... in the city

A day in the life of Toronto City Mission

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FLEMINGDON PARK: FAVOURITE THINGS

We just wrapped up week 3 of program here at Flemingdon Park, and it's been amazing, for a number of reasons:

1) I only have to walk 15 min to get to work! No traffic!

2) We have full enrolment, all within our first week of launching.

3) The kids are fun, energetic, great dancers, artistic, and learning how to be thankful. One parent remarked how their child said thank you for dinner for the first time ever!

4) We have a bunch of grade 8 boys who come to help out. They run games and also sweep, wash dishes, and throw out the garbage. We are so blessed! Did I mention they're boys?!

5) The townhouse we use for programs, generously offered to us by Toronto Community Housing, has been the perfect location for us to start off this new program.

All in all, I feel thankful and happy to see what God is doing in my community and to be able to take such an active role. This has exceeded my expectations, and I'm encouraged to trust God as he continues to lead us forward. We do need more volunteers though, so that's one area in which we're still asking for help.

Here's a video of some of our kids talking about their highlights of KIC so far.

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ROLE MODEL MOMS: Chara

Here's a video of my coworker and Role Model Moms teacher Chara, talking about how she came to TCM, what her class is like, and the changes she's seen in the lives of her students.

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Oh the things I've seen... A short video about the TCM staff and the people they serve, in my very own neighbourhood of Flemingdon Park and Victoria Village... plus a few shots from my time at Kingston-Galloway. Made especially for East Toronto Chinese Baptist Church (ETCBC).

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Moving to Flemo

So it's been a loooong time since I've post. My apologies. Well, there have been a lot of changes in the past few months, the biggest if which is that TCM has opened a brand new site at Flemingdon Park, where I happen to live. So it makes sense that I've transferred from Kingston-Galloway to Flemingdon Park this fall. On Tuesday, Oct 14th, right after Thanksgiving, we launched with a big BBQ party and invited our neighbours, partners, police, and local politicians. It was a great way to introduce ourselves and get to know our community. I miss the kids and my team @ Kingston-Galloway, but I'm also thankful for Flemingdon Park, for my new coworker Felicia Fischhoff, and a chance to give back to my community.

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JR EXTREME FITNESS VOLUNTEER

Michael Pham is the man who makes Jr Extreme Fitness possible @ SCBC. Since February, he has helped run and coordinate our fitness program, working with TCM and SCBC to ensure there is always space and fun activities for the boys every week. His passion for fitness, discipline, teamwork, and growth is one of the positive forces influencing the lives of our teens. Here are some of his thoughts over the past few months.

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NAE NAE

Here's a video from March 2014 I forgot to post. It was a long, cold winter for this group of teenage boys, being stuck indoors. In need of a way to entertain themselves, they made the great choice of dancing to pass the time. I'm proud of them! Here are some highlights. Oh, if you want to learn the Nae Nae dance, I'm sure they'd be willing to teach you... if you bribe them with food!

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K.I.C. Year End Highlights 2014

Here it is, the video of our Kingston-Galloway kids sharing about what they liked about our program this past year. Who knew "salad" would make the list?! Featured are 5 kids from grades 3-5 sharing their highlights in their own words.

To everyone who has supported us throughout the year, this is what you have helped accomplish. Thank you very much!

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K.I.C. Year End Trailer

With the end of after-school programs, we made a little video with the grades 3-5 kids covering their highlights from the past year. Here's just a teaser to whet your appetite.

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TLCs on March Break Camp

The following are excerpts from an interview done with the Jr Extreme boys. Last month they joined a leadership development program called TLC (Teens Leading Communities) and they have started helping out with the younger kids. 2 weeks ago, they volunteered with our March Break Camp. Here are some of their thoughts on that experience:

How many days were you helping at March Break Camp?

4 days

What was the highlight during that time?

"Watching The Lego Movie  - Everything is awesome! And 'spaceship!'"

"Dr Dodgeball – everyone is determined to get people out."

"Helping the kids out – teaching the word of God, and singing new gospel songs."

