We’d like to thank the following people or groups for their donations:

Niclas Stiernholm, PhD – CEO, Trillium Therapeutics
Glo
SCBC Knitting Group
Stewart Fung
Seumas So
Dovercourt Baptist Church
New Horizons Tower
Wellspring Worship Center
Lucy Tong

We are also deeply indebted to the volunteers who have come in to count and roll coins:  Thank you to our wonderful volunteers from SCBC!  Thank you to our volunteers from People’s Christian Academy for rolling all those pennies!

Our goal is to raise 1,000,000 pennies by June 30th.  Will you help us reach our goal?  Please contact us if you would like to drop off pennies or volunteer to roll coins at 416-922-6223.

Camp. What comes to mind with that word? When I went up north on a yellow school bus loaded with other boys I was homesick, and the feeling only got worse even though it was just for a week at a time…seven summers straight. Now, that camp was beautiful, located on a placid lake in the Halliburton Highlands. But I couldn’t wait to get home and counted the days to return to Toronto.

So when I was in high school and my mother asked me to consider serving at a camp for six weeks, I had mixed feelings.

It was the early 1970’s. I’d never heard of the Toronto City Mission much less the TCM Fresh Air Home. Even at the time, I thought it was a funny name for a camp.

I can still remember as if it was yesterday getting out of my family car that first day and looking around at this camp. It was only a few acres in size. The grass was knee-high, and the windows on some buildings were all boarded up. Everything looked rustic, tired.

It would take two weeks to get camp ready for an influx of boys and girls from Cabbagetown, downtown Toronto. Some were little pre-school kids who came with their mothers, while others were as old as fifteen. I myself wouldn’t turn sixteen ‘till later that summer.

The Fresh Air Home was in the middle of the small town of Bronte, near Oakville, west of Toronto. Unlike the nice, well-outfitted camp I attended up north in the woods, there was no archery or rifle range here, no swimming or canoe lessons, and the food was plain, the menu repetitive—corn flakes and oatmeal, onion soup and johnny-cake (corn bread) were the staples.

We had to make our own fun—lots of duck-duck-goose, simple crafts, a trip to a nearby creek for a swim, wrestling. There was even a pillow fight when the leaders were in a meeting—with feathers everywhere!

But the kids heard the Gospel. Besides being a cabin counsellor, I taught a missionary story each day. And I saw what the Gospel could do to change kids’ lives and give them hope. I saw what the love of Christ, simple kindness and listening could do to give kids a sense of significance and to lift up their sights. And to my wonder, though this camp lacked most features and options of other camps, many of these children would cry when it was time to leave at the end of their two weeks away from the big city.

In the Fall semester of my grade 11 year, I went to my father’s study to talk with dad about something that was heavy on my mind. Though he was a pastor, he had never pushed the ministry on me. That day I told him of my desire to become a pastor.

No doubt there had been several factors that influenced my decision, including my father’s own example of commitment to Christ. But those six weeks at the TCM Fresh Air Home are what I always go back to as the season I began to sense God’s call. It was there that I saw for myself how the Gospel of Christ changes lives.

Now, nearly forty years later, I still have a strong sense of God’s call upon my life to be in the Gospel ministry. And I know that the Lord used TCM to play an integral role in my development and life-long mission.

Camp—it may surprise you what God can do in just a couple of weeks.

For the past seventeen years John McNeill has served as the Senior Pastor of Forward Baptist Church in Toronto. He joined the Board of TCM recently, and is thrilled to be part of our team.

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We invite you to join us in providing kids impacted by poverty the opportunity to “be surprised” by camp. You can choose to Adopt-a-Camper or “Make Every Penny Count”.

This summer TCM will be offering five Sonshine Day Camps and two Junior High Camps in Toronto. The camps provide fun summer activities for children to enjoy and the Summer Staff build positive relationships and share God’s love with an average of 200 children each week.

Camp costs close to $160 per week for each child, but the children are largely or fully subsidized.  Please consider making a difference in the life of a child by Adopting-a-Camper for only $100.  

Adopt-A-TLC 

The TLC program (Teens Leading Communities) helps young people develop leadership skills as they serve their own community.

The TLCs meet bi-monthly throughout the year to learn leadership skills and they also volunteer once a week to practice their new-found skills. During the summer, they are given real work experience as assistants to the Summer Interns. They help prepare and lead games, crafts, Bible lessons, etc.   

Please consider Adopting-a-TLC for only $50. 
 

