FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Loreena to speak & perform at gala event Thursday
Community Living’s ‘Swing into Spring’ fundraiser

STRATFORD, ON– Excitement is building for Thursday’s 14th annual gala fundraiser in support of Community Living Stratford & Area and the event includes a guest appearance by award-winning artist and local resident Loreena McKennitt.

Tickets for the gala are $50 each or $95 per couple, available through Community Living at 519-273-1000 extension 0.. It takes place at the Best Western Arden Park Hotel, with cocktails from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. and dinner from 7:00 to 8:00. Loreena’s presentation will begin at 8:30.

Community Living is a not-for-profit organization helping adults with developmental disabilities pursue richer and more rewarding lives through involvement in everyday activities.

As owner of the Falstaff Family Centre in Stratford since 2000, Loreena has long taken an interest in the welfare of children and child development issues. Her presentation, which will have both a musical and a speech component, will focus on the state of childhood in our contemporary world. She will review how factors, such as loss of ‘the village’ and the proliferation of ‘connection technologies,’ have had potentially detrimental effects on child development and family life.

“I’ve long held the belief that the ‘village’ indeed raises a child and that we need to take care what kind of village is entrusted with that,” says Loreena. “In this age of ‘disruptive innovation’, which has also spawned such words as ‘digital dementia’ and ‘nature deficit disorder,’ experts around the world are now revealing many of the unintentional by-products of these connection technologies. My hope for Thursday evening is that I can share some of what these experts have to say. Smart cities or wise communities? – that is one of the issues facing us all today.”

She has performed in some of the world’s most-respected and historic concert venues, from Carnegie Hall to the famous Alhambra Palace in Granada, Spain and for dignitaries including Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and numerous heads of state.

In addition to her musical career which has seen over 14 million recordings sold and numerous awards, McKennitt has been recognized for a number of noteworthy philanthropic initiatives, including: The Cook-Rees Memorial Fund for Water Search and Safety and the establishment of Falstaff Family Centre in Stratford. She currently holds the role of Honorary Colonel of the Royal Canadian Air Force.

Her extensive charitable and community work has seen her awarded the Order of Canada, Order of Manitoba and honourary doctorates from Wilfrid Laurier University, University of Manitoba, Queen’s University and George Brown College.

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For more information, please contact:
Phone: 519-273-3876
Email: press@quinlanroad.com