Local grandmothers are organizing a Scrabble board game fundraiser in support of African AIDS awareness.

The Good Words for Africa Scrabble event will be held at St. John's Anglican Church, 272 Wilson St., on Oct. 5 from 1:30-4:30 p.m.

The Grandmothers of Steel are asking the public to play Scrabble with other friends and supporters to raise funds for the Grandmothers to Grandmothers Campaign.

Grandmothers of Steel supports the Stephen Lewis Foundation, a humanitarian group that works to ease the suffering of the African AIDS pandemic. Participants are asked to gather pledges from their friends, neighbours, and extended family to support their personal entry and participation in the Scrabble event. Players can also sponsor themselves.

Interested participants will be given an official pledge sheet. Organizers are also looking for donations of Scrabble board games.

Call Jan at 905-648-1582 or e-mail jan_lukas@hotmail.com to register and get your pledge sheet, or e-mail grandmothersofsteel@gmail.com. Additional Pledge sheets are available upon request.

Grandmothers of Steel is part of a national movement of Grandmothers' groups, whose numbers are growing daily. It is active in fundraising, speaking to community groups and lobbying. Currently it numbers 77 members from Hamilton and the greater Hamilton area. It was formed in the summer of 2006, around the same time as the Stephen Lewis Foundation's Grandmothers' Gathering in Toronto. Members come from diverse backgrounds, some with life-long experience in humanitarianism, fundraising, teaching and social activism.