Adopt-A-Family Camper  

Family camp is a highlight for 15 – 20 families (over 50 people) from St. James Town. Families are given the chance to spend quality time together, to relax, and to partiipate in activies like swimming, canoeing, archery and camp fires.  

I know we have very mixed feelings about battle metaphor these days. It comes with a lot of baggage, and I think that’s legitimate. But there are times when I just have to keep reminding myself over and over again that this is war.

It’s been one of those weeks where I have to remember that kingdoms are things that you fight for. Things are not always as black and white as we would like them to be, but we all need to have something that, when we get right down to it, is our compass, our one thing we would fight to the death for. It’s part of what makes us human I think. For some people it’s something that sounds noble, like politics or family or ideas or leadership or art. Sometimes our “greatest good” is just ourselves, and sometimes it’s the very idea that there is no black and white. But everyone has something that they fight for.

As Jesus-followers, we’ve been given something deep and meaningful to spend our lives fighting for. And as an urban mission worker, I’ve been given a very specific neighbourhood to fight this battle within.

I was reminded again this week of what the battle is about. At least part of it.

Last week some of the moms in Willowtree started a weekly breakfast program. It’s exciting, because even though some of our placement students were instrumental in getting the ball rolling, it’s the moms who are running this program for their own community. We love to see this happen. It’s a God-thing when people work together to realize their own potential to create positive change.

This week, someone broke into the basement program space and took all the food for the breakfast club, leaving behind the remains of a low-key party, reeking of smoke and weed.

As frustrating as it is, especially right in the middle of a busy April, it’s a good reminder for me. As I swept up the garbage and mopped up spilled juice, I thought about what the mom who found the mess told me the police had said: “It was probably a bunch of bored teenagers.”

Ah yes. That’s why I’m here. In hopes that the bored teenagers can think of something better to do than break the law.

When I wrote my to-do list for the rest of the week, I entitled it “This is War”. Not that it’s war against whoever did this. Honestly, I’m over that, and God continues to provide. But this is war against kids growing up to make these kinds of decisions. I want the kids I’m working with to be stronger than that. And I want to do more than teach them to say “No” when ideas like this come up. I want to give them something worth saying “Yes” to, something worth devoting their whole life to, so that they’re so busy being the people God has called them to be that they can’t be bothered with something as petty as this.

My black and white, my compass, my truth that I will fight to the death for is this: By the grace of God, we can be changed. Sometimes I just need to be reminded.

For more stories like this visit our blog at:  http://torontocitymission.wordpress.com

Monday night tutoring at the Willowtree site requires a whole repertoire of skills from our volunteers.  Here are some of the roles that these volunteers play on a typical night at tutoring: first they work with their students on homework or play some educational games (i.e. chess and Bananagrams); then they lead the student through a devotional; and finally they spend a half-hour or so playing with the kids (i.e. basketball, ping pong, guitar lessons).  Year after year, we have an amazing group of people from all walks of life who consistently work with our pre-adolescent kids and do a great job!  These volunteers bring a variety of skills and strengths that enrich the students’ experience at tutoring.

For example, one of our tutors, Nicole Chung, is a quiet intellectual who has shown up for tutoring almost every Monday night for the past three years.  She works at a magazine as a graphic designer during the day and comes to tutoring to work on a variety of subjects on Monday nights.  Nicole has a quiet manner and you wouldn’t know that she also plays ultimate Frisbee and volleyball and that she has achieved her life-long dream of climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. 

This year Nicole is working with one of our high school girls; but in previous years she helped out with one of our more challenging younger students.  In addition to the time she commits to tutoring each week, she has led a workshop for the BLING girls helping them create a pamphlet on ‘True Beauty” using photographs that the girls had taken.  Nicole also helped lead our final fun night at tutoring where she and another tutor did an ultimate Frisbee workshop and led the students and tutors in a large group game.   

We are so blessed by volunteers like Nicole, who start by wanting to help a child and end up using their own hidden gifts and talents to give all of us opportunities that we wouldn’t have without their contribution. 

Have we mentioned we LOVE our volunteers???

November 2011 – Toronto City Mission (TCM) invites Torontonians to take part in their annual “Adopt-a-Family” program, a Christmas assistance program that provides encouragement every year to over 150 families in the city of Toronto.  For inner-city parents, Christmas has the potential to be a very discouraging time if they are unable to provide their children with gifts under the tree or a festive Christmas meal.  TCM’s Adopt-a-Family program empowers parents to provide a time of celebration for their children by giving them gift certificates to Loblaws, a family board game and a box of chocolates.

