{"id":37948,"date":"2026-04-09T16:31:33","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T20:31:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=37948"},"modified":"2026-04-09T16:31:41","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T20:31:41","slug":"local-grandmothers-continue-work-of-stephen-lewis-foundation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/local-grandmothers-continue-work-of-stephen-lewis-foundation\/","title":{"rendered":"Local Grandmothers continue work of Stephen Lewis, foundation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Aurora grandmothers have supported their African counterparts as they\u2019re left to raise children orphaned by the AIDS epidemic for more than two decades through GranAurora, the local chapter of Stephen Lewis\u2019 Grandmothers to Grandmothers campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Grandmothers to Grandmothers campaign connects Canadian grandmothers with grandmothers in Africa left to raise their grandchildren orphaned by the AIDS epidemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the foundation of GranAurora 20 years ago, the team of local women, most of whom are retirees, have raised more than $250,000 for the Stephen Lewis Foundation \u2013 and have no intention of slowing down as the Foundation moves forward without its founder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lewis, who served as Member of Provincial Parliament, leader of the Ontario New Democratic Party, Canada\u2019s Ambassador to the United Nations and the United Nations\u2019 Special Envoy for HIV\/AIDS in Africa, lost his battle with abdominal cancer on March 31 at the age of 88.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cStephen was a respected humanitarian who spent his life championing social justice and human rights,\u201d said the Foundation in a statement. \u201cThroughout his political and international careers, he was committed to creating a more equitable world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was a commitment embraced by people across the country, and here in Aurora, his Grandmothers to Grandmothers initiative struck a special chord.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Grandmothers to Grandmothers campaign has raised millions of dollars for women struggling to raise \u201cmillions of children orphaned by AIDS.\u201d Its aim is to amplify the \u201cvoices and expertise of grandmothers in Africa and show the world that leadership by older women is critical in reclaiming hope and resilience across communities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The initiative is active in nearly 15 countries globally where local chapters diligently raise much-needed funds and awareness for the grandmothers \u2013 not only helping them with donations, but business grants designed to empower and inspire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cathy Gross, one of GranAurora\u2019s co-founders, was spurred to get involved after visiting Malawi with fellow Auroran and GranAurora co-founder Sharon Willan in 2000. There, they met with grandmothers who were living the reality of the AIDS epidemic every day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was a life-changing visit,\u201d says Gross, noting that when the Grandmothers to Grandmothers campaign was founded in 2006, they were eager to get involved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It all started with a potluck dinner at Aurora United Church and has evolved into a full program focused on two major fundraisers annually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI still remember the passion in Stephen Lewis\u2019 voice talking about these indomitable women who had lost all their children and were left to raise their grandchildren,\u201d Gross recalls. \u201cHe was overwhelmed with their needs, their resilience, and their love of their grandchildren. These African grandmothers love their grandchildren just as much as we do, and that\u2019s the hook.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fellow GranAurora member Lenore Pressley was also inspired by Lewis\u2019 words and what she viewed as the feeling that \u201cnothing was being done to help.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think Stephen Lewis was a particularly good role model for the kind of work we do,\u201d says Presley. \u201cHis whole life was dedicated to giving and I think he was an excellent role model for us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJustice is my passion and that was his passion as well,\u201d she continues. \u201cI see no reason to slow down at this point in time. In fact, we keep hoping to get even more members who are a bit younger than us!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moira O\u2019Bryan, another member of the group, has a similar view on keeping momentum going.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen Stephen Lewis was there in Africa witnessing all this, I got the impression that the rest of the world was saying \u2018Not my problem.\u2019 It\u2019s wonderful that he picked that up and now we\u2019re continuing that work of stamping the AIDS epidemic right out and supporting these grandmothers because, yes, we all know how they would feel as grandparents and as mothers, and to have that feeling of abandonment, like the world just doesn\u2019t care, is just so horrible. What we\u2019re trying to say is, yes, we do care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adds member Gwyn Gallant: \u201cThe Stephen Lewis Foundation certainly made me far more aware of what was going on in Africa. We\u2019re all grandmothers, and we\u2019re all connected to our grandchildren, and it just brings things home a lot closer with what\u2019s going on there. How can we help? GranAurora certainly does help. GranAurora has been a real boost for the Stephen Lewis Foundation, but it would be nowhere without Stephen Lewis.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All money raised by GranAurora and the wider Grandmothers to Grandmothers Campaign goes directly to the Foundation, which has team members on the ground to vet all proposed projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAll of the initiatives come from the grandmothers and we support what they need instead of telling them what they need,\u201d says Gross. \u201cI think that\u2019s a fairly unique model that perhaps some other organizations have adopted that a little more, but certainly that\u2019s the Stephen Lewis Foundation\u2019s away of fundraising. It totally empowers them. They\u2019ve gone from needing uniforms for their grandchildren to petitioning their governments for pensions and land rights. They\u2019ve done major strides in 20 years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And GrandAurora and its members will be there for them as long as they can.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNow, [Stephen Lewis\u2019 daughter] will continue to be a driving force through the Foundation to put an end to the AIDS epidemic in Africa and we, in turn, will continue our work through the Grandmothers to Grandmothers campaign to support the grandmothers in Africa left to raise their grandchildren. All the Grandmothers groups across Canada have become and will continue to be the family that surrounds African grandmothers with love and support.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more information on GranAurora, visit granaurora.ca. For more on the varied work of the Stephen Lewis Foundation, visit stephenlewisfoundation.org.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir
Editor
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter<\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Aurora grandmothers have supported their African counterparts as they\u2019re left to raise children orphaned by the AIDS epidemic for more than two decades through GranAurora, the local chapter of Stephen Lewis\u2019 Grandmothers to Grandmothers campaign. The Grandmothers to Grandmothers campaign connects Canadian grandmothers with grandmothers in Africa left to raise their grandchildren orphaned by the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37948","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-9S4","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-17 08:33:35","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37948","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37948"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37948\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37949,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37948\/revisions\/37949"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}