In Support of Free the Children

Jason Dehni is Co-Chair and co-Founder of Artbound, a group of young professionals who are out to harness the power of the arts to create a sustainable social and economic change in the lives of underprivileged children. We’ve been following the progress of Artbound since it was launched in 2010, and spoke with Jason recently after he and Artbound returned from their first, and successful, working trip to build an art school with Free the Children in Kenya.

Born and raised in war-torn Beirut, Lebanon, he migrated to the USA when he was 11, and arrived in Toronto at 18. “I have always felt so privileged in having an amazing family, that I wanted to be a contributing member of society. I also feel I have a duty to give back, especially to the children of any country.”

Jason worked with Habitat for Humanity to help build a home for a family in need. Realizing that the family for which he helped to build a home had less than nothing but were nonetheless full of happiness and contentment, this highlighted for Jason the difference between the things that he needed and the things that he wanted. From there his need to give back took hold.

“Arts and culture play a critical role in defining who we are as a people,” said Jason. “And when kids become engaged in the arts, it has a huge impact on them both personally and socially. In developing countries, the arts – whether performing arts, fine arts, or arts and crafts – can generate income for families, and empowers young people.”

Artbound was formed as a not-for-profit organization to work in partnership with Free the Children. “The whole premise is that the arts have the ability to transform lives. As well as raising money to benefit the students, the Artbound Committee wants to be engaged and to be part of the solution. We are a group of people who have been successful in our careers and have been engaged in philanthropy already. Engagement means so much.”

After founding Artbound with Amanda Alvaro, Katie Telford and Marcello Cabezas, the sequence of events to date has been forming the Artbound Committee, having Seamus O’Regan join as Honorary Chair and Dayle Haddon as Global Ambassador (both of whom have been featured in Tempo Toronto previously), creating an operating plan, holding a highly successful fundraiser in Toronto last Fall, which raised over $150,000 – enough to fund the building of a high school in Kenya and a full arts school – and organizing a trip as a personal cost to the Masai Mara region which resulted in the creation of an art school there, as planned.

“The entire team came to the conclusion that we were not simply part of a charity, we were part of the development of a sustainable community.” Highlights of the Kenya Artbound trip included more than working on building the school:-

There was an inspirational cultural exchange in which the girls for whom the art school was created performed along with Canadian notables, including Nelly Furtado – a living demonstration of how the arts can overcome barriers to communication.

Almost everyone who helped raise the $150,000 last year was able to be hands-on participants in Kenya. Most of the money went to having a high school and art school, built together working shoulder to shoulder with local people. There was also enough to operate the school, including paying the teachers’ salaries, for at least two years.

Artbound’s global ambassador, Dayle Haddon, started a dynamic ball rolling in Kenya by donating $2500 for tuition and room and board, which meant sponsoring two girls. A further $90,000 was pledged within 10 minutes by Artbound members, and a week later a further $100,000 came in from Ms Haddon’s connections in New York. $400,000 would support each of 41 girls through the high school and art school for four years, and is a reachable objective.

“There is nothing like going there and meeting the students,” said Jason. “The passion you bring back you can never experience by writing a cheque. Given the opportunity to be part of the execution, seeing where the money goes… it changes you.”

“Our new ‘tagline’ is ART DOES GOOD.”

Next stop for Artbound is India, specifically the Province of Rajastan. “Every country is different,” Jason reminded me. “We will have another fundraiser in the Fall. We are extending our mandate to include artists and anyone who loves the arts. We’d like to raise enough to build a full school, with complete arts program attached to it.”

In closing, Jason said, “Clearly, we could not have done this without support from generous donors. Some of our biggest supporters were Scotiabank, Horizons ETF, CTV, Globalive, Davis & Henderson and ETFO.”

Related posts:

1. Artbound pARTy
2. Seamus O’Regan
3. Greg Harper helps create hope for tiny African village

As CEO of AGF Management, Blake Goldring was honoured with the industry’s coveted Person of Influence Award at the 2007 Canadian Investment Awards. You’d be more likely to associate him with the glitz of Bay Street than with giving back to the community in oh so many ways, and creating a not-for-profit organization.

As one mode of giving back, Blake is Chairman of Canada Company. He founded this apolitical organization in 2006, to bring community leaders across Canada together to support Canadian soldiers in the work they do at home and abroad. Blake’s initiative provides practical help and hope to members of our armed forces, and to the families who love them. Since its inception, the foundation has created a $2.1 million Scholarship Fund. In a unique event on September 3, a frigate will be sailing into Toronto to act as an impressive backdrop to awarding scholarships to students who have lost a parent in active duty.

