MYTORONTO Calendar Highlights Issue of Homelessness
By Cari Kozierok September 17, 2019 Cari Kozierok is executive director of Ve’ahavta, an organization that mobilizes volunteers to support transformative change amongst people experiencing poverty and homelessness. – Canadian Jewish News photo You’re on your way to a meeting downtown. Rushing along Bay Street, you barely notice the person sleeping on the cold, wet sidewalk […]
A Headlight Unto the Nations
By Avrum Rosensweig– August 27, 2019 (Wikimedia Commons/Ed Yourdon/https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/deed.en) In the old days of Jewish Toronto, the highest profile vehicle in the community was the Stroli’s delivery van. If it stopped in front of your house, you knew that your meat had arrived and the delivery man might engage you in a conversation in Yiddish, […]
Blanket entrepreneurs give back to the community
By Susan Minuk- August 15, 2019 Aaron Spivak, left, and Lior Ohayon, the co-founders of Hush blankets, pose for a photo at their warehouse. (Axel Villamil/Acquire Agency photo) Who among us has not experienced the frustration of a sleepless night? Despite growing evidence that deep, restful sleep is imperative to good health, a solid eight […]
Oshawa mayor shares story of overcoming adversity
By Alex Rose- May 3, 2019 His mother died in childbirth, he was raped at eight years old, his older brother died when he was 13, he spent years as a homeless man, in and out of jail and using various substances, he lost the older sister who saved him from the streets to suicide, […]
The downside of up – Chronic homelessness as the devastating flipside of prosperity
By Sarah Fulford | January 22, 2019 On a cold night in December, my husband and our 12-year-old son volunteered with a charitable organization called Ve’ahavta, which provides outreach services to homeless people. Six days a week, Ve’ahavta loads up a van with sleeping bags, toiletries, hot meals and warm socks and distributes them throughout […]
How formerly homeless people are helping those in need — and helping themselves
A North York Jewish group’s meal box program is employing people who’ve experienced poverty Talia Ricci · CBC News · Posted: Nov 21, 2018 5:00 AM ET | Last Updated: November 21 Outreach worker Ryan Balser, left, hands Kim Mcdougall care packages to hand out around St. Clair Avenue West and Bathurst Street. (Grant Linton / CBC News) There’s […]
Dugmah Grants Report 2017
See our 2017 Dugmah Grants report for some of the social justice related initiatives that youth have been involved with at their summer camps.
‘Awareness goes a long way’: Photo exhibit shows city from the view of the homeless
Lorenda Reddekopp · CBC News · Posted: Oct 11, 2018 12:03 PM ET | Last Updated: October 11 It’s the second year for the My Toronto Photography Project, put on by Jewish anti-poverty group Ve’ahavta. A new photo exhibit gives people a view of the city through the lens of people who are homeless or […]
These 13 winning photos by people who’ve experienced homelessness will make up the next MYTORONTO calendar
By Emily Mathieu Affordable Housing Reporter Thu., Oct. 11, 2018 Hardship and periods of homelessness have left a positive mark on the heart of Maria Santos. “It stayed with me. You just don’t forget that. You become more humble,” said Santos, 54, explaining that she once relied on emergency shelters, sometimes with her very young […]