Just like our business customers, groups can host their website with Charles Buchwald & Friends for a year, including web pages, email, mailing lists, file transfer, and more.

Hosting is fast, very secure, easy to manage, and well supported by an enthusiastic and community-minded local business. It’s also carbon neutral.

Join groups including the Bandemonium Music Society, Salt Spring Community Education, WOLF Kids, and many others.

UPDATE: Save Our Surgery is the first recipient of hosting this month. Only 2 accounts left now.

As long time residents of Salt Spring Island and the Gulf Islands this is one of the ways we give back to the community and the people we love.

If you are a charity or a Gulf Islands community group, please contact us.

UPDATE: July applications are closed. 2 additional community groups have received donations, but will wait to announce their projects. Thanks, everyone, for another great month of small scale philanthropy!

©2010 Charles Buchwald & Friends. All Rights Reserved.

According to the group:

In 2004, a new “state of the art” operating room was completed at Lady Minto Hospital, together with an excellent Central Supply Room to provide sterilization of instruments as required by the new standards.

This project was funded by the Capital Region District ($1.1 million), the Vancouver Island health Authority ($1 million) and, at the request of the VIHA, $780,000 from the Lady Minto Hospital Foundation.

Since July 2008 this state of the art operating room sits empty and unused.

Please visit their site to sign their petition, learn more, or obtain contact information.

©2010 Charles Buchwald & Friends. All Rights Reserved.

©2010 Charles Buchwald & Friends. All Rights Reserved.

• Photo Editing for Photographers
• Websites for Community Groups

Register for a course with a friend, and one of you gets 10% off!

Photo Editing for Photographers

Back by popular demand after being offered last fall, this course is geared to beginners!

Learn how to edit your photos to improve composition, contrast and colour, to fix defects such as dust, scratches, redeye or incorrect exposure. Learn about key concepts including: dynamic range, resolution, file types, and workflow; and special techniques such as painting with light, restoration, photo montage, and more.

Together we’ll edit a variety of sample photos to create beautiful, powerful images. This is a great way to take your photography to the next level!

The lab will have PC’s and software available. We’ll use Adobe Photoshop CS2 in class, but the principles and techniques will apply to Elements, Lightroom, Aperture, GIMP, and other photo image editing applications.

Prerequisite: intermediate computer experience, including the ability to open, save and organize files.

Tuesday nights, for 6 sessions, from 23 March to 27 April, from 7:00 to 9:00 pm.

Web Sites for Community Groups

Turn over a new leaf!

Learn how to use a modern web system to build, maintain or renovate your community group website.
We’ll cover domain names, menus, static and dynamic pages, graphics, links, connecting to mailing lists, photo sites and promotional sites such as Facebook or MySpace.

The goal is to create or remodel your community group’s site by the end of the course.

Prerequisite: membership in a Salt Spring community group with permission to create or remodel the group’s site. Intermediate computer skills.

This is a great way to get a functional, easy to update and maintain website for your group, and to connect to local community groups on the web to share skills and resources.

Thursday nights for 6 sessions, March 25, April 1, 8, 15, 22, 29, from 7:00-9:00 pm

Details for both courses

About the Instructor: Charles Buchwald has 20 years experience as a creative professional, including graphic design, web development and photography projects for clients including BMW, Disney and Pillsbury. He enjoys sharing the experience of learning and has taught image editing and other classes in the U.S. and Canada.

Location: GISS Room S111 (the computer lab)

Note: the fees are primarily to cover use of the H.S. computer lab during the courses.

SPECIAL: REGISTER FOR THE SAME COURSE WITH A FRIEND, AND ONE OF YOU GETS 10% OFF

Please contact me if you have any questions about the course. Please contact Saltspring Community Education to register.

©2010 Charles Buchwald & Friends. All Rights Reserved.

2009 was great year for community service here at Charles Buchwald & Friends, with contributions to the SSI Farm and Barter Network, the Jazz and Blues Society, Griefwalker films, photography for the Raincoast Conservation Foundation‘s Predator Survey, and most notably, a major new site for the Centre for Child Honouring. (Congratulations on the new digs, Raffi and friends!)

Of course continuing support for the Bandemonium Music Society, the Crofton Airshed Citizens Group, the Luna Rose Prison Project, and the Salt Spring Vipassana Community was a pleasure to provide.

2009 was a great growth year for CB&F, including some fresh new projects. Retail Marketing Group and G. A. Industries helped start the year with some outstanding work in Adobe Flash. (Thanks, Doug, and Joern and Petra for being such great clients!) Later, 2009 welcomed new clients including Peter Allan’s Noble Sculpture Studio, North End Fitness, Hands On Healing Bodywork, and Westwind Translations.

Another major effort debuted in August, with the WOLF Kids website. What fun to celebrate the next stage of their programs with Harry Manx, Valdy, and friends on New Year’s Eve! Word is that another past client, Royal Roads University, may join forces with this innovative island school in the coming year.

Although it was a small project on a short timeline, it was an honour and a pleasure to renovate ronaldwright.com for one of the island’s, and the nation’s, more famous and insightful authors, Ronald Wright.

And wrapping up the year, new clients Greening Sports, ChemainusRental.com, and Hampton Stone Coaching worked with CB&F to create strong, focused new online marketing programs.

For more about CB&F’s history, activities, portfolio and so on, see the Archives.

Thanks so much to all the new clients for the year… especially those of you who are already working on new initiatives with CB&F for 2010!

©2010 Charles Buchwald & Friends. All Rights Reserved.

CB&F will be at the Salt Spring Island event to donate event photography and post the official photo. Check back to see the photo! Here’s the photo:

Climate Action Day on Saltspring Island, Canada

Here’s what Shoshanah Ray Waxman wrote about the event:

A critical mass bike ride and community rally was held on Salt Spring Island, BC with the theme “Ganges Underwater.” People are dressed up in snorkels, wetsuits and flippers to represent the result of climate change and rising sea waters on our island’s main village. A new water line was mapped out and marked with signs showing which local  businesses and landmarks would be submerged if waters rose 5 meters. Gathering at the high school gymnasium, we heard music from local artists, including a sing-along to a specially composed song “Be the Change” by Phil Vernon. The Raging Grannies graced us with their might, and high school student Geoff McFarlane shared a song titled “Let my World Revolve.” Child entertainer Raffi sang a world premier of “Sustainability”—a song form his forthcoming album “Communion”. We also introduced the idea of a Transition Initiative to make our community more self-reliant and carbon-neutral. Our message to our government is “Don’t let us sink at Copenhagen!”

Here’s more on the day and events, directly from 350.org:

On October 24, 2009, millions of people around the world will take action to spread the number 350, the safe level of CO2 in the atmosphere measured in parts per million, and make sure world leaders are on course to reach that target.

I’m attending a 350.org event near me because I want to be part of the solution. Please check out http://www.350.org to find or start an October 24 event near you.

It’s urgent that we act together and build a movement that will solve the climate crisis and ensure a safe and just future for the world. Please join me, and help build this movement at 350.org

350.org is an international grassroots campaign that aims to mobilize a global climate movement united by a common call to action. By spreading an understanding of the science and a shared vision for a fair policy, we will ensure that the world creates bold and equitable solutions to the climate crisis. 350.org is an independent and not-for-profit project.

350.org needs your help! To support our work, donate securely online at http://www.350.org/donate

Here’s the official 350.org Flickr page.

©2010 Charles Buchwald & Friends. All Rights Reserved.