Blake holds an Honours BA in Economics from the University of Toronto and a Masters of Business Administration from INSEAD in France. Blake and his wife Belinda have three teenaged daughters and live in Toronto. He enjoys spending time outdoors and counts golf, tennis and fishing among his favourite after-work activities Blake is also an Honorary Colonel of The Royal Regiment of Canada, the second-largest Reserve Force Infantry Regiment.

How would others describe you?

I think they would say I am a fervent Canadian, who is passionate about different issues, and that I demonstrate leadership in different areas. I certainly don’t shirk away from a challenge; I’d rather engage in a difficult situation to work for a better outcome.

What do you think makes you unique?

I never consider myself unique. But I have a great passion to get involved in things I think are meaningful: the environment, education, and grooming the next cadre of leaders. I get a huge buzz spending time with young people because of their freshness of ideas. My grandfather was one of the first to sit on what is now the United Way, and my father had always been a major contributor to causes, so there is a carry-through from my family.

What is your biggest motivator?

I want to make a difference in the lives of others, both in business and in the community at large. A community works best when there is a spirit of sharing and openness, and each of us has certain strengths and capabilities that allow us to share and contribute. Those of us in business actively enjoy certain benefits which should be shared,. This could be time, experience and contacts as well as financial sharing. Sharing is always enriching because you learn so much. When I was younger, I was focused on getting the right career launch, home life, learning skills and supplementing my education. At a certain point when you have grown as a person and know yourself better, you are more focused on how you spend your time. With time and good health, plus a bit of determination, then toss in some experience, knowledge and other resources … you can do some incredible things.

When you hit 50, it’s interesting that you think about the amount of time you have and the number of things there are to do in this great world. To be giving and helping others in whatever capacity it might be – working in a soup kitchen in a hospital, financial contribution to the arts, active participation in something – it all helps to bring a sense of satisfaction.

What do you consider your biggest achievement?

Growing a small Canadian enterprise into an international organization brings a sense of accomplishment. I’m proud of raising a family. And I’m proud of being involved and helping make a difference in those areas where I’m an active contributor. I serve organizations to move them ahead, not simply to get my name on a letterhead.

What do you want to achieve in life now?

This is a time to bring real focus on some of the areas I have chosen to devote more of my attention to. With the military for instance, the link between the broader community and our armed forces is important. All that we appreciate reposes on the fact we enjoy safe, secure sound environment to go about our lives. Without it all bets are off.. Our military is populated by hardworking people who risk the ultimate sacrifice. Even though they chose this life and don’t ask for much, we owe a debt to them. We try to help through the scholarship fund, as well as a significant program for camps for children of deployed soldiers

How would you like your own story to inspire others?

I have great hope that people would get active in whatever way they can to serve the community. All of us have something to give, whether it’s background, experience, finance, contacts, resources, or a combination. Just being available. The sense of satisfaction from this is immeasurable.

What would you like to be remembered for?

As a good father, a good leader, who made a difference in whatever organization he was involved in and who made a lasting and positive impact on others. The things we do at AGF help others to achieve their financial dreams, which in turn helps them to put kids through college, be philanthropic and have a good retirement. I can feel good and passionate about what I do.

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100% of funds raised go to the children

Perfect June weather for dining al fresco and for a pleasant afternoon sail came as a relief to over 200 Toronto corporate people as they headed over to Hanlan’s Point for a unique charity event. Rain would have put more than a damper on this special occasion.

Set Sail for Hope, an annual fundraiser for the past 23 years, invited 21 lucky Toronto organisations to make a donation to Camp Trillium in exchange for a mind-blowingly different event: no rubber chicken, no golf challenges, no silent auctions. Just an exquisite day out. with gourmet food and luxury yachts.

The most unusual aspect of this exclusive annual event is that absolutely no money is spent on producing it – time, food, supplies, staff, luxury yachts and crew are all donated. So, of the $181,000 raised in 2010 for Camp Trillium, can you guess how much went to the children that benefit from this well-run childhood cancer centre? All of it. Yes, 100%. The bottom line is that, this year, Set Sail for Hope directly benefits about 240 children with cancer, enabling them to have sensational camp experiences (along with their families) in what may be, for some kids, their last summer.

