Last week, Yorktown Family Services shared our many accomplishments of 2017-2018 at our Annual General Meeting (AGM). The evening highlighted “Stronger Together,” which was our theme for fiscal year April 1st, 2017 to March 31st, 2018.
We’re proud to say our AGM was a packed house. Special thanks to MP Ahmed Hussen who joined us to acknowledge the challenges youth are facing today, and commend our community for finding different ways to reach youth and help them move forward in a positive direction. We would also like to thank MC Szigfrid for sharing his music.
We were proud to welcome Harmy Mendoza from WomanACT, one of our partner organizations, who shared the value of collaborating across sectors to address the needs of women and children. She mentioned how “great it is to work with organizations that trust and respect each other and reach out to share ideas and concerns.” This partnership has been exceptionally important to us as we work together to identify gaps in services in the Violence Against Women sector, and facilitate policy development and pilot projects to better serve the women and children in our communities.
There was some exciting news announced by Lachlan MacQuarrie, a member of Yorktown’s Board of Directors and Chair of the Development Committee. Lachlan unveiled that the 2019 recipient of the Yorktown Humanitarian Award for Community Service will be Charlie Angelakos, Vice President of Legal and Corporate Affairs for Labatt Breweries of Canada, for his leadership of Labatt’s philanthropic investment in our communities. Stay tuned for more information and a blog featuring Charlie!
The most inspiring part of our AGM is our client stories and we were lucky enough to have two incredible clients share their experiences.
First up, we welcomed Ben* to tell his story as a client of Yorktown Family Services. Ben and his daughters were referred to us by St. Joe’s hospital. They first came to Yorktown’s walk-in, then began On-going Counselling Service; each daughter with a dedicated therapist. Ben participated in the counselling sessions with his daughters, and also attended Mindful Fathering and Parenting Wisely. Thanks to the timely interventions they received, the family is thriving! “I felt a great amount of support from the counsellors and use the coping skills I learned, every day. My life changed because of Yorktown,” Ben says between tears, “please don’t let this service go away. We need more of it.”
We were also grateful to hear from another client, Cynthia*. She began her story with “you know you’re healed when you can stand in front of strangers and share your story confidently.” Cynthia came to us four years ago, and although she initially did not want help because she was scared to hear the word “no,” on Cynthia’s third visit she was ready to accept that we are here to help. Cynthia shared that she was connected to Yorktown’s Violence Against Women services through a friend who had received help from Evelyn Skeet, one of Yorktown’s Transitional and Housing Support Workers. “Evelyn is so full of knowledge; she is a tremendous resource. She helped me feel empowered and believe in myself so I could reach my goals,” says Cynthia. Evelyn worked with Cynthia so that she could be self-sufficient and make a new life, free from abuse, for her and her two little girls. According to Cynthia, “Heaven is not above. It’s here. At Yorktown.”
We are very grateful to both Cynthia and Ben for sharing their stories with us.
At our Annual General Meeting, we also recognized the excellence of staff, community members, and partners that all contributed to our success!
We honoured the following individuals with their respective awards:
Spirit of Giving Award: In Memory of Chris Spearing (accepted by Chris’s wife, Anita Vanderhaeghe)
Eleanor Stein Memorial Women’s Award: Deleshia Campbell
Linda Sumner Youth Development Fund Award: Alyssia Galati
Partnership Awards:
- FOCUS Rexdale: Toronto Police Services, United Way Greater Toronto, City of Toronto
- Gaggi VMC Media
We also celebrated our staff with various awards:
5 Year Awards:
- Rosie Bell
- Sari Burkes
- Brittany Oliverrie
- Enayet Sarder
- Rebecca Weintraub
10 Year Awards:
- Tashawna Thomas
- Teresa Thomas
25 Years Awards:
- Gabbey Dessye
- Louraine James
- Danuta Winska
30 Years Award:
- Ivalie Clarke
Staff Award of Excellence:
- Maureen Ringlein
Karen Hutchinson Memorial Award:
- Leonard Desmarais
To read our Annual Report from fiscal year 2017-2018, click HERE.
We look forward to another fantastic year ahead!