session?

Each session lasts about 60-90 minutes.

___

For more information, contact Next Generation Midwifery, LLC at: IowaMidwife@gmail.com, or 319-215-1581

Disclaimer:
ICAN’s Professional Subscriber Network is intended as an informational resource for consumers. ICAN is pleased to pass along the names of professionals who have given us permission to release their names for referral. Please understand that ICAN is not a credentialing agency or a regulatory body. As such, we are not responsible for the competency of the professionals listed. Consumers are encouraged to take responsibility for their birth experience by informing themselves regarding the competency of those professionals that they retain. Asking questions, obtaining local references and understanding that you are responsible for your own choices by thorough reading and discussing care with other parents and care providers is essential and is your responsibility.

We want YOU to join ICAN!

Apr 12

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Rosie says "Join ICAN!"

Have you been thinking about joining ICAN? Here’s a hint: NOW is the time to do it! Subscriptions to ICAN are discounted only once each year: during April!

So now you’re thinking, “Why should I join ICAN? What’s in it for me? What’s the value of a subscription to ICAN?”

Here’s what you get:

• FREE quarterly Clarion Newletter
• FREE ICAN webinars
• 10% discount at the ICAN online bookstore!
• Discount to attend the ICAN Conference

The ICAN Conference will be happening April 5 -7 2013 in Seattle, WA.  If you’re thinking about attending, your membership will pay for itself with the money you’ll save on your registration! This is the last chance you have to both subscribe at a discount, and take advantage of the early bird registration discount when it comes around this Winter!

Here’s what you’re doing by becoming a subscriber:

• Helping decrease unnecessary cesareans through education.
• Supporting women healing from past birth experiences and those who are preparing for birth.
• Providing financial support for our parent organization, and for our chapter!
• Making a statement that you support ICAN’s mission!

…but it’s more than that: by becoming a subscriber you are making a statement that you support ICAN’s mission.  The more people we have who make that statement the easier it is for our chapter to have conversations with local hospitals – asking them to make changes in their practice that better support families in our community (i.e. increasing access to VBA2C, or getting wireless EFM for VBAC moms, allowing skin to skin in the OR after a cesarean, asking for vaginal breech birth, and reversing VBAC bans).   Your chapter leadership is asking for those changes anyway, but imagine being able to tell our hospital administrators and local care providers that we have…  say 100 people in our community who are paid subscribers to our chapter who want to see those changes, too.  Or telling that to our local United Way when we are applying for a grant (we just went through this) – “How many people reliably support your cause”. That is tangible and concrete.

The same goes for our parent organization – When ICAN wants to have conversations with ACOG about increasing access to VBAC and family centered cesareans – to change guidelines… we have a MUCH bigger voice when we can say to them that we have (for example) 200,000 people who are paid subscribers who support our mission, and who want to see changes in maternity care in the United States (and in their own respective countries)!

Make a stand.  Be the voice of ICAN.

Nearly 1 in 3 women have cesareans in the United States each year. DO YOU care about advocating for the unique needs of cesarean and VBAC moms and babies and families? Help us create change.  Be the change you wish to see in the world. Put your money where your mouth is…  Cesarean awareness might not be sexy, and it sure isn’t something that we’ll see results for overnight… it takes long term commitment and dedication.  But if you believe in this cause – DO SOMETHING.

BECOME A SUBSCRIBER

DO YOU care enough to give $25/year?  DO YOU care enough to volunteer with your local chapter – even something as simple as bringing snacks, can be very helpful. Maybe you’re deeply committed to this cause – have you considered a lifetime membership?  NO matter where you are at on your journey, no matter what your financial situation, or work schedule, or how many kids you have – you can DO SOMETHING.

April is Cesarean Awareness month.  We’re asking YOU to DO SOMETHING.

IF you can afford it, become a subscriber -and RENEW your subscription if you’ve been a subscriber before!  If you can’t give your money, then give of your time and talents! VOLUNTEER for your chapter!

We need your help!  Want to know what our local chapter is hoping to spend your money on? See our WISH LIST -it all takes MONEY! And your subscription is a HUGE HELP for our parent organization, too!  ICAN is in the middle of a major website overhaul – that takes MONEY!   -Plus the expenses for the upcoming ICAN Conference! What have we spent money on so far this year? Babysitters for our monthly meetings, food for monthly meetings, registration fees for two Baby Expos, printing fliers, buying books + DVDs for our lending library- and there’s so much more we want to do!  That all takes (you know what I’m going to say…) Money.

