Recent Highlights
On January 30th, the TCDSB and Make Happy Tummies Community came together to provide a breakfast program for the youth at St. Augustine in North York. To say it was an uplifting event would be an understatement. The joy in the room—spreading across two gyms in the hallway and throughout the entire school—was incredible. This happiness was also reflected in the shared experiences of over 70 volunteers from the TCDSB & Make Happy Tummies campaign community.
It's not always obvious that one in three children is at risk of going to school on an empty stomach. Many children may not admit that they are hungry. The meals they receive are provided in a stigma-free environment, enjoyed with friends, and serve to build connections, nurture school spirit, and, importantly, provide essential nourishment.
This nourishment enables children to engage confidently in their learning and activities throughout the day.
Similar breakfast events are taking place in British Columbia, Alberta, and Nova Scotia. Consider contributing to the #fightagainsthunger by making a donation today and becoming an #angelamongus.
What a night it was as TCDSB students, staff, families, Trustees, sponsors and business partners came together in support of student nutrition and well-being! With the common goal to help children and youth in need, these generous supporters enjoyed an evening of dining and dancing, a silent auction, raffle draw, and of course one of the highlights of the evening: performances by talented students from Holy Spirit Catholic School, Father John Redmond Catholic Secondary School and Bishop Marrocco/Thomas Merton Catholic Secondary School. If you missed it this year, watch for future emails about upcoming special events.
More than 100 bowling enthusiasts came out in support of AFL, helping us raise close to $3,000. Our thanks is extended not only to those who participated, but also to our sponsor the Filipino Centre Toronto, Trustee Garry Tanuan who rallied the Filipino community to come out and support the event, and of course to our delightful hosts at Markham Bowl. Lots of prizes were handed out, and everyone enjoyed a great day of fun, food and friendship.
Thanks to the continued generosity of Connie Leon and the Leon Family, four students again received the 2024 Tom Leon Student Bursary, valued at $5,000 each: Edgi Lance Larioza Lascota, Ramena Edward Shlimon, Reshana Deens Rajkumar and Shirah Frances Cardillo. These bursaries were presented at the Toronto Catholic District School Board year-end Mass on June 19th.
First Ever AFL Spring Fling
As Spring arrived, AFL tried a new type of event; a Spring Fling Pub Night. Thanks to Nickel9 Distillery, who sponsored the event, AFL was able to raise more than $3,600 for urgent student needs.
A great time was had by all as guests were treated to tasty refreshments and an assortment of beverages, and a live performance by the talented band, Discount, from Michael Power St Joseph Catholic Secondary School who entertained the audience with some classic tunes by Stevie Wonder, Earth Wind and Fire and other well known songs. Guests also had a chance at winning door prizes, and to take advantage of great deals on a wide range of items in our silent auction.
We hope that this can be added to our roster of regular fundraising events, as we continue to explore other ideas to bring the community together.
It takes a village to raise a child, and in our schools, it also takes the tireless efforts of dedicated volunteers to ensure that all students receive nutritious meals and snacks through our Student Nutrition Programs. Our immense gratitude goes out to all of our school administrators, SNP coordinators and other volunteers for their commitment to student health and well-being.
For the third year, we held a random draw from among the many schools who submitted photos and stories about their incredible SNP volunteers during Nutriton Month in March, and we visited the winning schools during Volunteer Month in April to present these individuals with a certificate of appreciation and a gift as a token of our thanks. Congratulations to this year’s winners:
Laura and Shawna (Francis Libermann CHS), Sandra (St. Maurice CS), Nada (St Jane Frances CS).
16 A teams were involved from across the TCDSB in this year’s 2024 A Team Believe Initiative. Each team worked through a number of assignments and online training sessions on the road to coming up with ideas for projects/ initiatives in response to identified needs in their schools. These student leaders blew us away at pitch day on February 23rd.
All teams received $1,000 to help them initiate their projects and they are all winners in our books. The top three Marshall McLuhan-1st, Loretto College-2nd and Neil McNeil-3rd walked away with an additional $2,500, $1,500 and $1,000 respectively. Congratulations to all the angels who made this year’s A Team Believe initiative a tremendous success.
AFL was pleased to support the Ontario launch event for the annual Toonies for Tummies campaign. Participating grocery stores and corporate sponsors help to raise funds annually through the campaign initiated by the Grocery Foundation more than a decade ago. AFL appreciates their support and partnership in the effort to fight hunger by supporting Student Nutrition Programs in schools across Toronto. This year’s event was held at St. Augustine Catholic School in North York, with 90 volunteers helping to serve a nutritious breakfast to each and every student at the school. These included AFL’s own Chair Don Walker, and TCDSB officials Director Dr Brendan Browne, Chair Nancy Crawford, Trustee Ida LiPreti and Executive Superintendent Shawna Campbell.
It’s been four years since our last Gala, and we were more than delighted to welcome over 450 sponsors and guests (including over 40 students and nutrition program volunteers) to celebrate the start of the holiday season with us at a new venue, Chateau Le Jardin. We are truly grateful for the incredible generosity of our sponsors and donors, and all who participated in the raffle and auction, which helped us raise record funds to support student needs. We are particularly grateful to MayStar, Poetry Living and AEC Group for donating tables so that some of our amazing SNP volunteers and student leaders could attend. Check out a few of the highlights below: