Join us in pledging to set your cell phone bells (alarm) to ring on 9.09 at 9 am
We've made this year easy and you can make it last every year by simply selecting "Each Year" if you choose to do this ONE SMALL THING then please let us know at Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder Awareness Causes
Or Do IT UP BIG! Hold a Bell Concordance
What is the Bell Concordance?
(From the Oxford English Dictionary) Concordance: 1. The fact of agreeing or being concordant; agreement, harmony...4. An agreeable or satisfactory blending of musical sounds or notes; harmony.)On Sept.9, 1999, bells around the world marked the "magic minute" at 9:09 a.m., and we named this ringing of bells, "The FAS Bell Concordance."
It was so successful that other organizations have picked up this term and copied it!
We came up with the bell idea as there is a purity about bells that reminds us of the innocence of children. As well, bells are historically associated with warnings, alarms, marking important moments, and simply pealing for the joy of connecting with the community. FASDay is all of these things.
On FASDay, 2000, even more bells and other percussion instruments were played - ranging from the first mission bell in New Zealand to the historic 56 bell carillon in Cape Town, South Africa, to tiny bells rung by school children, and wind chimes and rain sticks played by native Canadians.
Last year, on September 9, we want the noisiest, most joyful Bell Concordance ever -- and you can organize one, even if right now you are the only person in your community who knows what FASD is!
You might even be able to organize the ringing of a local carillon -- the largest musical instrument in existence. Even in a large, noisy city, carillon music can be heard for several blocks. There are about 600 carillons throughout the world, and we would like many more to ring during the Minute of Reflection this year.
To find out if there is a carillon near you, go to http://www.gcna.org/, the most complete and accurate listings of carillons in North America, and also check out www.cs.yale.edu/~douglas-craig/bells and http://soda.csua.berkeley.edu/~maestro/stat.htm.
Gerald Martindale, carillonneur at Toronto's Metropolitan United Church (email:geraldm@planeteer.com), can help put you in touch with a local carillonneur (carillon player), if there is one. Mr. Martindale has created a concert of international lullabies, representing some of the countries participating in FASDay, and would be pleased to share his arrangements with other international carillonneurs.
The FAS Bell Concordance is quite simple, and you can do most of the work on your phone. Is there a tower with a hand-rung bell in your community? This could be an older church, a city or county hall, state or provincial building, or part of a college or university campus. Unfortunately many church bells are now rung by computer, making it difficult to ring the bells off-schedule, and this may be the case in your community.
Find out who is in charge of getting that bell rung, and ask that person to have the bell rung for one minute at 9:09 a.m. on September 9.
You can download the FASDay information from this site and present it to this person. If this building is a church, you may wish to speak briefly to the congregation on one of the Sundays before FASDay, and explain why the bell will be ringing at 9:09 this year.
You may want to have a small program in the church or near the bell tower, for 20 minutes to a half-hour before 9:09 a.m. Notify your child's school, friends of FASD and related organizations that you think would be interested, e.g., your local ARC (U.S.), Association for Community Living (Canada), Exchange Club, homelessness and anti-poverty coalitions, John Howard and Elizabeth Fry Societies, and every single friend or relative you can convince to come.
Ring Bells at 9:09 am on 09.09!
Search out bells in your community
- Church Bells
- School Bells
- High School Orchestra
- Cow Bells
- Government Bells
- Business Door Bells
- Bells on Retail Store PA systems
Make connections today to schedule a special bell ringing ceremony of ringing out the warnings of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders.
Hundreds of crazy but wonderful people in communities in every time zone volunteer their time and energy to organize FASDAY activities, where parents and professionals alike join forces in this phenomenal grassroots movement that now involves thousands of participants.
Is the world listening?
We think so!
No bells in your community?
- Use other musical instruments of your choice: drums, cymbals, whatever.
- One FASDay supporter shook her grandmother's old school bell,
- A group in a small northern Canadian community approached their local fire department!
The FAS Community Resource Center that provides the majority of the information for FASDAY activists has 50,000 people each month visit its web pages that contain a wealth of information on research, prevention, and intervention of fetal alcohol issues. Parents, professionals, teachers and students alike visit the popular web site to educate themselves and to share information with others by downloading the hundreds of articles and handouts available there.
The FAS Center web site can be found here: http://fasstar.com/fas
Those ringing bells, or whatever else you choose, will be a powerful auditory reminder that we are all connected to the planet, and each other, and make a statement that FASD can be beaten.
Online Manual - www.fasday.com
Seminar - Or try our easy, effective, exciting 1½ hour program that walks you
through the morning of Sept.9: http://www.come-over.to/FASDAY/ABCDEFG/
(material from 2002 has excellent ideas)
Follow us through the next 60 days and plan your local or personal project to build awareness of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder - Each One Can Reach One!
Need family support visit www.toolboxparent.com
Need ideas for adults living with challenges of FASD visit www.braidedcord.net
Need information on fetal alcohol spectrum disorders visit www.betterendings.org
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