"Pudding cups – chocolate with gummy worms and cookie crumble 'dirt'."

 What was the hardest part about being a TLC?

"Getting along with some of the little kids. Sometimes they overreact and act out by hitting or yelling."

"Getting to know them. You don’t know their personalities and what they want to do, play, or make for cooking."

What have you learned as a TLC so far?

"We learned how to be patient with the kids. You should listen to the kids before they will listen to you, and if you’re patient with them they will respect you."

"Responsibility – when the kids don’t listen, you have to take responsibility and ask them what’s wrong and help them."

"Helping kids not get in fights – for example, when kids are fighting for the ball during games, keep the game fair and give the ball to who should have it."

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FIT THOUGHTS

The boys of Jr Extreme sat down to talk about their time at SCBC (Scarborough Chinese Baptist Church). We've been blessed to be welcomed so warmly, to have such a good fitness program, to have a place to play basketball during the winter, and twice now, a family has joined us AND brought us dinner!!! We are definitely very grateful. Thank you SCBC!

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MOVING DOWN THE LINE

So to show you the place where we used to do our workouts, here's a video of a few of our Jr Extreme boys demonstrating their... um... progress. Not to say we didn't have a lot of fun here, just saying that SCBC is a bit more... accommodating.

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MEN @ WORK

Last week saw the officially beginning of a 3-way partnership between TCM, SCBC, and ETCBC (Toronto City Mission, Scarborough Chinese Baptist Church, East Toronto Chinese Baptist Church). I'm sure we'll eventually come up with a cool-sounding amalgamation of our acronyms...

This is the Junior Extreme program, currently consisting of a handful of jr high boys participating in a fitness program facilitated by ETCBC & SCBC, held @ SCBC.

After a good workout, it was time for some bball, followed by delicious and healthy snacks prepared by TCM's (and SCBC's) own wonderful Dorothy.

Thanks Alvin, Dennis, Mike, and Vinh for making this dream come true, and thanks Dorothy and Donald for being part of our very first day @ SCBC. That's an all-star team right there!

Overheard that night were comparisons of the church to an Olympic stadium. All in all a good night.

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First Impressions

So for those of you who don't know, I'm Enos... that's me on the left with the guitar. Hello.

As an outreach worker in the Kingston-Galloway community, I run after-school programs in a priority neighbourhood. Of course, this would be impossible without my coworker Gala, who is creative, organized, and resourceful. She's the one on the far left, with last year's summer staff.

When I'm at work, most of the time I feel like this... buried by kids...

...or this... in over my head.

Life can move at a wild pace when we're on site... but I don't mind, I appreciate the excitement. Mostly. Sometimes. Kinda. ;)

I'm not afraid of getting my hands dirty, that's were the fun is at.

Actually, I'm thrilled to be invited on this adventure because I get to see, do, and experience things I've never seen, done, nor experienced before. I never pictured myself here during those high school career-prep courses.

So this is kind of how I feel about TCM... next time I'll try to give you a glimpse of the day to day operations. I know we're just getting to know each other, and there's a lot of ground to cover, but I'll try to make it as user-friendly as possible. For now, I'm strangely craving escargot...

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Winter in T.O.

It's been a cold, cold winter. Sometimes there's a little bit of ice...

...and sometimes there's a LOT of ice!

So we head indoors and play hide and seek. Or maybe we should play Hollywood Squares.

How do you pass the time during the winter when you've got a room full of kids?

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INTRODUCTION

It's been about 7 months since I joined the staff of Toronto City Mission (TCM), and about 15 months since my first contact volunteering as a year long intern. I figure it's about time I gave people a glimpse of what I've been up to so I'm starting this blog with the intention of providing updates, sneak peaks, reflections, rants, and requests related to my involvement with the Kingston-Galloway community. Feel free to peruse, ponder, and post your reactions at your leisure. Knowing me, if I can post at least once a month, I'm really on top of things. We'll see. In any case, thanks for coming along for the ride, no matter how many stops you travel with me.