Vickie has been a resident of the St. James Town Community for 50 years. She runs and oversees the Bleecker/Wellesley Activity Network, a non-profit organization which primarily serves vulnerable and isolated seniors in the community. Laura has been a resident of St. James Town for 18 years and has been volunteering at the Bleecker/Wellesley [...]
Community Volunteer-Led Programs We want to thank our volunteers Olga and Nayan for giving generous gifts of their time and energy to our after school programs. Olga has been running the Fun with Numbers program for children JK through Grade 4 and Nayan is facilitating an interactive science program for children Grade 1 through Grade 4. [...]
“Neighbour Helping Neighbour” - Residents of 77 Howard Street Work with CREW on COVID-19 Food Delivery CREW(Community Resilience to Extreme Weather ) was set up in 2014 in response to the 2013 ice storm which caused a number of blackouts throughout Toronto. The aim of CREW is to unite, support and train communities, enabling [...]
St. James Town Balcony Gardening Workshops are online sessions that teach community residents how to grow and harvest plants and food from their backyard or balcony. As the majority of St. James Town residents live in high-rise apartments, these classes have been particularly useful. Making the most of the outside space through gardening can [...]
Regardless of the current situation, maintaining a healthy and balanced diet is important for keeping your immune system in top shape. With the shift in everyday life, figuring out what meals to make daily can pose a challenge, especially for those that have experienced financial loss. With increased levels of stress and anxiety, we [...]
A new podcast about community building and neighbour to neighbour support Back in December, Lisa Kowalchuk and Darryl D’Souza started planning a podcast about St. James Town that would focus on how neighbours act together to solve problems and improve life in their neighbourhood. They were motivated by what they saw as a deficit [...]
“Raise your words, not voice. It is rain that grows flowers, not thunder.” - Rumi As we walk in the midst of this new world of pandemic reality we are reminded day after day about our need, more than ever, to be in community with each other and to be present for each [...]
First, I wanted to take a moment to say a big "thank you" to everyone who’s wearing a mask and practicing social distancing. With stores reopening, the weather getting warmer, and quarantine fatigue having set in, it can be easy to want to ditch the masks and pretend like the pandemic is over already. [...]
Brianna is a volunteer with The New Common who helps deliver food to seniors and others who need support in the neighbourhood. We spoke to Brianna to understand what motivated her to volunteer during these trying times. As an important service that operates on the front line during this pandemic, your work is very [...]
Operation Ramzieh is a volunteer organization started in Ottawa that provides grocery delivery to vulnerable seniors and others who face difficulty accessing food during the Covid19 pandemic. Although no one is turned down, priority is given to seniors, single parents and their children. Abbis Mahmoud is an Ottawa based restaurateur and is the driving [...]