We CAN change the culture of birth! We CAN improve maternal-child health! We CAN increase healthy birth options! We CAN empower families to make the decisions that are best for them in their unique situation!

To me, that’s the real value of a subscription to ICAN.

(Special thanks to my ICAN mentor Ruthie, who really deserves the credit for all these ideas! -Kelly)

3rd Annual Child and Baby Expo

Mar 30

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Come say “Hi!” to ICAN of Northeast Iowa at the 3rd annual Child and Baby Expo, Saturday March 31, at the Sullivan Brothers Convention Center in downtown Waterloo. (Directions are here!) Doors open at 10am and all the fun winds down at 3pm!  Our ICAN booth will feature fun prizes for kids, and parents have a chance to win super prizes as well!  We’ll be right across from the BOUNCE HOUSE!

Looking for a discount?  Use this coupon for $2 off admission from 11am – 3pm!  Print the coupon, or show it on your smart phone!

Child and Baby Expo COUPON

ICAN’s resources

Jan 29

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Thank you to everyone who attended our January meeting for the great discussions we had on this topic!

The topic of our first monthly meeting of 2012 was: ICAN’s resources!  The good news is that this is a very dense topic because there are so many resources available specifically within our chapter and from our parent organization the International Cesarean Awareness Network!  Whether you attended our meeting or not – I don’t expect anyone to have all these resources memorized!  So I’m going to share my outline from the meeting, including links to everything we discussed!

Please note – this is only an outline, and each of these pages and links deserves so much more description and explanation! Please take the time to explore each of these websites, pages and articles for more information!  And as always, please contact Chapter Leader Kelly Fischer for more information, recommendations and support!

If you’d like to check out (or return) an item from our lending library, please attend one of our monthly meetings, or contact us at icanofnortheastiowa@gmail.com !

Local Chapter resources

Lending Library

1. Recommended books – cesarean stories, VBAC birth stories, advocacy , pregnancy, PPD
2. Recommended DVDs, CDs

Chapter Website

1. Stats
2. Links
3. Articles (make sure to scroll down the whole page to see tons of info about cesareans, VBAC, VBAmultipleC, birth plans, emotions, breech, PTSD, PPD, homebirth, CBAC, etc)
4. Events
5. Join ICAN

Facebook group

Chapter officers + Advisory Council members: Kelly (Chapter Leader), Jennifer (Chapter Co-Leader), Maria (Secretary), Linda (Treasurer), Diana (Librarian), Members at Large: Tracey, Susan, Kyle

Professional Subscribers

1. Mrs. G’s Birthworks
2. Looking for more professional subscribers!

Personal Subscriptions – JOIN ICAN!

1. Make a statement that you SUPPORT our mission!
2. Free quarterly publication: The Clarion
3. 10% discount at the ICAN Bookstore
4. Free webinars + discounts on ICAN events like the ICAN Conference!

Volunteer for our chapter!

Parent Organization resources

Main ICAN website

How to Navigate

1. Pregnancy
2. Recovery
3. VBAC
4. Advocacy

White papers

1. Pregnancy
2. Breech
3. Family Centered Cesarean
4. Recovery
5. Breastfeeding after a cesarean
6. PPD + PTSD
7. VBAC
8. CPD
9. Uterine Rupture

ICAN Blog

ICAN Bookstore

ICAN yahoo group– email support

ICAN forums – online support group

ICAN on Facebook!

1. ICAN
2. ICAN Conference
3. CBAC support
4. Other chapters!

ICAN EVENTS:

ICAN Conference –

1. Handouts from last year’s conference!
2. Order papers from previous ICAN Conference in the ICAN Bookstore

Webinars

Online support meetings: stay tuned to the ICAN Facebook page, or the ICAN yahoo email group for information about online support meetings!

First ICAN meeting of the New Year!

Jan 23

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Join ICAN of Northeast Iowa for our first meeting of the New Year!

Tuesday, January 24, 2012 – 6:30pm – Sartori Memorial Hospital, lower level.

FREE onsite babysitter!

