Dear Friends,
2017 has been a very full year, exploring why ‘Moorelands Matters’ to 1170 children and their families.
We found new partners and continue to see our community and supporters grow. We launched a strategic directive to serve more youth. We “weathered” the challenge of having camp close for one session over the summer – only the second time in 100 years of camp – with trees down, no power, no water and no phones, all caused by extreme weather.We sat on an advisory panel of best practices in after-school programming for the benefit of partners’ Toronto Community Housing and the Jays Care Foundation. We grew our capacity for Youth LED to almost double the enrolment of 2016. And we commemorated both camp’s 100th birthday and Canada’s 150th birthday with a memorable reunion at Moorelands Camp. We have so much to celebrate!
At Moorelands Camp, with a grant from Toronto Community Foundation, a Canada 150 trail was created, and each camper visited the 15 stations to learn about Canada throughout the decades. Campers wrote their hopes on cards that, when put together, created a huge Canadian flag which was displayed all summer.
Kerry, age 9, shares
My hope for Canada; “I hope that Canada can be a peaceful country and no one is to feel unsafe and insulted.”
My hope for Moorelands: “that Moorelands keeps everyone safe and everyone can learn something new.”
Moorelands’ after-school programs continue to grow and meet the needs of Thorncliffe and Flemingdon Park neighbourhoods. In September In 2017, our BLAST programs were aligned to include STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, & Math) giving a broad range of skills to the participants. Through strategic partnerships with Scotiabank and Jays Care, we devoted more hours to staff training with strong results.
This summer our events efforts focused on sending 100 kids to camp, with a Moorelands’ gala at Palais Royale and the third annual Starry Summer Night Bash, organized by a generous group of Kawagama Lake’ cottagers.
We heard from Randy, an alumnus, who spoke of his career path that was inspired by his time at Moorelands; Sage, who shared that as a successful high school student, every day she uses skills learned at Moorelands. And Autumn, who grew and gained strength, as she experienced a sense of belonging at camp.
The strengths that children and youth are gaining through Moorelands would not be possible without our dedicated donors, committed board members, faithful volunteers and dynamic staff team.
To those on the journey with us, thank you for being part of Moorelands in 2017. Now in 2018 let’s give more children and youth the opportunity to discover for themselves why ‘Moorelands Matters.’
Respectfully Submitted,
Lynda Tilley
Executive Director