We are honoured by

The Association of Fundraising Professionals  Greater Toronto Chapter

The Association of Fundraising Professionals Greater Toronto Chapter has been honouring leadership in philanthropy through its annual awards program since 1995.

This year a new category was introduced to honour " Small Organizations for Excellence in Fundraising". Community Matters Toronto was nominated for this awrard by Mo Davies a fundraising professional who has volunteered her time with us for over a year.

We were fortunate to be designated as co winners in our category and received our award on National Philanthropy Day at a luncheon held by the Greater Toronto Chapter.

We are particularly pleased that the association has chosen to recognize the work of small grass roots organizations who so often get overlooked in today's more sophisticated fundraising environment.

Take a Byte

A Cook Book For Kids By Kids

Introducing .........

Sofia Mohamud

COMMUNITY MATTERS Homework Club Coordinator

Community Matters Toronto Sponsors

TAKE A BYTE!

A Cook Book for Kids, by Kids and liked by Kids!

Welcome to Take a Byte. Our idea for a cookbook came from our group, the

ST JAMES TOWN COMMUNITY TRUST

We are a group of small local programs who have banded together under the umbrella of Community Matters Toronto. We help each other provide excellent programs, learn new skills and develop ways to generate funds and materials.

Our interest in nutrition grew from our concern that our children did not have good eating habits, know about the taste and qualities of food and that in the long term their health would be affected.

Part of the answer is to ask the kids and develop appraoches to involve them, find our their favourite recipes and learn how to interest them in buying and making their own food.

So we did! The work is done by kids, including the covers, the hints and the recipes. It is written by children from the ages of 6 to 17, so that the spelling and grammar reflect their best efforts for their age, and the nutritional value does not always conform to all the rules of Canada's Food Guide.

It has been a wonderful collaboration. Over 100 children and adults have helped with this first edition. Many thanks to Shantel for coming up with the great title: Take a Byte.

So everyone, we encourage you to TAKE A BYTE!

We are selling the book for $ 8. If you wish to order a copy of Take a Byte please contact us

Sofia has worked with CMT for the past four years first in Celebrating the Family, working especially with families with children with speech and language issues.

She has coordinated the Homework Club, and has learned so much about curriculum and that many of them have 'graduated' from their ESL to mainstream classes!

As a student she worked with the Somali Womens' Democratic Organization, and was active with community groups, lobbying against womens' circumcision in Somali.

She brought her background and traditions to Rose Avenue Public School where she was elected President of the Parent Council this year!

We would like to gratefully acknowledge the financial committment made to Community Matters and the St. James Town Community. In particular we would like to recognize:

• Harry A. Newman Memorial Award
• Louise Coshan
• The F K Morrow Foundation
• Manulife Financial
• Toronto Foundation for Student Success
• The Catherine and Maxwell Meighan Foundation
• The Peter Paul Foundation
• The RBC Corporate Donations
• St. Andrews Charitable Foundation
• Fred Rodenhausen
• Rosedale Presbyterian Church

VOLUNTEER PORTAL

Our Community Assistants and Volunteers are the backbone of CMT. In three short years we now have close to 30 active volunteers who deliver and support our programs. We'd like to introduce them to you. We have developed a volunteer portal to introduce them to each other and to our Friends. So please check it out.

To give you an idea of the magnitude of their contribution, Check here to the powerful collective effect of all of our volunteers' contributions