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Good people find good people, and our beautiful world is full of the best of them. There’s no lack in the world of incredibly deserving people - and organizations with integrity who work tirelessly to help them. But sometimes, you want to give back to a cause that you can measure 3 ways:
- Will it be local - either within my community, or close to something I’m passionate about?
- Will the result of my support, whether it’s monetary or otherwise, be immediate and visceral?
- Will I have confidence that the cause I’ve chosen to support is one that is both verified, and in urgent need?
Hi, I’m Heidi, and these are the reasons I do community care.
There are a number of causes that fall into each of the areas symbolized above - you can learn more about each of them here and are more than welcome to provide directed support to each cause that includes an existing GoFundMe.
Any donations provided to this gofundme can be noted with the cause(s) that you'd like to support and that amount will be entirely forwarded to them!
- Hamza Abu Droz - a 21-year old Palestinian man living above the rubbles of his family’s ancestral home in Gaza. If you’d like to connect with him directly, please feel free to reach out to [email redacted] and I’d be happy to add you to a whatsapp chat where you can learn more about his story and offer encouragement. I’ve shared more about his story via the hyperlink above! https://gofund.me/0ee989eee
- Sarah, a single mother who was recently diagnosed with advanced breast cancer. Donations for Sarah will help with advanced alternative medicine and cancer treatments, vital supplements & healing protocols, day-to-day expenses while Sarah steps back from work, and a chance to heal without the crushing weight of bills for her son. https://gofund.me/c9eb50ea2
- 48_Embroidery, a GTA-based handmade Palestinian embroidery brand, art frames, kuffeya, and hand made ceramic in Palestine. Mo Musallam is a 20+ year professor and conceptual artist from Gaza who dreams of building bridges and a world in which beauty is not constricted by the confines of prejudice and pain. You can learn more about 48E here !
- Numerous women based in Toronto who have survived intimate partner violence, who I’m grateful to support and are in varying stages of finding safety after what they’ve persevered through.
- Karla Rosas, a 14 year old girl whose life was taken by her adult abuser in Tampico last year, and whose case has gone unacknowledged by the Mexican government. Donations for Karla go directly to her mother, Elizabeth, and the amazing women to help them fight for justice.
- Free Ibrahima Bahi, to support him and his family! Ibrahima has been unjustly criminalised and imprisoned under the racist British border regime.https://chuffed.org/project/134641-support-for-ibrahima-bah-and-his-family
- Grassroots community organizers and local non-profits who are doing important work in each of these areas above, and more.
- Medical costs for both newcomers and people with chronic medical care needs that can’t be funded with OHIP, funding for acute primary needs, and moving costs to repurpose donated home items to deserving families!
Any additional care causes that may find hope as a result of this care initiative - the more, the merrier. I believe there’s always something to share, even if there’s not much to give. Please fill out the intake form to identify the support you may need!
How does this work?
A GoFundMe is one way to spread the love of giving - but it doesn’t just have to be monetary. Please consider each of these people and causes as inspiration for learning, empathizing, and sharing. If you don’t have capacity to give financially, there are so many other ways to support!
- If you keep reading, you’re welcome to contribute to the cycle of giving via closet/kitchen clean-outs - these are the most immediately impactful sources of support for those I’m lucky to be trusted in helping get settled into homes in Toronto.
- If you’re in a position to mentor/hire unreasonably talented employees, I know a wealth of people searching for guidance and support to establish their careers.
- If you have medical training, and are willing and able to support crisis intervention situations - or connect to existing support networks, reach out!
- If you have any native or conversational language proficiency - there is always have a need for translation/interpretation support
- If you are active in a community that enlists support from an existing grassroots organizer like me, or a non-profit that’s made an impact in your/loved ones’ lives - I want to support and learn from them!
- If there’s a career path you’re eager to learn and have time to support grassroots causes - consider yourself able to cash in on any and all mentorship and teaching from me/my more successful friends and referred to any organization/industry of your choice :)
- If you are part of an educational institution or business wanting to organize a talk around any themes in this initiative, I’d love to come in. I can also recommend a ton of amazing speakers and friends like Scott Ste Marie and Cam Beaudoin - 2 of the many friends I’ve learned so much from.
In essence, if any cause resonates with you, we can always build a world of community care together. If you have a skill and spare time in your calendar, please fill out this form at tinyurl.com/tmctorontointake - everything we’re building here is community inspired, community informed, and community led.
Who am I, and why create a community care initiative as all-encompassing as this one?
