On Sunday, September 24th, Leaside Memorial Community Gardens celebrated its 65th anniversary of serving the community.
Working with our partner Sarah & Claire’s Food Drive, this celebratory event launched a friendly competition among the Gardens’ three major user groups – Leaside Hockey Association, Toronto Leaside Girls Hockey League, and the Leaside Skating Club – as well as the Leaside Curling Club. Dubbed The Hunger Games, the two-week long competition asks members of the Gardens and the Club (along with their families and friends) to collect as many donations as possible for the Daily Bread Food Bank. On Oct. 6th, the competition will conclude and the user group with the most donations will be crowned winner.
Sarah & Claire’s Food Drive is celebrating its 10th year of fundraising for the Daily Bread Food Bank, an initiative that has been bringing food to the tables of Toronto families in need during the Thanksgiving season. Sarah Jordan began the drive when she was in the 1st grade, and since that time, has been joined by her younger sister Claire Jordan to see the initiative really thrive in the Leaside community. To date, Sarah & Claire’s Food Drive has successfully raised 300,000 pounds of food and funds (every $1 raised is considered 1 pound).
Among other proud features, the drive truly stands as a testament to the giving spirit of the Leaside community. For a decade, Leaside families, schools, and businesses have gotten behind this initiative to help those less fortunate. It’s initiatives like this that really personify the heartbeat of a community as strong, tight-knit, and giving as Leaside.
Having only a few days of the competition remaining, we are asking for one final push in donations. Bins marked with each user group’s name are currently placed in the viewing area of the Doc Pashby ice pad in the Gardens. There is also one bin set up at the Curling Club. If you would like to give a monetary donation instead, please do so by visiting www.sarahandclairesfooddrive.com.
Colleen Atkinson writes on behalf of the Leaside Memorial Community Gardens.