Put together each year by a mottley crew of a dozen volunteers, the event attracts 21 of Toronto’s top restaurants, 21 luxury yachts and 21 of Toronto’s most generous corporations. Add together great weather, multi-course gourmet al fresco lunches, entertainment and a spectacular pleasure sail on a 45ft plus sailboat, and you have a success on your hands.

It is such a well respected event, with so much Toronto support, that Mayor Miller and Toronto City Council proclaimed Set Sail for Hope Day in Toronto.

Set Sail for Hope has raised over $2 million for Camp Trillium in all, and has done so through a remarkable event. Interested in getting involved, booking a group for 2010, or making a donation? Please visit the website.

Participating caterers:

Acqua Fine Food,  Renaissance Down Town, Horseshoe Valley Resort, Delta Meadowvale Hotel, Ashbridge’s Bay Yacht Club, Epic – Fairmont Royal York,  King Street Food/Buca, International Centre, Brassaii, Mayes Brothers, Easton Group Of Hotels, The Miller Tavern, Westin Harbour Castle, Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse, One King West, Toronto Congress Centre, Sheraton Toronto, Delta Chelsea Hotel, Rodney’s Oyster House, Royal Canadian Yacht Club

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This is the final part of my Bolivia blog. While there, the problems I witnessed – abandonment of children and the brutal view on HIV/AIDS and it’s victims- are the outgrowth of the larger problem of extreme poverty. Bolivia is the poorest country in South America and has the largest gap between the rich and the poor. More than 45% of the children and 60% of the country live in on less than a dollar a day, which is defined as extreme poverty by the World Bank. One of the direct effects of extreme poverty is maternal health and child mortality. With more than 15,000 children dying each year under the age of one, 7,500 before they are one month old and 5% of mothers dying in childbirth, it only makes the need to help more urgent.

Through my ongoing work with UNICEF, I have learned about some of the global community’s efforts to quell extreme poverty. There is hope on that front. But how can we transfer some of the money in the developed world to little known places such as Bolivia? I look to the G8 Summit to be held in Canada in June of this year. The Millennium Goals will be under discussion at the summit and will address issues such as the eradication of poverty, provision of medical support and education to the poorest countries.

Remarkably, almost every Millennium Goal relates to what is happening in Bolivia today. If Bolivia can be lifted out of such endemic poverty, it would positively affect all of South America. We don’t have the luxury to turn our backs. We, as countries are inestimably intertwined. It behooves us all to help provide the opportunities to the poorer countries, giving them the chance to stabilize and create sustainable internal infrastructure to participate and realize their own potential. As they do, then we too will inevitably reap the benefits.

MILLENNIUM GOALS

Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education
Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women
Goal 4: Reduce child mortality
Goal 5: Improve maternal health
Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases
Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability
Goal 8: Develop a global partnership for development

(The last part of my ‘trip report’ appears on the next pages.)

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2. In Bolivia: as UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador
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by Dayle Haddon

Bolivia is the poorest country in South America and has the largest gap between the rich and the poor. More than 45% of the children and 60% of the country live in on less than a dollar a day, which is defined as extreme poverty by the World Bank.

The staff of the local NGOs say that the biggest challenge in Bolivia is the protection of children. Abuse, violence and abandonment are commonplace. The borders are not strictly enforced and trafficking of children through Bolivia is easy. From there, I was told, they can simply be walked across to a neighboring country. In fact, recently, a group of children who were trafficked from Haiti during the confusion of the earthquake ended up in the city of le Sucre, enroute to Paraguay. The government was working to find their families in Haiti and send them back safely.

We visited Breeze of Hope, a center for children who are victims of abuse and violence. I asked the age range of the victims and was told from one month to seventeen years old. Few cases get to court. Trials take years and they are too expensive for most. I was told that the court often blames the child for what happened. There are so many cases of rape that there is a demand for the death penalty or castration for those found guilty. This makes it very difficult for a child to accuse an aggressor especially when it is a family member. As we left the center, I noticed the children’s drawings framed on the wall. One was a self- portrait in crayon of a young girl looking out at us with huge tears flowing down to the bottom edge of the picture. Another drawing said it all. It showed a bedroom with a large closed door in the foreground. On a bed, face down was a little girl crying. Above her head was the caption which said, “ ?Porque yo’ “Why me?”     (more on next page)

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1. In Bolivia: as UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador
2. In Bolvia
3. Dayle Haddon: author, activist, L’Oréal spokesperson

by Dayle Haddon

It was difficult to breathe when we landed in La Paz, the highest airport in the world at 12,000 feet. It was 6AM. We hadn’t slept all night. Dizzy, off balance, there was a tightness in our heads coupled with a continual low-grade headache that hit us as soon as we landed. We staggered getting our luggage, laughing about the high altitude fog we were in and handed our endless customs papers to some very severe agents. It was as if we’d drunk too much and were standing on a boat moving at sea…with waves! It was hard to concentrate. As a team we would struggle with altitude sickness throughout the trip.