If you know me already, you know I can make this an MLA cited thesis in 8 minutes, but for right now, I’ll try to make it brief:
I’m a Toronto-based tennis coach, small business consultant, and I live for acts of service. My whole life is a love letter to the people in it, who model unconditional love and intentional living every day. I’m truly so deeply blessed to be part of a village that encourages me to live the purpose that is most authentic to my core. :)
I wake up every day at sunrise (albeit a chronically injured athlete), and a day for me looks like this:
- I’m lucky to be in the right place at the right time several times - to do harm reduction, crisis intervention/first aid, and building safe spaces. I connect and mobilize acute care professionals and local non-profits to support people in need beyond my capabilities. Houseless folks, newcomers, women, students, mothers and children - I do my best to practice community care and be a friend and supporter with whatever means I have (and anything I lug around the city with my wagon and 80 tote bags always comes in handy in a pinch)! I have years of licensed childcare training and first aid certification. I know how to show compassion, assess risks in crisis situations, and calmly find paths of safe resolution for everyone around. I have years of work experience in various challenging environments, national french debate and a Tae Kwon Do 1st dan black belt at age 9 to thank for the fearlessness and capacity to know what to do in stressful situations.
- Compassion and community are everything. I’m intentional about treating everyone I come across with compassion, kindness, and ensuring anyone in need is reminded they have autonomy to decide if/how they accept care. Especially recently, a life of chronic injury has taught me how important being mindful of the need for accessibility and inclusivity are. I live my life transparently, because I believe there’s power in building trust and vulnerability when you find common ground with someone.
- I get to spread the love of intuitive movement through my first love of tennis, and I run the most amazing pick up group with my best friends in the west end of Toronto. Teaching is the essence of who I am, whether it’s in nature, or on/off the court. I’m generally happiest when teaching/learning languages, mentoring students and new grads, supporting anyone who needs an earnest champion in their career, and being a safe space for any good human who needs a friend.
- I creatively apply 10+ years of creative problem solving, tech and corporate consulting, enterprise sales and innovation, education/product and program ownership, start-up building experiences to support local business owners - like restaurants, retail stores, and music collectives. If you have a local brick and mortar, are a budding entrepreneur, and/or have any intersectional identity(ies), I would be honoured to support you with any brain power or introduce you to trusted partners who can help. The friends and mentors who never failed to encourage me are the reason I feel so passionately about giving back. Whether it’s supporting local businesses, or Community is everything!
- I repurpose donated items - including home goods, clothing, furniture and sealed/non-perishable foods, and get them to folks in need! I use handy skills learned from my superstar mom, and my family’s childhood handyman Tony to give all sorts of donations a new life. The more obscure the item you’re thinking of throwing away, I promise I’m a girl that either knows how to make use of it or will find someone who can.
- I’m blessed to have the unwavering trust and love of an endless village where I get to nurture my inner child - by helping new mothers take care of their beautiful babies, watching/training tons of angelic pets in the neighbourhood, and always showing up for my friends. If all else fails, my only goal in life is to be the adult and friend I needed around as a kid. And I pinch myself every day finally getting to be exactly that.
- I find immeasurable joy in building community through shared experiences. Watch parties, chefing up meals from every culture for friends on a weekly basis, hosting memorable BBQ’s, weekly tennis pickup and socials at King Rustic, sports all day every day (both playing and coaching), community family dinners at restaurants that have my heart, mindfulness/yoga/swimming, giving haircuts, appreciating beautiful sunsets, student mentoring, networking and career support, indie concerts, Toronto’s stand-up comics, local arts and culture, Medieval Times, activism and protests, volunteering, repurposing donated items, creating safe/inclusive and FUN spaces for new friends to connect, taking care of the things most precious to people I love. The list couldn’t end if I even tried; this is the life I couldn’t have even dreamed I’d get to create - and I crush 2,000+ cals and 15k steps a day while I do it. Intuitive movement, body neutrality, and the practice of gratitude are really the way to live.
I fill my cup back up (and let it overflow) every day by reading, grounding, doing tons of yoga/mindfulness, eating right and cooking, intuitively movement and sport, and immersing in culture and languages every day. I make an intentional effort every day to seek moments of presence, reflection and joy. A good sunset, tangible posterity with my little polaroid, writing thank you notes for every memorable conversation with a stranger, and spending time with the kids and dogs I adore in my village. I am who I am because I’m able to create balance and feel like my own biggest cheerleader.
Home is a feeling, it’s the people who I love and can lean on, the places I feel safe, the experiences I get to have, and it’s the world of community care I get to build every day.
I owe this beautiful life and privilege of giving to the following people… and many, many, many more friends & family:
- The 10 years, between 12-23, of truly growing up at the now National Bank Open as a Promotions/Centre Court and Media/Press volunteer with Tennis Canada - is the reason I have such a love for building community. I learned from the best: Patrick Voo, Rosanna U, Elgin Tanudjaja, Jane McCan, Brian, Melissa, Karen, Ben Makarenko, Danielle + Sandy Michaud, Martyna Nowak, Nicole Watts, Sarah Grossman, and all the Tennis Canada staff that work tirelessly to make tennis accessible, engaging and help be one of the best in the world for this sport!
