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Donation Nation Youth Initiative
Welcome to the North York Harvest Food Bank’s newest project, the Donation Nation Youth Initiative! The Donation Nation name and logo were the brainchild of two young teenaged girls (pictured above) and their dad – once we saw the work they had done we knew the idea could grow and grow. Earlier this year, Lauren and Samantha Weisbarth, twin sisters living in northern Toronto, were looking forward to their bat mitzvahs. As part of their experience, they were expected to give to their community in a meaningful way. Lauren and Samantha sat down with their mom and dad and talked about it – mom and dad wanted the girls to do something that didn’t require a lot of supervision; the girls didn’t want to do what their friends were doing, they wanted to do something … different. And so, Donation Nation was born! Lauren and Samantha’s dad, Mark Weisbarth, created the Donation Nation logo using the facilities of his company Due North Communications. Mom had baseball caps made up with the new logo stitched on; and the girls created signs that they tacked to their wagon. For the next 12 weeks, after school and on weekends, Samantha and Lauren donned their caps and wheeled their wagon from door to door around their neighbourhood and the neighbourhoods surrounding theirs, collecting donations for the North York Harvest Food Bank. In the end they collected more than 140 pounds of food from friends and neighbours! Throughout all this, Lauren and Samantha were keeping a diary of the experience, which they shared with us. It is a record of the trials and tribulations of launching a food drive, from a young teenager’s point of view. Excerpts from that diary can be found below. North York Harvest Food Bank has built on this single event to encourage a citywide youth initiative of community involvement, with the intent of building support for the North York Harvest Food Bank amongst the city’s younger generation. The Donation Nation Youth Initiative now encompasses a variety of projects, including ‘School Food Drives’ [click here to view the Donation Nation Youth Initiative - School Food Drive Project Kit]. While this kit is designed specifically for school use, it can easily be edited to reflect any youth-initiated food drive. Other projects within the Initiative include the ‘Pack to School Project’, in which new backpacks and school supplies are collected and donated to the Food Bank so that all kids can arrive to school on the first day of class with the supplies they need and a backpack to carry them in. A ‘DNYI Speakers’ Bureau’ is being developed, to provide young people with the skills to act as speakers on behalf of the Food Bank. The ‘Give a Gift to the Food Bank Project’ talks to youth about alternate ways to acknowledge birthdays, bar/bat mitzvahs, and other special events by asking their friends and family to donate the money they would have spent on a gift (or the money mom and dad might have spent on loot bags) to the Food Bank; or to consider using edible items in table centerpieces at more formal affairs so that they can be donated to the Food Bank at the end of the night. Kits for each of these additional Donation Nation Youth Initiative projects are being developed right now. Watch for them to appear here later this month. Whatever the event, there is one common factor within the Donation Nation Youth Initiative, and that is youth involvement with the North York Harvest Food Bank and so, their community. If your school or community organization or family is interested in participating in this new venture, we want to hear from you. If you have an idea that fits the parameters of the Donation Nation Youth Initiative and it isn’t listed here, we want to hear from you. If you have questions about what you have read here, we want to hear from you! Please contact Kathryn Sim at North York Harvest Food Bank – contact information is listed below. We look forward to hearing from you! J Kathryn Sim Community Relations North York Harvest Food Bank 640 Lawrence Avenue W Toronto ON M6A 1B1 Phone: 416.635.7771 Fax: 416.635.5599 |
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This web site was generated entirely in-house by the North York Harvest Food BankPlease send mail to the webmaster
Brendon Noronha with any questions or comments about this web site.
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