Volunteers needed – Gledhill Breakfast Club

Please read this message from Karen Ingham, Gledhill Breakfast Club Co-ordinator. This is such an important program for our community – hope you can help! 

 

We have been overwhelmed by the financial support the Gledhill Community has offered this year. From proceeds from the movie night to a portion of sales of tickets to the Marlies. Go Gledhill!

However, the program needs are a combination of financial requirements and volunteers. We have had a substantial drop in volunteers over the last month. We need some more volunteers and I know there are some of you out there that can help this program continue.

We need one or two people to help clean up Tuesdays and Thursdays after breakfast. Working with one or two of the breakfast time volunteers, you can be out the door and off to the rest of your day by about 9:00 or 9:10. Come in after the second bell, help wipe tables and wash dishes (we even have a dishwasher), and be on your way, knowing you have helped with something good.

We also need a couple of more volunteers to help with breakfast prep and serve. You would start at 7:30, start putting away food at 8:40, and either help clean up or be on your way if we have clean-up crews.

These days we are often down to one person completing the whole morning routine. This is a huge concern, from an efficiency point of view to a safety point of view. The kids are great but really, we are outnumbered (in a good way). The concern is that if we don’t have more volunteers we will have to make some hard decisions, whether it is cutting back or cutting out the Breakfast Club. Please don’t let that happen.

If you can help, or know someone who can, please email me, kingham.gledhill@gmail.com. You have to have a current police check and be willing to pitch in and do whatever needs to be done to keep this going.

Karen Ingham, Breakfast Club Co-ordinator

New businesses and events

Spring has sprung and although the weather hasn’t quite caught up to the calendar, who cares!? Get outside. Walk the strip. Rediscover your neighbourhood!

Here’s what you’ve missed all winter – our two current pop-up shops are Asiris Treasures and Avani Creations (698 1/2 Coxwell) & Merrily, Merrily (1854 Danforth).

Are you hungry? Some of the other new businesses include Viking Bakery (2207 Danforth), East of York Gourmet Food Co (1804 Danforth) and a new coffee and panini shop D’lusso Cafe and Lounge (1504 Danforth).

And while we’re on such a roll, how about a few events:

Easter egg hunt event at oaks ‘n acorns – April 3, 2015 

(see poster for times, ages and cost)

2015 GoodFriday Easter Event

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Join the 21 DAY CLEAN EATING CHALLENGE! 

The 21 DAY CLEAN EATING CHALLENGE will help you:

  • Eliminate sugar and carb cravings
  • Lose weight naturally with weight loss as a side effect of good health!
  • Understand hormone balance and why it may be causing you to gain weight
  • Learn which products and brands to buy (during an actual grocery store tour!)

Location: BOMB Fitness, 1502 Danforth Ave. (Danforth/Coxwell)

FREE Information night March 31st @ 7:15 (email michelle@michellenutrition.ca for questions/RSVP)

Cost: $89

For Program Details & Sign Up Please visithttp://www.bombfitness.ca/nutrition.html

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And don’t forget the free things from this post – free treats and a film screening this week!

DECA’s New Drivers, Final Scene

Over the past few weeks, we’ve been introducing you to DECA’s new board members. These are people who volunteer their time and energy to help build our neighborhood. You should buy them a beer if you see them in the bar!

Or, if it’s DAVID DEL GRANDE, perhaps carry the beer to his porch.

David is our sixth and last installment. But, it seems the not-so-new board members would like you to meet them too. So, in the coming weeks, we’ll be reintroducing them, in the same style.

David Del Grande in front of his childhood dentist's office on the Danforth.
David Del Grande in front of his childhood dentist’s office on the Danforth.

My name and age is….

David Del Grande, 32

One thing people don’t know about me is….

Though my wife and I moved into this area around 6 years ago, I’ve been connected to this stretch of the Danforth my entire life.