The city of La Paz was spectacularly beautiful with snowcapped mountains extending as far as the eye could see. The views flying in over the Royal Range, a section of the Andes that runs down the west coast of South America were magnificent. The sun was rising just as we crested over hundreds of snow packed peaks, one after the other, some of them cupping calm shimmering green lakes in their craggy nooks. It was truly awesome. The first rays of morning light lit up the snow. Soft, puffy clouds hung over the highest peaks. They call these particular mountains the “Illimani” or three peaks because one mountain here has three tips. We had landed in Bolivia, the heart of the Andes, and the poorest country in South America.

I had come to Bolivia with a UNICEF team of four, and joined up with others on the ground to travel into the country. Our mission was to see programs UNICEF supports, find out what were the most immediate and pressing needs and determine how we could bring attention to those needs.

After a few days traveling through Bolivia, I realized this was a different kind of poverty from the in-your-face kind I’d experienced in Africa on other UNICEF trips. There were no makeshift tents housing highly contagious cholera patients as I’d seen in war torn Angola. Flies did not cover the sad faces of children as I’d witnessed in camps in Darfur. It was not the plight of displaced children begging for food at an IDP camp outside Goma, in the Congo, where you couldn’t offer what you had for fear of causing a riot. The needs in Bolivia were desperate but struck closer to home. It seemed more like what you might encounter in the poorest places in the US. However, as the days went on and we began to scratch beneath the surface, I understood that this was one of the more emotionally challenging trips I had ever experienced.

I was moved by little Melody, a six year old we met in the ‘Little City’, one of three hundred centers for abandoned children in the city of Cochabamba, in south central Bolivia. With her thick black eyelashes, cropped dark hair and ready sweet smile, we connected right away. She didn’t know where her mommy was and told us simply, “I lost my little brother.” We didn’t understand and asked about her back-story. Her mother had abandoned Melody in the streets when she was five, along with her two brothers, age six and two and half. She and her older brother left the little one for a few minutes to find some food. When they returned, he was gone. The little boy has never been found.

In the same center I noticed tiny Marina, a deaf-mute, who was abandoned at seven in the southern region of Bolivia and after years of wandering lost in the mountains, barely existing, she made her way to the ‘Little City”. One day a social worker happened to style her hair and that was a turning point. She has become obsessed with hairdressing and now does everyone’s hair at the center. Given her limitations, Marina is only able to socialize with the small children, yet remarkably, she doesn’t suffer from low self-esteem. She is determined. She is beginning to vocalize single syllables and dreams of becoming a professional hairdresser, and one day to be able to read and write.

Dayle Haddon continues with part 2 and part 3 in June

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2. In Bolvia
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It’s rare. Very rare. But good. Spending $0 and raising $166,000 from one event, then sending every last penny of that to a group of local children struggling with cancer is no mean feat. And all this done against a backdrop of luxury yachts, gourmet food, and a uniquely upbeat charity event to which Toronto corporations and individuals enthusiastically divert their charitable giving.

A bunch of Toronto individuals with heart, that modestly describes themselves as a ‘rag-tag group’, has been volunteering their time for over 20 years to put on a mega-event that raises funds for worthy organizations. For more than a decade the beneficiary of Set Sail for Hope www.setsailforhope.com has been Camp Trillium www.camptrillium.com.

In all, the Set Sail for Hope crew has delivered close to $2 million for the benefit of children with cancer,  many of whose families face crippling economic challenges too. Set Sail for Hope helps the children and their families to experience rewarding summer camp experiences together. Sadly, for some of those children it may be their last summer.

2009 was a really tough year to be fund raising, with so many worthy causes and so much less charitable donation funding available from corporations and individuals. It was really hard on Camp Trillium too.

