Dignity For All Newsletter - Issue 6

DIGNITY FOR ALL PROGRAM

OUR PARTNERS Gold Partner ($3,000+)

Silver Partner ($2,000 - $2,999)

Bronze Partner ($1,000 - $1,999)

The Kaushal Family

Partner ($150 - $999)

Dignity For All Program: A Quick Glance (A Joint Newsletter Between Crescent School and Havergal College) Message from the Chair With the end of the school year quickly approaching, we are hoping to finish off the school year strong!

Our fundraising goal of $50,000 is achievable, with our fund just under $40,000. We would like to continue to thank all our partners, namely Home Trust (gold partner), the Royal Conservatory of Music (gold partner) and CIBC (silver partner). We are still looking for a few more partners; if you or your company is interested, please do not hesitate to contact any member of our fundraising team.

The Dignity For All program has made huge strides over the past month on the fundraising front. On Thursday, April 21, 2016, Crescent School hosted an Outreach Celebration Dinner.

During this event, we presented a $15,000 cheque to COSTI Immigrant Services. Our donation will go towards supporting the Art Therapy Program for refugee children. This program is described in greater detail on the fourth page of this newsletter.

We also donated three instalments of $5,000 to the Upper Beaches Lifeline Syria Group, Rise Again (Rosedale United Church Group), and Welcome Project Canada. The Upper Beaches Group would like to thank all members of the community for supporting Dignity For All, as per their enclosed note.

Crescent School and Havergal College Students, Our sponsorship group, called Upper Beaches Lifeline Syria, is grateful for your generous donation towards helping our Syrian family, a young couple with a baby boy, settle into Canada. Your donation will go directly into rent, groceries, TTC passes, furniture, and the many things that they will need to begin their life in Toronto. Raising money is hard work and we admire your commitment and efforts in making this happen. Thank you for doing this.

Linette, on behalf of The Upper Beaches Lifeline Syria Group Our social and recreational support has recently been modified, in accordance with the current progress of refugee resettlement in Toronto. Most Syrian refugees have found permanent homes, moving out of local hotels and into their new places. These newcomers are also very busy, with a full schedule of activities during the week. Dignity For All’s social and recreational support programs at Crescent and Havergal are no longer needed. We would like to thank all the volunteers who helped on February 20 and 27, when both schools opened their doors to government-sponsored refugees.

The Dignity For All program has made significant progress thus far, and we are committed to continue our great work. We would like to thank members of the Crescent and Havergal community for their continued support of the program.

- Ronald Chow, Student Chair May 6, 2016

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Dignity For All Program: A Quick Glance (A Joint Newsletter Between Crescent School and Havergal College) Our Fundraising Progress Our fund currently registers $39,428.00, in addition to the Royal Conservatory of Music’s charitable $5,000 scholarship for two Syrian children/teenagers. We would like to thank our newest partners, namely Krcmar Surveyors, 401 Games, and Raymond James. We would also like to extend our gratitude to our other partners’ continued support.

Crescent School will be hosting one more internal fundraiser this year, and we hope that more partnerships will allow us to reach our $50,000 fundraising target. If you and/or your corporation are interested in supporting the Dignity For All program through a financial contribution, please do not hesitate to contact any member of our fundraising team.

- Selina Chow, Chief Financial Officer

90%

80%

70%

If you are interested in partnering with us and offering a financial contribution, please do not hesitate to contact any member of our fundraising team for more details: Selina Chow Harrison Hui Jack Williamson Ryan Boyd Joseph Sumabat

100%

schow@havergal.on.ca harrisonhui@crescentschool.org jackwilliamson@crescentschool.org ryanboyd@crescentschool.org josephsumabat@crescentschool.org

60%

50%

40%

Dignity For All Program 30%

Ronald Chow, Student Chair Mr. Mehernosh Pestonji, (Crescent School) Faculty Chair Mr. Gordon Grisé, (Havergal College) Faculty Chair Tyler Mark, Student Co-Chair

20%

Editorial Board of “Dignity For All Program: A Quick Glance” William Gill, Editor-In-Chief Spencer Dale, Associate Editor

Selina Chow, Editor-In-Chief Angelina Pan, Associate Editor

Our Fundraising Team Selina Chow, Chief Financial Officer Harrison Hui, Controller Jack Williamson, Financial Planner Ryan Boyd, Financial Planner Joseph Sumabat, Financial Planner May 6, 2016

10%

0%

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Dignity For All Program: A Quick Glance (A Joint Newsletter Between Crescent School and Havergal College) COSTI’s Art Therapy Program

COSTI Immigrant Services is a community-based multicultural agency providing educational, social, and employment services to help immigrants in Canada. Since its inception in 1952, COSTI has helped numerous immigrants, with over 39,000 individuals receiving assistance from COSTI last year. Operating from 17 locations in Toronto, York Region and Peel, COSTI provides services in more than 60 languages.

These programs include ESL training, settlement services, post-settlement support, family counselling, and mental health services – just to name a few.

In particular, COSTI’s Reception Centre also offers an Art Therapy Program for refugee children. These traumatized children are provided with a lifeline: the opportunity to work through their pain and fear, along with a second chance at childhood. This program helps children to symbolically fulfill their impulses, as well as externalizing the difficult and overwhelming feelings that they experience. By drawing their past memories, these refugee children are able to project their trauma into their artwork and gain control over it, while maintaining a comfortable distance. This creative process provides the children a direct access to the difficulties that they have been suppressing.

The art therapist then helps the children to use their artwork as a method of healing. She facilitates the child’s growth and integration by providing a safe and consistent environment for the expression and containment of their feelings. Also, the relationship that develops between each child and the art therapist enables the child to gain a sense of security and belonging.

In COSTI’s Art Therapy Program, it is clear that each child’s picture paints a thousand words. Numerous children have painted, not only what they have seen and experienced, but also what they hope their lives will be. For these children, art is the beginning of the healing process.

The Dignity For All program is honoured to contribute $15,000 to COSTI’s Art Therapy Program, in order to foster the power of healing for refugee children from this powerful program. We would like to extend our support to COSTI’s Art Therapy Program, as it continues to change the lives of countless children.

- Selina Chow, Havergal College May 6, 2016

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Dignity For All Program: A Quick Glance (A Joint Newsletter Between Crescent School and Havergal College) Canada’s Refugee Resettlement

When Justin Trudeau won a majority government in October, he pledged to resettle 25,000 Syrian refugees in Canada by December 31st, 2015. In December, the government realized the difficulty of their commitment and extended the deadline to February 29th, 2016.

Two months after the February target date, Canada has finally brought in 26,000 refugees. This national project has been almost unanimously viewed as a success. Canada’s private sponsorship program encouraged civilian participation and took the weight off government resources, resulting in an amazing feat that has international eyes turning towards Canada. However, as fantastic as the mass resettlement was, there continues to be some rough spots.

Adjusting to a new life in Canada isn’t easy: terrors of war, crowded camps, and desperation still haunt these refugees. Many lack permanent housing, jobs, and education. Some assigned houses have been crowded and dirty, and many Syrians are still living in hotel rooms. As well, finding employment is very difficult because the Syrians’ qualifications are from a country halfway across the world and their references are most likely dead or missing. Worst, the language barrier puts them at a disadvantage; many have to go back to school first to learn English.

Hopefully, the combination of government resources and friendly, helpful communities can help the refugees get on track to establishing their lives in Canada and integrating into Canadian culture. In fact, about two dozen Syrians, expressing their doubts and worries while on a trip to Ottawa, have already learned the wonderful tradition of giving MPs an earful.

- Sarah Zhao, Havergal College May 6, 2016

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