Hello everyone!

I'm so glad to talk to you again! Now that the first edition of the
Sue Thomas F.B.Eye Fan Convention is over, I'm sure you all want to
know what happened, and if we've learned anything interesting… In
fact, we did!

We learned that the world of STFBE is inhabited by extremely
generous people. All the lead actors have generously accepted to
autograph items for the raffles and the auction, which helped us to
raise money for two great charities (the Hearing Ear Dog program,
from the Lions Foundation of Canada, and the ASL Dictionary for
Children, from the Deaf Culture Centre).

All the actors have also accepted to participate in a short
interview, answering a few questions in writing. This is how we
learned that one of Yannick Bisson's favourite moments on STFBE was
when they filmed the helicopter coming down in the Distillery
District in the pilot episode. One of Deanne Bray's favourite
movies is "The Sound of Music" because she loves the lyrics. If she
could be a character from Disney, Tara Samuel would be Pocahontas,
because she always wants to be an adventurous warrior. Rick Peters
remembers quite a bit of ASL, and he brushes up his vocabulary
before he visits with Deanne Bray and her husband Troy. Enuka Okuma
was hired from a taped audition, while she was still in Vancouver,
BC. Marc Gomes mentions that the Deaf Culture is similar to the
hearing culture in many aspects, yet with its own sense of humour.
Last, but not least, Ted Atherton was glad to share that he will be
on stage at the Athena Theatre, in the play The Man in the Desert
this spring - http://www.waterlooentertainmentcentre.com for dates
and tickets.

But that's not all! You might not be aware of that, but some actors
have moved to Los Angeles after STFBE. And from what seems to be
the initiative of Enuka Okuma, they all got together to sign the
items we had for them. And while they were together, they filmed
individual greetings for the fans, wishing us a good Convention, and
thanking us for our support. So we had a chance to see Deanne Bray,
with her daughter Kyra and her husband Troy, Enuka Okuma, Rick
Peters, Tara Samuel and Marc Gomes, all over again. Everybody loved
the video, and thank you to the interpreter – Nancie Bowles – who
translated it into ASL.

Now, what really happened at the Convention? On Friday night, we
were extremely lucky! Ted Atherton, our favourite Boston-born,
Harvard-educated FBI agent, visited us. He spent time to talk with
everyone, posing for pictures and signing autographs – he was such a
sweetheart!

Quite a few actors who had guest-starred on STFBE have spent the
whole weekend with us. They were great, and they really helped us
to bridge the gap between English and ASL. Thanks to Sammi
Bourgeois (Amanda), Anselmo DeSousa (Anselmo, in Endings and
Beginnings), Enza Iovio (Melissa Harmon, in In Thin Air), Vida Peric-
Warwick (Hannah, in Who Wants to be a Millionaire) and Lucia Jackson
(Pam, in The Heist).

Saturday afternoon, we were blessed with the visit of Sue Thomas
herself, with her assistant Deborah and her wonderful assistance dog
Katie. She told us about her life, about her experience in the FBI –
yes she had a good male friend in the service, but not as close as
Sue and Jack are on the show – and about her new project to train
assistance dogs in Vermont. She really is a wonderful woman, her
energy and faith touched all of us.

Another guest joined us briefly that afternoon. Her name is Karina
Kulawick, she was the young actress who played Sue at the age of 18
months, in the pilot episode. It was sweet to witness her reunion
with Sue Thomas, she really is a cute girl.

Saturday evening, Sandra Gillis (she is Ted Atherton's agent and
works for Premier Artists) was present to let us know more about her
job. We were very surprised to learn how hard it was to find good
parts for Canadian actors, in Canada!

Tracy Church, a trainer for the Hearing Ear Dog program (the Lions
Foundation of Canada – Dod Guides) was there with Macca. She
explained the intensive training the future dog guides have to go
through, and Macca demonstrated some of her abilities.

The volunteers from the Deaf Culture Centre were also extremely
kind, glad to share a lot of information with everyone at their
booth. It was a great insight to the Deaf Culture, and it was
possible to learn about the various activities that take place at
the Centre.

Naturally, this Convention would not be complete without the raffles
and the auction that helped us to raise money for the two
charities. At the end of the evening, on Saturday, we had raised
over $750! Just to name one, a package that included a jersey
signed by all actors was auctioned for $125!!!

But it's not really over yet… I know some of you have been leery
about this Convention, not completely sure if we would deliver what
we announced. I really hope we have now proven the seriousness of
this Convention. There are still some autographed items left… We
have created ten (10) new wonderful packages for you! You can still
help us to raise more money for the charities, and in return get
some very unique STFBE memorabilia, not accessible anywhere else.

Please, visit our website for more information. Don't wait too
long, or all the interesting packages might be gone…

http://convention.suethomasfbeye.net

Thank you very much for your support!

Katerie


PS. I almost forgot… In their letter to the fans, Gary and Dave
Johnson remind us that at the end of the final episode, it was
written "The End – for now…" They still believe it to be the case…