I was born at our local hospital, Toronto East General, and briefly lived on a nearby street before my family moved out to northern Scarborough. But, throughout my childhood I frequently came back here to visit my grandparents (who live just beside the hospital) and for checkups with our family dentist located beside East Lynn Park. As a child, those car rides to the dentist seems like we were heading to the ends of the Earth!

I moved to Danforth East because… 

My wife and I are committed city-folk who wanted to find an affordable neighbourhood, with good bones (i.e., public amenities, mix of housing stock, a retail strip), but most importantly we also don’t own a car, so we needed a place with a variety of transit options. We take the subway to work, the bus to grocery shop and to head down to the Beach, and the streetcars from Broadview when we want to have a leisurely Sunday brunch in Leslieville. Of course, we also walk to the local shops, and ride our bikes in the warmer months if we’re heading somewhere a little further away.

I was dying to join the DECA board because… 

I don’t want to be a passenger in life, I want to enact positive change and being a part of a local, already successful, and widely admired neighbourhood board is a great place to step up.

The thing I love most about the neighborhood is… 

The convenience! I walk out my door and within a few minutes I can be picking up food, browsing books at the library, seated for brunch, or relaxing in a local park. What’s not to love?

My biggest local pet peeve is… 

The McDonalds parking lot. Prime real estate just going to waste!

My neighborhood secret is…  Often in the summer my wife and I enjoy sitting on our porch with the paper as the sidewalk traffic go by. There’s no shortage of pedestrians on our street – the constant stream (and kids running around) make for a good backdrop with a cold beverage in hand.

The place I go to on the Danforth that you’ve likely never frequented is…. Retro Burger (1684 Danforth Ave). Avoid the big name across the street and treat yourself to a juicy burger (try the Greek Feta) and crispy fries. It has a distinctive character and decoration, friendly staff, and it’s a great place to grab a bite before or after a trip to the nearby library.

My dream plan for this year as a DECA board member is….

to find one big project to execute that engages and excites the community!

Free things!

This just in from Sweet Serendipity Bake Shop:

Come on in and warm up with a free small coffee or hot chocolate when you purchase a cookie from March 18 to 27!  We have lots of choices including Chocolate Chip Walnut, Peanut Butter, Oatmeal Cranberry and Double Chocolate Chip.



1335 Danforth Avenue   416 837 3254

HOURS: 

Monday & Tuesday – Closed

Wednesday to Friday 10 AM – 6 PM

Saturday 10 AM – 5 PM

Sunday 10 AM – 4 PM


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Free crafts at Silly Goose Kids this week on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from 10-noon. 





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Free screening!  Filmmaker / Visual Humourist Cameron Tingley presents his series of short live-action films LIFE AS WE KNOW IT at the S. Walter Stewart Public Library, 170 Memorial Park Ave., Tuesday, March 24th 2015 from 6:30 – 8:00 PM. 




More info on the screening:


Modern society …. we’re all part of it. 

But how often do we step back from the hubbub of daily life to look at it with fresh eyes?

 

With the theatrical troupe The Flying Spot Players, Cameron has produced a collection of short films that offer a humorous yet thought-provoking look at our modern world and the times we live in.

 

Modern life in the developed world is moving at a dizzying pace”, says the filmmaker. We are losing sight of the relationship between our individual actions and the general condition of our culture and our environment. These little movies are meant to put a face on those relationships to help bring the underlying connections and patterns to the fore.”

 

Pollution, advertising, popular culture, electronic communication, consumerism, and social etiquette are some of the topics that are examined in the various films.

 

The program of shorts is interspersed with personal commentary by Cameron about what motivated him to make each movie and how he approaches each subject.

 

For further information please contact Cameron at 416-469-3033  or CTLA@sympatico.ca    Also Facebook:  Flying Spot Players





Viking Bakery! 

Thanks to DECA Diaries reader, Christina Marshall, for this great post and pic!

A new Icelandic bakery is serving up delicious traditional fare on the Danforth, a few blocks east of Woodbine.  

Viking Bakery at 2207 Danforth Avenue is the dream of Birgir Robertsson, a master baker born and raised in Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland. 



