Hi all,
Hope that this note finds you well! The WCRA Board of Directors has been busy over the past few months. We continue with our networking efforts and I am happy to report that we are making some good progress on this front!
We thought you may be interested to know about the following....Upcoming Events:
Frozen "Frozen" Event: February 8th, 3:00pm - 7:00pm
Councillor Filion's office is hosting a neighbourhood event at Mel Lastmans Square.Skating party with some of the cast from Disney's hit film "Frozen". There will be a number of kid's activities around the skating rink along with hot chocolate and snacks. The skate party will run from 3:00pm - 5:00pm. Following the skating party there will be an outdoor viewing of the movie, Frozen. This will run from 5:00pm - 7:00pm.Don't have skates, no problem as there will be a city program available to swap skates OR pick up a pair free of charge.
Skate Day in Willowdale: February 14th, 1:00pm - 6:00pm
The outdoor rink volunteers have partnered with Councillor Filion's office and will be hosting a community skate day.Each of the four outdoor rinks will be hosting an event and each of these locations will have their own activities with hot chocolate/snacks. Here's the current schedule for the day:Casewll Rink 1:15pm - 2:15pmEdithvale Rink 2:30pm - 3:30pm Parkview Park Rink 3:45pm - 4:45pm Glendora Rink: 5:00pm - 6:00pm Following the skating event, the various rinks will be open for inter-generational shinny.NOTE - This event will be weather dependent so we strongly encourage you to check in advance for a status update. If you use the rink, you most likely have contact details. If you are interested but unsure how to check please reach out to the councilor's office (link attached below)John Filion's Office link
Community Leaders' Summit & Networking Activities:
On February 1st Councillor Filion's office held a half day networking event with approximately 100 community leaders. This group was made up of engaged community members representing various associations / community groups along with city staff. I was able to attend and found it a worthwhile event. Here is a high level summary:
Councilor Filion and a number of other active, longstanding community members were very encouraged to see the amount of engagement. There are a number of neighbourhood associations in the process of getting started and a healthy amout of community building activity going on in our ward.
To this end, I have made contact with a few neighbourhood association leads and we are in the initial stages of planning for community building events.
On the topic of "neighbourhood organizing"
A committee has been put together with the aim of establishing a Business Improvement Association (BIA). This should be welcomed news for our ward as the Yonge Street corridor is one of the few high density areas in the GTA without an active BIA. The establishment of this type of association will allow for greater community building activities and represents a possible source of co-sponsorship funding for events.
The committee lead is Nuno Topa
On the topic of "animating local places"
A number of committees are currently being established with the aim of animating parks and other areas within our ward. The networking event allowed people to connect and form into committees. If you wish for a full list please reach out us via our email (willowdalecra@gmail.com).
Of specific note, there is a focus on getting more programming into the Lee Lifeson park.
We were able to work with North York Arts last year to bring some programs into the park over the summer months. We are expecting some more opportunities this year. Lila Karim is the main contact whom we will be working with.
TD Park People
TD Bank has a grant available for local community groups.
I will start to explore how we might be able to leverage this grant for our community building activities this year. Anyone interested in helping with this?.. Please reach out to me (sboyleto@gmail.com).
Here's the link should you want more background info: TD Park People Link
WCRA Board of Director's Update:
We have been focusing on networking and community outreach activities over the past few months. As mentioned above, we are now in contact with a few other association leads. We would like to do some door knocking and mail drops in the spring and are looking for help. Anyone willing to help?... Please let us know.
The Board is reviewing the Bi-laws and will report back to the general membership in our Annual General Meeting (AGM).
Save the date, looking to host the AGM on May 27th at 7:30pm at the John Mackenzie Historical House.
In addition to support the two events noted above this February we have started to explore other events (noted below)
Community Bar-B-Que gathering
Tennis tournament at the NY Tennis Club
Inter-association sporting events (eg. baseball, soccer).
These things do require some member support, if you are interested in helping out, please let us know.
As always, please let the association know if you have any event you are hosting and/or if you have any ideas on how we can bring community members together.
Warm Regards,
Stephen,
On Behalf of the WCRA