n the summer of 2008 we worked with Branksome Hall to provide summer work for three St. James Town Youth in the summer literacy program of the Triangle of Hope initiative. Here is a short speach from one of them which was given at a fundraising event to promote the program.

My name is Naz Nasser, and I am a grade 11 student at Jarvis Collegiate Institute.  I graduated from Rose Avenue Public School, and this summer I was proud to be a mentor for children in St. James Town.  When I became a volunteer with the Leap into Literacy Camp, I wasn’t really sure what to expect.  I had never worked with children before, and I had never been to camp before – I wasn’t sure if I could live up to the expectations.

The teachers at the camp always expected me to be a leader.  I was responsible to leading basket ball games at recess, teaching the kids how to Podcast, and being a support person for a boy who had learning difficulties. 

I feel like I grew a lot during camp, and I really understand how much influence I have on younger children. 

Respect was a big part of camp. Growing up in a community like St. James Town, it is important to respect the people around you – whatever their culture and beliefs.  The camp was a place where we could practice respecting each other and ourselves.

I became involved with the Literacy Camp through Ali’s recommendation.  We met a year ago when I took a resume writing workshop at Community Matters.  For the past year, Ali has guided me on how to make the most of myself, and has shown me by his example how important it is to be a leader in my community. 

It meant a lot to me to develop my leadership skills at the camp.

Working at this camp made me feel confident and made me believe that I can become whatever I want to be. It felt good to know that I had an important job to do, and that people believed in me and were counting on me to do my best. 

This has been one of the best experiences of my life – thank you for the opportunity.

Naz Nasser

 

I hope that your hearts were warmed by seeing all the wonderful people you have brought together through the years and how that collaboration impacted so many families and children.

In that room alone there were 3 children who are doing exceptionally well because they were diagnosed earlier and supported through Celebrating the Family's initiatives.

This would not have been possible if had not been for your vision and perseverance

Lee Steel

Hi Ali:

Thank you for writing and your interest.
I appreciate all the support you and Community Matters provided to obtain the piano for me and making sure that the arrangement stabilized in terms of the moving taking place in a timely, practical manner!

It is very thoughtful that you too, feel that the original family who gave the piano can be told of the success their kindness has brought.

I'm sure that our community would be very interested in seeing what upbuilding results come from interacting in a refreshing, caring, interactive environment.

It will be interesting to see to what extent young people can be encouraged to take on cultural and artistic challenges for the betterment of everyone.

Thank you, until shortly,

Stephen

From time to tome neighbours who have participated in Community Matters write to us and let us know how they are doing. Here are some of those notes and letters