Fiona Fisher, Director of Fundraising at Camp Trillium said,”For Camp Trillium we are looking at this as a year of survival and hard work. We have lost more kids to cancer this year than any other year in our history. Every week I get an e-mail from our clinic coordinator telling me another child has passed away and every week I realize my life is so much easier even in recession than anyone of the children that go to our camps. I am lucky to be part of Set Sail for Hope and I thank you for all of your extra work this year to make the event a success and to ensure that Camp Trillium has money to send children living with cancer to camp.”

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Former supermodel establishes ‘WomenOne’ charity to help women from developing countries

It’s virtually guaranteed … you have seen the face of Dayle Haddon.  She has been in the beauty and fashion industry for over 35 years.

A baby boomer, a stunning beauty, both inside and out, and now an active UNICEF Ambassador, Dayle Haddon is the only model to have had four major cosmetic contracts with Revlon, Max Factor, Estée Lauder, and L’Oréal – for which she has been spokesperson for over 15 years. Dayle has adorned the covers of dozens of magazines internationally, and has starred in many beauty campaigns. All this happened after her years as a young ballerina with Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, when she danced with the Bolshoi and the Kirov ballet companies when in Canada. Discovered by model maven Eileen Ford, then by photographer Guy Bourdin her career went into orbit.

Well into her highly successful modeling career, Dayle realized that women over 40 were not being represented by the beauty and fashion industry. She felt she had an opportunity to change that perception from the inside. She has since been on the forefront of this now well-known age revolution and the result has been two bestselling books on inner and outer beauty, both translated into more than six languages – Ageless Beauty and The Five Principles of Ageless Living.

Dayle spoke recently with Tempo Toronto.

Related posts:

1. In Bolivia: as UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador
2. UNICEF trip to Bolivia 2
3. In Bolvia

On any given night in Toronto, during the cold months of late fall and winter, a number of Out of the Cold shelters spring up around the city. From early November until late March, Out of the Cold at Holy Blossom Temple, located at Bathurst Street and Eglinton Avenue, opens its doors to feed up to 116 homeless guests.

In its 14^th year of operation, the Holy Blossom Out of the Cold is part of a coalition working to ease the plight of homelessness and socially isolated people in Toronto. Last year HBT’s Out of the Cold provided over 2,500 dinners and overnight shelter for over 750. Guests are offered a nutritious meal, nursing services, a warm place to sleep for the night, as well as clothing and other essentials.

In order to pull this off, Out of the Cold begins at 9 a.m., with volunteer crews working in unison on a  myriad of functions – from shopping for needed food and other items, to preparation of sandwiches (guests are given a bagged meal upon their departure), cooking dinner, dining room setup, serving, cleanup, security, entertainment, organizing beds and blankets for stay-overs, and ending with the breakfast crew that arrives at 5:30 a.m. the next day. Needless to say, it takes incredible coordination, and immense dedication from each and every person involved for this program to run like the well-oiled machine that it needs to be.

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Through ongoing Malawi mission, church group reaches out to impoverished village, and brings hope

Greg Harper, 52, has been a police officer for almost a quarter of a century, most of which has been spent with the emergency response unit (ERU, commonly known as the “SWAT” team). In a nutshell, when the public needs help they call the police, when the police need help they call the ERU. Greg is currently the unit commander for York Region, directing the handling of high risk situations. And if you were to meet him, you would feel most reassured that such a strong, calm individual with integrity to spare is directing a crack team that helps keep us all safe.

His caring nature led him to embark on a mission trip in the summer of 2006, instigated partly by his own personal faith journey which began following the death of a friend early that same year. He became a committed Christian, and joined a church. Eleven members of that church group, under the leadership of Minister David Sherbino, organized themselves to go on a mission to Kasenjere in Malawi to help the villagers finish a church that had been started over 10 years before. Greg and his wife Geri were two of the missionaries.

Greg had never really travelled before, and certainly not to a third-world country, which made the whole idea daunting to him. Until his return from Africa in September 2006, he did not realize it was to be a life changing experience. It was a humbling experience for Greg to see first hand how people struggle just to survive. It made him realize how lucky we are in Toronto, and how much many people take for granted. Predictably, he felt anger towards waste, ignorance, selfishness and complaining that prevails in parts of the westernized world.

“The biggest misconception about mission work, and I didn’t tune into it myself until the second time I went, is that it’s not about going and doing things for them – to build a school or a church for example, things they really can do for themselves,” said Greg. “What is more important, more impactful for them, is the time that we spend together: the fact that we travel all the way across the world just to be with them, and that they are not forgotten.”  (Continued, next page)

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