The Kingston Grandmother Connection (KGC) came to be in March 2006, when it became known that the Stephen Lewis Foundation was establishing women's groups here in Canada to support the dire situation of grandmothers in Africa. Four friends: Anne Richards, Bett Birtwistle, Marion Abell and Donna O'Connor discussed their desire to establish such a group in Kingston. A few of them attended a Stephen Lewis Foundation conference in Toronto and were spurred to take up his "Call to Action". They agreed to invite four more friends each to join them, so the group of 4 became 20 and the Kingston Grandmother Connection was born, and launched with Stephen Lewis as our guest of honour in September 2006.