Save inner-city kids rowing club!

After 22 years of successfully operating Canada’s only rowing program for inner-city kids and youth at-risk, we at Bayside Rowing Club are being evicted from our waterfront site for missing a single rent payment.

This is a result of a series of government and bureaucratic screw-ups; leaving us on the brink of disaster.

To briefly explain how we've had the best and worst of 2015 (more full details at the end of this description):

BEST


As part of the Pan Am Games IGNITE program, Bayside hosted 4,000 inner-city kids in a typically wealthy private school sport. Disadvantaged youth from every federal riding engaging in a sporting tour de force with the Pan Am Games (we received no funding from the IGNITE program)!


See here for the CBC Pan  Am Games Coverage featuring Bayside: CBC Coverage

See here for the CTV Pan Am Games Coverage featuring Bayside: CTV Coverage 

Bayside's 2015 year end promo: 2015 Kids


WORST

a) Unfortunately, we lost our ability to issue tax receipts/fundraise due to a bankrupted provincial agency: Sport Alliance of Ontario

b) Then later, a rogue CRA bureaucrat sabotaged
a relationship we were developing with a key partner organization (by slandering us), resulting in significant lost revenues. 

c) This resulted in us missing a single rent payment to Toronto’s previously faithful land agency (TEDCO).

d) For that, we now face eviction on Monday, February 29, 2016

SAVE OUR BOATS and OUR CLUB


This Go Fund Me campaign will help raise the funds needed to pay our rent arrears of $8,910.


Please help us save our boats:

1. We need to raise the $8,910 to pay TEDCO for our arrears in rent so that if they actually evict us they cannot seize and sell our boats.

Please help us protect our boats and live to row another day.


2.  If we exceed our goal, then we will use the excess funds to hire a crane and pay scuba divers to rescue three of the boats that sunk in a storm last fall and are still under water.  Once rescued we need to rent an indoor warehouse and hire workers so that we can refurbish/repair them ahead of the coming season (wherever that will be).  Based upon past experience, that will cost approximately $20,000.


3. If we exceed that goal, we will put the excess funds to pay our other 2015 debts and expenses (office rent, bank loan, accounting expenses, insurance and site maintenance) that we accumulated as a result of us losing our ability to raise the funds needed to deliver the kids program.  That is about $40,000 (one year's rent for the office alone is about $25,000).


It cost about $20/child/visit to deliver the program . If you'd like to fund some of the 4000 kids who rowed last year, then take the number of kids you'd like to sponsor and multiply by 20.  Then hit donate knowing you helped save our boats and helped us continue making a difference.


That's all we're trying to do with this campaign: protect our boats from being sold off and help us pay our debts from last year by you sponsoring some of the 4,000 kids :-)

4. If you can't donate but would like to help, you can help this weekend by helping us move some of our more valuable boats off site as a precaution (we can't move everything but the most valuable boats): it takes a lot of people to carry and move the boats.  We will be at the rowing club (525 Commissioners Street) from 9:00 AM until 6:00 PM on both Saturday and Sunday this weekend.


Unicorn Request: If someone has a small crane to help lift our boats out of the water, and/or if someone has a warehouse or farm nearby that is sheltered from the wind that we can store some boats, then please contact the club:
[email redacted]

Thank You!

Special Shout Out: All the lifejackets worn by the kids were donated by Peter Oliver of Canadian Tire Leslie & Lakeshore


More Complete Background Details

a) The provincial government's decision to end funding to the Sport Alliance of Ontario at the end of April caused the cancellation of the "charitable status" program known as the "Sport Is Development Fund". This program allowed Bayside, for the first time in history, the ability to issue tax receipts for donations. This loss has caused devastating fiscal consequences – no money raised - in 2015.

In spite of this, Bayside hosted 4000 kids and at-risk youth, hopeful that Fall revenue generating programs would provide as they always have.


b) An unexpected CRA Agent contacted a major potential partner of the Club’s (as part of our future plans for delivery of the kids program) and falsified our non-profit status; telling them that we were not a non-profit organization, but a for-profit organization with Dominic Kahn as President, a "businessman" looking to make profits.  Outrageous!

This CRA Agent has denied allegations, however, the staff he spoke to from the partner organization have attested to the CRA agent’s slanderous behaviour – and can provide testimony that he made to them through phone calls and e-mails.


c) Due to the aforementioned complications, the partner immediately severed ties with Bayside, resulting in lost revenues.


d) The domino effect has caused Bayside to miss a rent arrears commitment with the City's waterfront land agency TEDCO.


e) TEDCO is evicting Bayside with the Sheriff on February 29th, 2016 (this Monday).


Of course, we can’t believe that a CRA agent would contact one our potential partners - which would have generated a significant and important amount of revenues - and deliberately lie about us knowing that we were relying on those revenues to survive.

It’s a disaster for us and we don’t know what to do. The worst part was when caught in the act, that the agent said that even if he did lie about us, we could go ahead and sue him. I was left speechless!


We have explained to TEDCO officials with details of the situation.  But TEDCO is choosing to ignore the plea for extra time to pay the amount owing. 

Please help us save our boats and our club?  Donate now!  Thanks!