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My name is Afua Asantewaa. I work at FoodShare in a United Way funded program called Mobile Good Food Market.
It is basically using a truck to bring fresh fruits and vegetables all across Toronto.
Many of our communities we serve are low-income neighbourhoods, how we refer to 'food deserts.'
These are the communities where you don't find a grocery store.
To not be able to access fresh fruits and vegetables, it's demoralizing.
And you see mothers coming to the market, and they are actually carrying Ziplock plastic bags with coins in them,
trying to make three dollars to buy some corn or some apples; it's... it's heartbreaking.
Now I realize, some people just really don't have a choice.
On a personal level, I am immensely appreciative to funders who give to United Way.
I say thank you to them because our customers are unable to say so.
It's having an impact on health, it's having an impact on change of eating habits
and again thank you. Without you, United Way could not help us.
So organizations such as FoodShare and innovative programs such as the Mobile Good Food Market are really important
to help people to break the cycle of poverty, to provide the foundation for them to have a better life.
United Way really works at providing that foundation for people, meeting those basic needs
To me, depression is… it's like you're torturing yourself in your mind.
My name is Parker McDowell and I'm 19 years old.
Like, if I could say in my own words, YouthLink is a counselling centre for people struggling with mental health
and they helped me with depression and anxiety.
Pretty much it started when I was 12.
I ended up getting really depressed, even stopped going to school, and I would go to the forest
I didn't want to be around people.
I didn't smile through the whole entire thing. I just wasn't happy, I wanted to die.
That's all the thoughts that were going through my mind.
At first, I wouldn't open up to Genevieve, but eventually, as the days went on, I realized that she actually cared,
she was listening to me, and she was offering solutions
and she would, like, laugh and stuff, and I would try to hide it, like not wanting to smile
and, uh, she would just make me smile more.
I would say thank you to the donors, because I don't think I would be as good as I am today
they're helping a lot of people survive and live
and they provide support and people who care.
Yeah, it's just… life's good.
Our young people face many barriers, and what we want to do is provide supports for them to overcome those barriers.
So barriers such as mental health issues. We also want to help them and support them to get school and education
so they have an opportunity for good jobs. It really sets them up for a good adulthood, a good life, and a brighter future for Toronto.
My name is Saadiya and I live in Thornecliffe Park.
Thorncliffe Park is a neighbourhood that is very multicultural and very dense.
It has over 30,000 residents that live in the neighbourhood, and they are residents that come from many parts of the world.
Thornecliffe Neighbourhood Office is an agency, which helps with what is lacking in the neighbourhood and helps with some of the needs and
we've spoken to a lot of residents, and they said that what we really need need is childcare, what we really need is a women's gym,
what we really need is better use of the community space that exists by adding benches or picnic tables.
Something as simple as a picnic table is really important because there's all this green space, but it's not really utilized in a way that should be used
and so if residents can come downstairs for many even an hour and just hang out and talk that builds community.
I would like to say thank you to the donors and to United Way Toronto because they've really helped this neighbourhood be who it is today
and they will continue to help the neighbourhood become even better than they are now.
So I would like to say a big thank you to the donors.
It's really important to support residents to be involved in their neighbourhoods and identifying the things that they need
conditions that they need changed. That ownership is really, really important.
We're making the neighbourhood vibrant and that's important for the city as a whole.
We have a vision of our neighbourhoods being strong, and we are happy that donors, in fact, have that vision
so that we're working together in partnership for a stronger, better Toronto.