Master Baker Brigir displayes his traditional Icelandic baked goods


A sign outside his store says, “We are different. Try us.” I stepped into the bakery to see for myself and was smitten with this one-of-a-kind store.

I am not alone. Other people are falling under this Nordic spell. The bakery opened after Valentine’s Day and it already has customers who consider themselves regulars.

Take time to drop by too, and you’ll be back. 

The traditional cakes, biscuits, crackers and breads Robertsson bakes include: kleinur, a fried pastry popular for centuries, also known as Icelandic donutsginger cookies (the best I have ever tasted); hatrakex, traditional crisp oatmeal biscuits; rye bread; and vinaterta, a layered cake.

What a wonderful addition to our neighbourhood!

Regular store hours: Tuesday to Sunday: 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Monday: closed. 

For even more info about Viking, check out today’s Toronto Star’s article!


DECA’s New Drivers, Scene 5

The DECA Board is full of new, interesting, smart and fun-loving members. We are introducing you to them, one by one, week by week.

So far, you have met Mark (“I buy my wife flowers”) Rollo, Linda (“I borrow books from a box up the street”) Ballantyne, Corinne (“I used to dance professionally and now I love cheese”) McCabe, Jodi (“Don’t ask me how old I am, damn I miss pasta”) Shanoff.

But are any of them 57 and still playing recreational soccer?

Oh, yes, AUDREY KVEDARAS. It is time we meet you!

Audrey in the ravine near Merrill dog park, with her 11-year-old Golden Doodle, Rory.
Audrey in the ravine near Merrill Park, with her 11-year-old Golden Doodle, Rory.

My name and age is… Audrey Kvedaras, age 57.

One thing people don’t know about me is…. I love to play soccer in the Leaside women’s recreational soccer league.  I play with a great group of women ranging in age from 18 to about 60!  It’s a lot of fun and mothers and daughters play on the same team.

I moved to Danforth East because…  About 25 years ago we were looking for a house in the west end and friends who lived in the east near Coxwell told us about a lovely area of reasonably priced houses north of the beaches, near the Danforth. We loved the old trees and the proximity to the subway…When we moved in there were older residents in the area who remembered when there were still some industrial uses. They told us about a dairy nearby and the removal of the railway spur lines that created some of the unusual lot configurations.

I was dying to join the DECA board because… for a couple of years I was reading the DECA Diaries posts and was so impressed with everything being accomplished!  I wanted to contribute to continuing the positive impact DECA was having on the area.

The thing I love most about the neighborhood is… the sense of community and the people.  The people here spend time with their neighbours on sidewalks, porches, in parks, on car-free days, and at street potluck dinners that bring everyone together.

My biggest local pet peeve is… how difficult it is to cross the Danforth.


My neighborhood secret is… the ravine next to the Merrill Bridge Road Park and the dog park. In this small patch of wilderness you sense the original topography of Toronto before the rail line and the roads and housing developments. A thin stream supports a range of brilliant yellow plants in the spring and irises in the summer under a canopy of mature trees. Rory, our 11-year-old Golden Doodle, enjoys being loose in the dog park with the other dogs and is then willing to take a break to walk with me through the ravine.

The place I go to on the Danforth that you’ve likely never frequented is…. the Danforth Village Quality Fruits and Vegetables (2515 Danforth Ave), east of Sobey’s on the Danforth. A part of my weekly routine for years, I’m often there picking up a good-sized bunch of fresh basil or stocking up on plums and apricots to make into tarts on the weekend. The other place I shop at often is Vincenzo’s Supermarket (2406 Danforth Ave). I try to keep well stocked with their delicious olives, pastas, olive oils, cheeses…

My dream plan for this year as a DECA board member is…. to contribute to the Danforth Planning Study that envisions a vibrant main street where people are accommodated whether they walk, bike or drive, where there are places to sit and chat, find shade and get out of the rain and where you meet your neighbours and people from elsewhere in a range of shops and cafes. It will be a unique place in the city.