Wanted to let you know that our first-ever East York Strategy Community Dinner was a success.  we had around 70 people, and we enjoyed each other's company and a delicious dinner, followed by a program highlighted by a multimedia presentation giving us a visual history of the first four years of East York Strategy.  We also heard stories from EYS youth adventures, concluding with Rev. Alex Bisset's telling of the starfish story: after a storm there were thousands of starfish on the beach; one woman calmly took a starfish and threw it in the sea, and then another, and another; when challenged and mocked by a passer-by, "there are 1000's of starfish, you can't possibly make a difference," the woman responded by throwing another starfish into the sea and noting, "made a difference to that one."
 

THANK YOU for the difference you are making, and for being part of EYS and the difference we can do together. Through proceeds of the dinner, we raised over $600 (with some donations yet to come in) towards expanding our Drop-in program for local youth, come the fall.  We have also received tentative word of a couple of more groups considering supporting us in this initiaitve -- exciting opportunities abound!

 

May peace prevail for you in the coming days, and thank you again for all your collective contributions to EYS.
 

Peace and Joy,

Rev. Jim Parker

EYS Chairperson

 54 Division Annual Town Hall Meeting
November 10, 2009
Click here for Flyer
 

The East York Strategy hosted a community event that was especially relevant for us as a group of community members seeking to "reduce crime and create good in our East York-Danforth neighbourhood" ...

 

Toronto Police Service 54 Division hosted its annual Town Hall Meeting and all members of the public were invited to attend. This year’s meeting took place on Tuesday November 10th at Grenoble Public School in Flemingdon Park (off Gateway Blvd across from the Ontario Science Centre).

 

This year's guest speaker was Deputy Chief Peter Sloly, one of the most significant leaders in our city, and strong advocate of the community policing approach implemented by the Toronto Police Services in recent years. Also, he was recently featured on the front page of the Toronto Star!.  He is a very engaging speaker, and we are very pleased and honoured he accepted our invitation to attend.

 
Besides hearing what Deputy Chief Sloly had to say about the progressive Community Mobilation efforts of the Toronto Police Services, this evening was also a great opportunity to meet our local Police Officers and learn what their efforts have been in the last year as well as their plans for the future.
 

        Inspirational Community Dinner and Speaker Lesley Andrew
November 13, 2009

Click the link below for Photos of the Evening with Lesley Andrews
Select Slideshow
Photos by Dan Shibata
http://www.flickr.com/photos/29007520@N04/sets/72157622680932585/ 

 

 

The EYS hosted a community event that was held at the Bethany Church on Friday, November 13.  It started with a home-cooked ham dinner and then we enjoyed an evening presented by Lesley Andrew. 

At our last East York Strategy meeting, John Chrobok (Principal of Westwood Middle School) explained that Lesley came to Westwood last year, with a VERY positive response from the students and from the parents and teachers.  Anyone who hears Lesley leaves encouraged and challenged, and this special evening was no different.
 

Lesley  is a world-renowned motivational speaker who is also learning disabled.  With humour and insight, she has engaged audiences across North America (including local East York schools and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno) about “Beating the Odds” – taking the responsibility for personal change, overcoming obstacles, facing fears, and attaining goals. 

 

Graffitti Removal Day - "The Sequel" was held on  Saturday, August 18, 9:30am at Bethany Baptist Church.  Everyone was invited to come out and have fun doing work!  We all met at Bethany Baptist Church for  materials and instruction, and then headed out to remove graffiti.  Graffitti has a way to demoralize a community and reinforce the message that "nobody cares about this area".  Well, many of us DO CARE!!