Author: DECA

Are you interested in building an actively anti-racist neighbourhood in Danforth East?

Join DECA on Monday, July 27^th for the first of its monthly “DECA Discussions” focusing on anti-racism in Danforth East.  You can sign up here – registration is required to attend. You will be sent a Zoom invite closer to the date of the event.

The focus of the first meeting will be to try to understand issues affecting the experience of racialized members of our community.  DECA is pleased to announce the following two featured speakers:

• CHERYLL CASE  Cheryll is the founding principal of CP Planning, a groundbreaking urban planning firm that digs deep into addressing the urban conditions that affect access to housing, work and play. 

• NOTISHA MASSAQUOI  Notisha has been an enthusiastic advocate for advancements in women’s healthcare globally for more than three decades.  Notisha recently retired as the Executive Director of Women’s Health in Women’s Hands Community Health Centre – the only Community Health Centre in North America, which provides specialized primary healthcare for Black and racialized women.  More information about Notisha can be found here

Several members of government will also be in attendance and available to answer questions:

• Brad Bradford, Toronto City Councillor
• Rima Berns-McGown, MPP
• Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, MP
• Michelle Aarts, TDSB Trustee

Moderator: Lanrick Bennet Jr., Danforth East neighbour and Managing Director at 8-80 Cities.

Why is DECA hosting these monthly meetings?

• to allow members of our community to listen, learn and come together to actively build an actively anti-racist neighbourhood.  
• to encourage respectful and open discussion during these meetings
• to invite you to join us as we work to make real changes in our community.
• to continue our mission to build a stronger, more vibrant, safe and walkable community for everyone.
  
  

Questions for members of government, our guest speakers, or DECA? Submit in advance to info@deca.to or at time of meeting in the Zoom Chat

With the reopening of some other in-person farmers’ markets in the city, many are asking about East Lynn Farmers’ Market’s plans.

For the moment, Farmers Market Ontario, who manage the market and Danforth East Community Association – DECA volunteers are opting to continue with the online ordering and delivery model for now. An “in the park” market would require a significant financial commitment to uphold current health regulations required to keep farmers and customers safe.

Although we are all missing the physical market, we are pleased to be able to continue to make the market food more accessible during this time of social distancing.

We fully hope to return to the park for the 2021 Market Season. Online orders can be placed Friday noon through Tuesday noon each week. All orders are delivered Thursday by Danforth East Community Association – DECA volunteers. Proceeds from the “pay what you can” delivery and masks sales go to help seniors in need through The Neighbourhood Group and to DECA.

A HUGE thank you to our team of amazing volunteers who have made the first 4 weeks of the new virtual market a success. Each Thursday we have a team of folks who unload farm produce, sort the orders into deliver quadrants and then deliver over 120 orders each week! As we grow each week, we need more help! If you can help for a few hours on a Thursday, please check out our market volunteer SIGN UP SITE

Questions about how to place online market orders and pay what you can delivery? We made a VIDEO:

What started as a desire to keep a 12-year community tradition alive in the uncertain times of social distance measures has become so much more. 

Back in the winter, members of the newly re-formed DECA Green committee were busy applying for grants, planning for park events like a Solstice Bike Rodeo and canning workshops, and working out how we would sew reusable bags for market goers. 

With the onset of the pandemic, we realized three things:

1. The market as we had planned it was not going to happen this year, but we wanted to keep the tradition going in some way.
2. Food security was more important than ever and Ontario farmers were going to need our support.
3. We still wanted to work together to make our community a better place, even more so in a time of insecurity and distance.

We knew we had to redirect our energies, and with the support of Farmers’ Markets Ontario (who manage the market vendors) we pivoted to our current delivery model. We are using the Danforth Mennonite Church basement for organizing food from the farmers, and volunteer drivers are delivering to your home. All orders are made through the Open Food Network, which allows individual farmers to control their own stores (so you get the freshest food and they get money directly!). The order window for Thursday is the previous Friday at noon until Tuesday at noon. And if you’re having trouble making OFN work, we have a video for that!

We wanted to keep the community focus of the market alive and so we pivoted from solstice bike rallies to using the Park People grant to match the community’s PWYC donations to The Neighbourhood Group, an organization that runs community programs like Meals on Wheels and food banks for seniors. And we put our sewing machines to work making not reusable bags but fabric masks that we sell in our DECA store.

Total funds raised in our first week? $900. And we keep contributing to the Neighbourhood Group each week with proceeds from your delivery donations and mask purchases.

As we go into week 3 of this new model, we are gratified by the positive comments from customers and farmers. We have fun as a volunteer team (DECA board members, their kids, helpful neighbours) and we’d love to have you join us! If you can spare two hours on a Thursday to sort orders or run deliveries, please let us know by signing up on our Signup Genius page.

With your support, each week our market grows bigger and more vibrant. And as much as we are excited to adapt to these times, we are also looking forward to next year, when we can picnic together again in East Lynn Park.

Pride is different this year for so many reasons.

This is the fifth year that DECA Pride has tried to bring Pride fun to this neighbourhood. We’re not gathering to hear queer writers, or to celebrate Pride at the market. Folks are working on an amazing virtual event, hopefully coming in the next few weeks but stay tuned for details.

A few things to let you know about for THIS weekend:

SELFIE SPOTS!

We can’t have our selfie booth at the market this year (launched by our friends at Silly Goose Kids in 2017!), but a few local queer-owned businesses have created their own where we are invited to show our Pride with an awesome backdrop. Please visit:

Silly Goose Kids
Old’s Cool General Store
The Pink Studio Toronto
The Workaround

Take a pic in these spots and if you want to, tag it with #eastendproud or #decapride so we can see the love!

FLAGS!

Thanks to the generous help from Nathaniel Erskine-Smith’s office and to Shamie at Silly Goose for taking care of the order, DECA Pride purchased several hundred rainbow flags that we are distributing with the help of local businesses to show our Pride in Danforth East.

You can grab your flag from the following places (first come, first served):

Silly Goose Kids
Old’s Cool General Store
PRESS books. coffee. vinyl
East Toronto Coffee Co
RED ROCKET COFFEE

Last but not least, hopefully you’ve see our East End Proud posters around. Many thanks to Angela Wagner from Umlaut Design for the design and to the Amanda at The Workaround for printing so many copies and to everyone who put them up!

Thanks to everyone for being part of our efforts to build community within our community.

Black Lives Matter.
Happy Pride.
Stay safe!