Celebrate youth and program achievements and meet Serve! participants, volunteers and staff as we reflect on successes from last year and look forward to exciting challenges for the year ahead.

Thursday, November 16, 2006 - 5 pm
(doors open 4:30 pm)
519 Community Centre (1st Floor, New Wing), 519 Church Street, Toronto (at Church and Wellesley streets)

For more information or to confirm your attendance contact us

Brian McCurdy, a recent Serve! graduate (Experience This! 2004) was recently recognized with an award from the Toronto Youth Cabinet, City of Toronto.  The Identify ‘n’ Impact Youth Awards celebrate the valuable contributions young people make to communities throughout the City of Toronto and the important role youth play as advocates, visionaries, and agents of social change.

Brian received the Building Community through the Arts or Athletics award, for his work in creating the Cross Disabilities, Genders, Sexualities Working Group, one of the first queer disability groups in existence. Through the Queer Art Collective, Brian also produced a documentary on “dumpster-diving,” to shed light on youth poverty issues.

This is not the only award Brian has received this summer-- Brian was also the recognized earlier in the summer with the Youthline Community Youth Awards for his accomplishments in the area of Outstanding Achievement in Creative Activism.

Congratulations to Brian on his achievements and contributions!

On Thursday, August 17, 60 youth, aged 13-16 from the Regent Park and Malvern areas celebrated a summer of involvement in their community, building leadership skills, and learning to become better citizens.

These youth were part of Serve!’s Serve Up The Summer program. Over the course of six weeks, youth participated in volunteer activities in the community while working on personal skills development and team building in a fun, interactive setting. The Serve Up The Summer program provided youth an opportunity to learn, grow and discover their self-worth as they realize that others need and value them. 

“This past year has seen an increase in youth violence and, in particular, gun violence in the City of Toronto,” explains Melanie Stewart, Executive Director of Serve!. “There have also been alarming statistics on the decrease in youth employment and the increase in high-school drop out rates.”

“To change this trend, programs like Serve up The Summer offers an alternative,” she further explains. “What we offer youth who are marginalized and ‘at risk’ is the opportunity to build confidence, leadership skills, and experience through community engagement.”

Throughout July and August, participants in Serve Up The Summer took part in volunteer opportunities with seniors and children, as well as working outdoors. They participated in educational workshops where they learned about diversity, bullying and conflict management skills.

The Serve Up The Summer program has been in Regent Park since 2001. This is the first year it has been offered in Malvern. Says Stewart, “Malvern has the highest population of children and youth in the City of Toronto, and consequently the highest needs.” Serve! became involved in Malvern through consultation with community agencies and parents who indicated their desire to see Serve! roll out its work within their community, and viewed Serve!’s potential involvement as fulfilling vital needs that are currently not met in terms of programming for vulnerable youth.

On August 17 at the Church of the Holy Trinity in downtown Toronto, participants in Serve Up The Summer formally “graduated” from the program in a ceremony celebrating their achievements. Also celebrating that evening will be a group of youth aged 17-24 who participated in the full-time program.

It’s the best summer backyard party in Toronto! Barenaked in Rosedale, Serve Canada’s annual fundraiser, served up great food, great wine, great entertainment and a great time for all who attended...all for a great cause--helping Serve Canada!

Held in a large and elegant backyard in Rosedale, the event was attended by over 400 people and exceeded its target of raising $150,000 for Serve Canada’s work with youth in the inner-city.

Tyler Stewart of Barenaked Ladies co-hosted the event with CTV’s Seamus O’Reagan. Joining Tyler on stage was a musical line-up that included Canadian music legend Randy Bachman, members of the Philospher Kings, Leslie Feist and Amy Millan. Also present were comedian Sean Cullen, who helped out with the live auction, Justin Trudeau, who briefly spoke about youth issues, and Serve Canada program graduate Diana Groenendijk who spoke eloquently about the impact Serve Canada has had on her life.

Serve Canada would like to thank the wonderful musicians, sponsors and volunteers who made Barenaked In Rosedale a reality. Special thanks go to John Offutt and Jane Ferguson, and Mark and Maryann Gaskin for hosting this event. Most of all, thanks to everyone who attended and made it a memorable night--it wouldn’t have been nearly as great without you!

Serve Canada was pleased to unveil its new logo at the Barenaked In Rosedale. The logo is one of the key components of Serve’s re-branding process that will see Serve Canada’s name being changed to Serve! and will bring about a new look to Serve’s publications and website, which will be relaunched at the end of this summer! Stay tuned!