Learn all about the resources that ICAN offers! Discover resources available from our local chapter and our parent organization ICAN! Including: recommendations in our chapter lending library, accessing info on our chapter website, our Facebook group, chapter officers, professional subscribers and more! PLUS: learn how to navigate the main ICAN website, the ICAN yahoo email group, ICAN forum, ICAN bookstore, ICAN Blog, and ICAN events like webinars and the ICAN Conference. This will be a fun and interactive meeting!! Feel free to BRING YOUR OWN LAPTOP (there is FREE WiFi) and explore or bookmark these great finds right along with us!

NOTE: if you are currently borrowing items from our LENDING LIBRARY, please make arrangements to return all items at (or BEFORE) this meeting! We’d like to show everyone our collection of unique books, DVDs and CDs! Please contact Kelly at: icanofnortheastiowa@gmail.com

Support Group will begin at 7:30pm.

Raffle for an Amazon Kindle

Oct 10

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Have you heard the news? ICAN of Northeast Iowa is holding a raffle for an Amazon Kindle! Tickets cost $5 each.

Grand Prize: Amazon Kindle

Second Prize: $50 cash

Runner Up Prizes: Gift Certificates to area businesses

Drawing will take place on Wednesday October 26, 2011, at the screening of “More Business of Being Born: Segment 4“.

“How can I get raffle tickets?”

Four easy ways to get your raffle tickets:

• Contact Kelly Fischer at 319-290-3731, or email: icanofnortheastiowa@gmail.com.
• Join us on Facebook and ask for raffle tickets!
• Come to our upcoming ICAN monthly meeting on Tuesday October 25, 6:30pm at Sartori Memorial Hospital.
• And OF COURSE raffle tickets will be sold at the movie screening on Wednesday October 26!

Fine print: Need not be present to win. Winner responsible for any applicable taxes. Minimum 50 tickets must be sold or raffle becomes a 50/50.

Do you ever wonder why we are doing all these fundraisers anyway?  What are we going to use the money for? Here’s our WISHLIST!

Movie Screening: Part 4 – MORE BUSINESS OF BEING BORN – “The VBAC Dilemma”

Oct 7

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ICAN of Northeast Iowa is proud to present the first-in-Iowa screening of “More Business of Being Born, Segment 4: The VBAC Debate!” This is the final film in the four-part series sequel to “Business of Being Born.” Ricki Lake and Abby Epstein investigate both sides of the debate surrounding “vaginal birth after cesarean” and follow several moms on their journey to attempt a VBAC.

Ticket prices are $11.54 and are available online at mbobbiowa4-eorg.eventbrite.com. (PLEASE NOTE: Ticket prices are determined by movie producers and cannot be discounted for ICAN of Northeast Iowa members.)

WHEN: Wednesday, October 26, 5:30-8pm

WHERE: Waterloo Center for the Arts, 225 Commercial St. Waterloo, IA  (Directions are here!)

*

FREE Food, door prizes, silent auction, and a raffle for a KINDLE are planned for the evening.

PLUS: LOTS of other great pampering surprises are in store as well – to find out about all the details, make sure to follow us on FACEBOOK!  We’ll be revealing more details each Wednesday up until the event!

UPDATE as of Oct 10: **On-site child care IS available.** We have secured a nearby room in the Waterloo Center for the Arts where babysitters will entertain your kiddos and feed them a light snack (You are welcome to bring their dinner if they haven’t eaten, and you want the sitter to feed them.) The charge is $3 per child or a max of $6 per family FOR THE NIGHT! You MUST contact Kelly BY FRIDAY OCTOBER 21 to let her know how many children you will be bringing: Phn: 319-290-3731. Email: icanofnortheastiowa@gmail.com

UPDATE as of Oct 12: **Wine Bar and Dessert Bar available.** Attendees may enjoy up to two glasses of complimentary wine and unlimited desserts at our two bars. A third “surprise” bar will be revealed on October 19!

Tentative schedule:
5:30 – Doors open; food is served; silent auction opens.
6:00 – Introduction; first door prize winners announced.
6:10 – Film begins
7:00 – Intermission; grab a snack, win some prizes, bid again!
7:45 – Film concludes; last chance to buy raffle tickets, bid once more, and win prizes.
8:00 – Optional discussion group; event concludes.

For more information, please contact Kelly:

Email: icanofnortheastiowa@gmail.com, or Phone: 319-290-3731