Bring work gloves, brooms and shovels.

Also, August 14th is the Bloorcourt BIA Sidewalk Sale and Festival in our new neighbourhood. The Children’s Storefront will have tables set up for a garage sale, bake sale, airbrush tattoos, balloons, and lots more. We need volunteers to help out at the tables and are accepting donations for the garage sale. Please drop off any donations on August 14th at 1:00 PM at 826 Bloor Street West. Come by and see the new location and stick around to lend a hand!

Please email Suzanne Landriault, our volunteer coordinator, if you are available in any capacity for either of these two events:

suzannelandriault@bell.net

Thank you for your continued support.

Toronto, ON (May 31, 2010) – The Children’s Storefront has found a new home so it can continue to provide GTA parents and their families with the open arm welcome and support that the community values so closely. 

The Children’s Storefront is grateful to Capital One Canada for stepping forward with a generous $40,000 donation, with the offer to match community donations up to an additional $40,000, to help them rebuild.

“The fire completely gutted our home and left nothing behind for the kids to play with or the parents to learn from,” said Roona Maloney, Executive Director, The Children’s Storefront.  “Thanks to Capital One, our fundraising campaign is off to a good start, but we desperately need the community to step up to help rebuild our centre.  We also welcome volunteers to help with all areas of construction, including meal preparation, painting and cleaning.”

 “The devastation faced by The Children’s Storefront is a real loss to the community.  As a strong supporter of local initiatives that help GTA-kids succeed in life, we wanted to kick start their fundraising campaign,” said Laurel Ostfield, spokesperson, Capital One Canada.  “We are hopeful the community will step forward to help The Children’s Storefront raise the necessary funds to rebuild this important parent-child centre.”

To turbo-charge the fundraising effort, Capital One Canada will match all community donations made to The Children’s Storefront by September 30, 2010 up to $40,000.  This is on top of the $40,000 donation already made, for a total of $80,000.

The new location will be housed at 826 Bloor Street West.  It boasts bright, open spaces, and is located in close proximity to both parks and public transportation. The square footage of the new Children’s Storefront will increase thanks to a second floor, two kitchens and two bathrooms.  

“The most exciting addition to our programming will be a separate basement kitchen which we will use to enhance our brunches, dinners and community events.  We hope to be able to work with public health and other agencies to grow this into a community kitchen with its own workshops and programming,” said Ms. Maloney.

The Children’s Storefront was destroyed by fire on October 31, 2009. Toronto’s oldest parent-child service centre lost all of its games, toys and resource material that had been painstakingly collected over 30 years of operation.

Donations to The Children’s Storefront can be made at:

TD Canada Trust

Transit Number13602

Account#05425206664

Or use paypal online at www.childrensstorfront.com

About The Children’s Storefront

Established over 30 years ago, the Children’s Storefront is a community driven family resource centre. We offer support services, free of charge, and welcome families of all cultural and socio-economic backgrounds. Our mission is to be of service to all parents and caregivers with young children.

The Children’s Storefront began as a toy-lending library and quickly grew to become a safe haven for parents with small children to come together and share their parenting experiences.  Young children can learn how to play together in a warm and child-centered environment while parents bond with each other over shared stories in a supportive and non-judgmental arena.

About Capital One
Located in Toronto, Ontario, Capital One has offered Canadian consumers a range of competitive MasterCard credit cards since 1996, when the company first introduced the Platinum MasterCard in Canada. Capital One Canada is a division of Capital One Bank, a subsidiary of Capital One Financial Corporation of McLean, Virginia (NYSE: COF). Capital One is committed to the community and to helping youth through our business and nonprofit partnerships and through the skills and dedication of our talented associates.

Media Contact:

Roona Maloney

Executive Director, The Children’s Storefront

416-531-8151

roonamaloney@hotmail.com

We want to thank everyone for all of the support that you have provided since our fire on October 31. We are still here and able to plan a future because of the tremendous support of our community.

We have had design assistance from Adam Thom, a wonderful architect who came forward to get us up and running again after the fire. Thanks to Adam, we have some great designs for our new site.

We know that many people in the community have expressed interest in helping in some additional ways and we asked everyone to wait until there was a new Storefront to build. Well, that day has finally arrived and we need your help.

We need help with all areas of construction – from sweeping, meal preparation, drywall, painting and building on- and off-site. We welcome skilled volunteers and eager volunteers to make our new home a reality.

We took possession of the building on the 7^th of May and we hope to start work soon. There is a process of permit applications and other tasks that will need to happen before the actual building can begin, but we are getting close!

I am asking everyone to take a moment and think of some areas that you are able to help with, the time you are able to commit and the things you are most interest in helping us do.  If you have friends or family members that might be interested, please include them too!

Suzanne Landriault is our volunteer coordinator and is waiting to hear from all of you.  I know that many of you have already given so much but we still need your help. We need your to help rebuild The Children’s Storefront back into the wonderful home that it was for our community.

If you need any additional information or have any questions please feel free to contact us at childrensstorefront@gmail.com

With much appreciation,

Roona Maloney

Executive Director,

Children’s Storefront

Bring your gently used items to donate to our community fundraiser at 9 AM. Please do not bring items if it is raining (check the website by 8 AM on May 15 for for updates). Note that we will be unable to accept any donations prior to the day the yard sale is held. A rain date (if applicable) will be announced later.

For the sake of the environment, please bring your own shopping bags.

We look forward to seeing you there!

When: Tuesday March 30: 7:00-9:30 PM

Location: Good For Her: 175 Harbord St (east of Bathurst, south side), 416-588-0900
Pre-registration recommended by phone, in person or online.

Facilitator: Carlyle Jansen is the founder of Good For Her. She has taught groups of sex therapists and sexual health professionals, school/youth groups as well as informal groups of folks looking to enhance their personal lives.  She blends a matter-of-fact approach with a comfort with the subject of sexuality that quickly dispels nervousness and puts participants at ease. She has appeared numerous times in the media, including the Toronto Star, The Globe and Mail, Macleans Magazine, as well as the Discovery Channel’s “Sex Files”, The Life Network’s “Health on the Line”, WTN’s “Between the Sheets” and several documentaries. She is also a proud mom of two who loves going to the Storefront!

As of January 2010, Kid’s Day will be an ongoing fundraiser for the Children’s Storefront Rebuilding Foundation.  As 100% of the proceeds from Kid’s Day will be donated to the Children’s Storefront, payment for treatment can be made directly to their charitable foundation and a tax receipt can be provided for donations over $20.

The service provided is valued at $75 per treatment, however, a pay-as-you-can honour policy is in place so that it is left up to whomever books the appointment to make the contribution directly to the Children’s Storefront at www.childrensstorefront.com.  Please state your donation is on behalf of Annex Osteopathy Kid’s Day.  Booking a spot for the day will remain on a first-come first-served basis.

Last Monday of every month
By appointment only
between 10:30 – 2:00
Age newborn to 12

For inquiries or to book:
Contact David directly at
david@annexosteopathy.com
416 821-3006

For additional information on David and Osteopathy for children:
Click here

What is Osteopathy?
www.annexosteopathy.com
www.osteopathyontario.com

Normal operating hours will resume on Monday, March 22, 2010.