Website Jan 4

An Update from the John Polanyi Collegiate sponsored Interact Club:

YYZ INBOUND Project:

• Each year, Canada accepts almost 300,000 immigrants from all over the world. It also becomes a safe harbor for numerous people, seeking refuge from poverty, war, and socio-cultural discrimination. Last year alone, Canada accepted over 25,000 Syrian refugees in response to the impending risk of violence in their politically-charged country. Since many of our team members are immigrants who have settled in Canada, we understand the difficulties of immigration and settling into a new environment. We therefore launched YYZ Inbound, a project designed to assist the transition of newcomers into the Toronto ecosystem. We sold t-shirts that displayed the Toronto skyline in a bold YYZ print. We quickly received an outpouring of orders and soon we had completely sold out of our stock. The profit accumulated from the sales of the YYZ shirts was used to fund and assemble kits containing various sources of information and supplies required to ease into Toronto life. These kits were donated to immigrant service centers, (e.g. Costi Immigration Services) and further distributed to people in need. This year we decided to continue the YYZ Inbound initiative by improving the quality of our t-shirts and releasing limited edition crew neck sweatshirts. Within less than a week we sold out our supply of 50 crew neck sweatshirts. We are currently working on expanding our product line in order to meet the overwhelming demand for our products. The money raised will be invested into programs, activities, and other initiatives that are needed by newcomer youth in Toronto.

• Malaria is a life-threatening disease that rapidly spreads in regions without proper medical care and assistance. With over half a million deaths per year attributed to malaria, it has become an increasingly evident issue. Safety is a luxury under today’s conditions, so we must do our part in helping our global brothers and sisters. This fall the JPCI CITY team addressed this issue by participating in the Spread the Net Challenge through Plan International Canada. Over the course of a week we collected donations, and by the end of the week we donated over 50 kits to malaria infected regions. These kits contained insecticide treated bed nets that were able protect 2 people from malaria for up to 3 years. This initiative allowed us to raise money for a good cause and educate others about the dangers of malaria and the places it affects.

• https://www.facebook.com/JPCICity/
• https://jpcicity.wordpress.com/portfolio/yyz-inbound/
• https://twitter.com/jpciivyandcity
• https://www.instagram.com/jpcicity/

• Dave Hardy of the North Scarborough Rotary Club - How the Scarborough Clubs worked together on the Scarborough Community Renewal Project.

• Speaker - Classification Talk