Make this Christmas special…Adopt-a-Family

For only $70 a person, Torontonians can join with TCM in providing hope to inner-city families.  This donation will not only provide the families with gift certificates but it will also cover the costs of the family portrait and community Christmas Celebrations.

The beauty of this program is that TCM has formed long-standing relationships with all of the families who are registered.  These families are actively attending programs throughout the year intended to empower and equip children, youth and adults with the skills needed to break cycles of poverty.  Programs like; Employment Mentoring, EPIC Tutoring, Teens Leading Communities and Role Model Moms, give families hope of a better future.  Adopt-a-family does not stand alone; it is part of a bigger circle of support for the families that TCM serves.

Giving dignity to families

“We work with the families all during the year. We know their circumstances, we know their economic circumstances…We are truly just trying to give them a sense of control and dignity around the Christmas season.  We do that by providing a certain amount of money per person expressed through gift certificates ….so that the parents can actually go out and buy things for their own kids rather than us buying the presents for the kids.”  Andrew Schell (Executive Director of Toronto City Mission) 

TCM is inviting Toronto individuals, families, businesses, and churches to provide dignity and hope to an inner-city family this Christmas by Adopting-a-Family at www.torontocitymission.com.

For more information contact:

Toronto City Mission
Andrew Schell (Executive Director)
416-922-6223
aschell@torontocitymission.com

By fall of 2012 the Canadian Government will no longer be producing pennies.  It costs our government 1.6 cents to make a single penny.

“The penny is a currency without any currency,” said Finance Minister Jim Flaherty. “Free your pennies from their prisons at home and donate them to charity.” (Global News | How the end of the penny will affect coin donation-fuelled charities)

If you are looking for a way to free your pennies, consider donating them to TCM to send kids to camp.

Your pennies can send kids to camp this summer.

Every penny TCM receives between April 5, 2012 and June 30, 2012 will go directly towards the costs of providing summer camp in five Toronto communities impacted by poverty: St. James Town, Malvern, Willowtree, Jane-Finch and Steeles-L’Amoreaux.

TCM day camps are a safe and fun place for children to spend their summer.  Children are given opportunities to participate in activities such as crafts, sports, music, drama, Bible-based stories and weekly field trips. The camp keeps children off the streets and away from antisocial behaviour while parents are working. We expect more than 200 children to attend each week for seven weeks.

One of last year’s summer staff said, “I think my favorite highlight is seeing the children having fun and just being kids.”  This is quite a powerful statement for children who grow up in inner city communities and are forced to face many of life’s harsh realities.  TCM day camp may be their only opportunity to “just be a kid”.

Pennies for a purpose

Almost every household has a penny jar sitting untouched in a corner.  Here’s a great opportunity to empty that jar and at the same time contribute to a great cause!

“It only takes 3,000 pennies to send a child to day camp for a day.  Imagine the impact that 1,000,000 pennies could have!”  Andrew Schell, TCM’s Executive Director.

How can you help?  You can collect as an individual, a small group, a church or business or even become a drop location.  To drop off your pennies call Toronto City Mission at 416-922-6223 or visit their main office at 2610 Birchmount Road.  Visit their website for more information: www.torontocitymission.com or to print off labels please click here.

For more information contact:

Toronto City Mission
Andrew Schell (Executive Director)
416-922-6223
aschell@torontocitymission.com

Toronto, April 11, 2012 –Toronto City Mission (TCM) is honoured to announce that Dr. Debra Pepler, world renowned researcher and speaker on bullying prevention, will be the keynote speaker at Ignite (on April 17, 2012), TCM’s annual fundraising event. This event is made possible by the generosity of Bruce & Karen Etherington, KPMG, AVW-TELAV Audio Visual Solutions, Chanho Productions and Elemental View Photography.

Dr. Pepler is a Distinguished Research Professor of Psychology at York University and a Senior Executive Member of the LaMarsh Centre for Child and Youth Research. At the Hospital for Sick Children, Dr. Pepler is a Senior Adjunct Scientist. Her major research program examines the social-emotional development of children and adolescents, in the family, school and peer contexts. Dr. Pepler has served on several advisory committees related to parenting, anti social behaviour, and safe school policies, within Canada and internationally.

