Toronto Foundation is the community foundation of Toronto, connecting philanthropy to community needs and opportunities to accelerate meaningful change for all. Their focus is to facilitate charitable donations for maximum community impact. In April 2020, they formed the ‘Better Toronto Coalition’ to connect concerned residents directly with learnings from nonprofit leaders and help direct support during the COVID-19 pandemic to where it is needed most. No one is untouched by the current circumstances, but the impact of COVID-19 will not be shared equally.
Funds from the Scheinberg Relief Fund have been directed to support the elderly, food security, and provide PPE to the homeless across the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). Support is ensuring that thousands of Toronto’s elderly continue to receive strong wrap-around services such as meals-on-wheels, grocery and medication delivery, transportation, virtual/telephone programming and critical social work to tackle isolation and loneliness. Support in this area is being delivered by 4 community support service agencies; Sprint Senior Care, The Neighbourhood Group, Etobicoke Services for Seniors and Scarborough Centre for Health Communities. Funding to support food security has been directed to 4 community kitchens across 3 geographic areas of the city for 12 weeks. Together, Hawthorne Kitchen, Boys & Girls Club of East Scarborough and Kitchen 24 provided 14,000 meals per week to their local communities. The Fund also supported the Robert Kerr Foundation’s initiative, providing essential PPE to 85 homeless shelters and drop-in centres across the GTA.