The City and Toronto Foundation
On April 23rd an attack in Toronto left 10 dead, 15 injured and a city in shock.
This tragic incident has demonstrated the pain that can be inflicted on our city and our residents.
But it has also revealed Toronto’s strength, our compassion and our resilience. First responders fought to keep victims alive and protect bystanders from further violence. Civilians comforted and supported the victims even as they witnessed unspeakable horror. Hospital staff worked around the clock to save lives and heal physical and emotional injuries.
There has also been an outpouring of support from across the city and around the world, as people come forward to show their compassion for our city and those affected by this tragedy.
To help coordinate and direct this generosity of spirit, Mayor John Tory and the City of Toronto have partnered with Toronto Foundation to establish the #TorontoStrong Fund.
The #TorontoStrong Fund will identify organizations and agencies to benefit from these donations in a coordinated, accountable manner. This will happen in a strategic, pronged approach to address the tragedy from multiple sides. The first will be to provide crisis support, through Victim Services. They provide emotional support and practical assistance to cover the cost of some emergency expenses like covering funeral costs, body repatriation, trauma counselling, hotels for family, and child care. The second prong will identify organizations that are engaged in the ripple effect and aftermath of the attack. Through the third prong, we will engage charities who work on the related social issues, their interconnections, and can play a role in prevention. We will provide public updates as events evolve and as needs arise.
The City and Toronto Foundation will also work with the many generous individual efforts that have emerged to mobilize support, to ensure that this compassionate response can be directed where it is needed most.
Toronto Foundation is also pleased to announce a new partnership with Canada Zakat. Canada Zakat, a project of DawaNet, has already raised close to $200,000 through its GoFundMe campaign, one of the first to launch in the aftermath of the tragedy. The organization will continue to fundraise with all donations going to the #TorontoStrong Fund.
Let’s lean on each other in these difficult times and show that we are all #TorontoStrong.
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#TorontoStrong. 4/27/2018 |
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