- I learned how to be a joyful nurturer and leader from my own incredible mom, who is a doctor by profession and has had a thriving, licensed home daycare in the suburbs for over 11 years. She has every skill in the world and has an limitless capacity for empathy - it’s through her that I learned the importance of community care. Every time I think about how much I love and appreciate her and the mothers in my life, I cry. My dad is the same, being a worldly and successful CFO and CA/CPA - I thank him for the gift of numbers and business acumen, tennis, the arts, Indian cultural and history knowledge, reading, our faith, and I learn from him every day what it means to be a good human.
- My tennis preceptors - Attila Nagy, Amr Shagara, Andre Szczurowski, Jan Alafriz, Joshua Creek Tennis, Credit Valley Lawn Tennis, Ace Academy @ Cedar Springs, the Ontario Tennis Association, and the Milton Tennis Club. Man you guys have no idea how fun my life is because of the years on the court with you. I’m happiest when hitting or teaching, and can hold my own with Rob Kpodo and the cream of the crop because of all of you!!! My volleyball coaches from W.I. Dick Middle School, White Oaks Secondary, Pakmen Volleyball, Selects in Caledon, the Etobicoke Titans, my tae kwon do coaches from my 1st dan achievement at age 9, track and field and swimming coaches, Mr. Quinn who got me not to be scared to be a centre forward and manage a passable layup, man.. I love you all. GO SPORTS!
- Teachers and mentors like Mansi and Vivaan, Francine Duncan, Jim Sheridan, Hamish Guthrie, Madame Nochteva, Gerry Reyes and Laura Marajh, Al Barrett and Sheila Crawford, Linda Stockton, and Dr. Mandip Malik, Michelle Mearns, Justin Vandenburg, André Eleuterio, Kimberley Mayordomo, André Côté, Laura Arduini, Payal Raheja and Bill Kurelek, Asif Ahmed, Ali Masudi, Paul Kessel, Cam Beaudoin, Jeff Bajorek and the whole Rethink the Way You Sell community, Harpreet and Gary Hans, Ameera and Sikandar Khan, Utkarsh Garg, Ashish and Amrit Shreshta, Shahbaaz Kara-Virani, Mahdi Gokal, Shobhit Bhatia, Sobie and Vania, the Medhat-Wahby brothers, a growing list of good human are to thank for enabling this shameless confidence and constant encouragement to keep hustling and building.
- Every local business, client, and people leader who I’m grateful take my word when I vouch for someone in need of a resume review or a job interview - thank you. Student organizations like DeGroote Women in Business, Greensuits/JDCC (Jeux de Commerce Central), EDGE Leadership, Tech Under 20, The Frequent Speaker Series, and anyone who’s ever taken a tutoring sesh, mentorship, played tennis with me or joined our pickup bubble - thank you for helping me rediscover my passion for community building. Sabrina especially, for always having faith that I was a reader at heart.. It just took me a decade and figuring out how to slow my brain down to remember it. And anyone who I’ve detected has an accent in the city and bullied you into helping me grow my vocabulary and proficiency in over 10 languages/dialects - you’re a real one!
- Love always goes to Cam Beaudoin, who was the first friend and mentor that unyieldingly convinced me to appear on his platform when we worked together at CIBC. Being honest about burnout, mental health, and purpose in the workplace broke barriers for me and I learned so much about living authentically, unapologetically, and fearlessly from Cam.
- Gratitude every day goes out to all the loved local businesses that support me in my antics, and whose staff always encourage me to stay on the path of community building - King Rustic, Morso Me, The Paper Place, The Printing House, Local Public Eatery, the Trinity Bellwoods and Stanley Park regulars, there will never be enough words to express the gratitude.
- HUGE thank you to Saloni Bhugra, Tanya, and the CBC Here and Now Toronto radio show team for giving me the unbelievable opportunity to talk about my love of tennis, community building, and tennis watch parties with Ramraajh Sharvendiran this month! https://tinyurl.com/cbcheidisep02
- So much love goes out to the Peace Collective team who had me on their street series recently - you guys are recent entries in my journal where I realize it’s worth the risk to bring my whole self to everything I do, and be unafraid to express when I might not be working hard enough to fill my cup back up. Thank you for your friendship!
- Big ups to the universe, and every form of faith/grounding that helps me slow down and take deep breaths. Whatever’s up/out there, you got my back for real and for that I’m so grateful.
- To each and every friend, family member, or kind stranger who fills my heart with warmth, I love you endlessly. All 3 million of you complete me, and hope you know I would do anything for you. I couldn’t live this life without the relentless and unwavering support and friendship and I love barfing words of affirmation at you every day. Just know - if I’ve pulled out my polaroid camera in your vicinity… we’re locked in for life. I’m a product of the people who I’m surrounded by, and every day my light only shines so bright because it’s a reflection of you!
Organizer