What everyone needs to know about children and youth

Dr. Debra Pepler has been all over the world and heard hundreds of stories of bullying among children and youth.  These stories strengthen her resolve and passion to communicate what she says “everyone needs to know about children and youth.”  Everyone knows that bullying is destructive to those who are victimized but few people take the time to think about how it impacts those who initiate the bullying behaviour.  For example, according to Dr. Pepler:

“In our research, one hundred percent of the girls who bully at a high or moderate rate through elementary and high school, have been physically aggressive with their boyfriends…Physical relationships are highly reciprocal.  That means if a girl hits her boyfriend, he’s going to be hitting back.” 

“One hundred percent of the children in our study who were high or moderate in bullying reported engaging in high or moderate delinquency.”

Also children who bully have very few “friends who are kind and caring.” 

TCM in doing an important work

Andrew Schell (Executive Director at TCM) recognizes the need for early intervention for children with antisocial behaviour, “If you don’t address it early, it will have a long lasting and cyclical impact.”  That’s why TCM provides preventative and transformational programming that focuses on building positive relationships and leadership skills.

“The kinds of programs that [TCM] offers are just the kinds of program that enable all sorts of children to come together with really caring, positive, and loving adult support…The data are clear that one caring adult who is not your parent can totally take a young person’s life off a trouble trajectory and onto a positive one” (Dr. Pepler).  TCM staff, interns and volunteers build long-term and positive relationships with children and youth in five Toronto communities and the impact is obvious: transformed lives.

 “The importance of the work [TCM does] can’t be underestimated because it gives the child another context in which positive relationships are being promoted.”  (Dr. Pepler)

For more information contact:

Toronto City Mission
Andrew Schell (Executive Director)
416-922-6223
aschell@torontocitymission.com

April 11, 2012

Toronto City Mission Promotes Positive Relationships and Prevents Bullying!

Toronto City Mission (TCM) is honoured to announce that Dr. Debra Pepler, world renowned researcher and speaker on bullying prevention, will be the keynote speaker at Ignite (on April 17, 2012), TCM’s annual fundraising event. This event is made possible by the generosity of Bruce & Karen Etherington, KPMG, AVW-TELAV Audio Visual Solutions, Chanho Productions and Elemental View Photography. (Read more)

April 5, 2012

Every Penny Counts!

Toronto City Mission (TCM) is inviting you to help them raise a minimum of 1,000,000 pennies by June 30, 2012 to send inner-city children to day camp this summer. 

By fall of 2012 the Canadian Government will no longer be producing pennies.  It costs our government 1.6 cents to make a single penny.

“The penny is a currency without any currency,” said Finance Minister Jim Flaherty. “Free your pennies from their prisons at home and donate them to charity.” (Global News | How the end of the penny will affect coin donation-fuelled charities)

If you are looking for a way to free your pennies, consider donating them to TCM to send kids to camp. (Read more)

November 2011

Toronto City Mission gives hope to inner-city families at Christmas!

Toronto City Mission (TCM) invites Torontonians to take part in their annual “Adopt-a-Family” program, a Christmas assistance program that provides encouragement every year to over 150 families in the city of Toronto.  For inner-city parents, Christmas has the potential to be a very discouraging time if they are unable to provide their children with gifts under the tree or a festive Christmas meal.  TCM’s Adopt-a-Family program empowers parents to provide a time of celebration for their children by giving them gift certificates to Loblaws, a family board game and a box of chocolates. (Read more)

Why a Penny Drive?

By fall of 2012 the Canadian Government will no longer be producing pennies.  It costs our government 1.6 cents to make a penny.

Almost every family has a penny jar that we never get around to emptying.  Well here is your chance to empty your jar and make a difference in the lives of families impacted by poverty.

Every penny Toronto City Mission (TCM) receives between April 3, 2012 and June 30, 2012 will go directly towards the costs of summer camps in St. James Town, Malvern, Willowtree, Jane-Finch and Steele’s L’Amoureaux.  TCM provides seven weeks of camp in each of these Toronto communities.

Our Goal:

Help us raise our first 1,000,000 pennies!

It costs 16,000 pennies to send a child to camp for one week.

What can you do?

1. Collect as an individual: Gather your pennies and drop them at TCM’s main office (2610 Birchmount Rd.).
2. Collect as a small group: Gather your friends, family, offices or small groups and pitch in to see who can collect the most pennies.
3. Collect as a church: Encourage your congregation to support TCM day camps.
4. Become a drop location: Contact Maureen Pryce at 416-922-6223 if your church or business is willing to host as a drop off location.

To print off labels, please click here.

Drop Location:

Toronto City Mission
2610 Birchmount Rd.
Toronto, ON
M1W 2P5