Category: DECA Board

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve posted a profile of one of DECA’s board members. After the DECA Gems competition, I vowed to never blog again. But here I am.

Shelley Darling dragged me back.

I realized that, if I didn’t tell you about Shelly, you might never meet her. She’s a little shy and not prone to self-promotion. And really, you need to meet her.

Shelley attended her first DECA Farmers’ Market meeting when her baby Gwen was just a couple weeks old. She pushed her over to Rebecca Green’s house in a stroller, and then sat there, smiling, signing up for jobs.

We thought, ‘She must be nuts.’ It turned out, she was just committed. Gwen is 5 now. She’s a big sister of two. Her mom somehow balances taking care of her and working at Toronto East General Hospital, where she is director of corporate communications, planning, partnerships and volunteer services.

This is what I mean by committed: she not only helps run the East Lynn Farmers’ Market, but she’s taken on co-managing this blog with Sheri, and sitting on DECA’s board.

Shelley is a deep, well of energy.

Here’s a photo of her in the Beach’s Easter Parade dressed as a carrot (on the left), promoting the market, along with two of her pumpkin kids Gwen and William in the wagon. The third, 8-month-old Ellie, was watching the photo be taken from her husband Mark’s back. (If you have never been in a parade dressed as a vegetable, I can’t recommend it enough. It’s as close to feeling like Princess Diana as you’re ever going to get. People literally bounce up and down and wave when you pass them. Go figure.)

My name and age is… Shelley Darling and I’m 34.

 

One thing people don’t know about me is…

Moving to Toronto was a one to two year plan for my husband and I back in 2006. Afterwards we would return to the land of the lakes in northern Ontario. Nine years later and we feel like this is our home. I walk to work, I can walk my kids to school, ballet, skating rinks, swimming pools… the list goes on! It’s a wonderful community that makes it hard to think about ever leaving now!

 

I moved to Danforth East … When our ‘only one or two years in Toronto’ plan changed to ‘a five year plan in Toronto’ we decided we should buy a house.  We lived in a condo downtown and I had mentally told myself that I would move as far east as Coxwell when house shopping. I worked at the Toronto East General Hospital (I’m still there) so when I walked the streets on my lunch breaks I realized that the neighbourhood had so much to offer us –  a lovely tree canopy, good houses with great pride in ownership and lots of young families – all with the convenient access to the subway.

One change I’ve seen over the years….  

The housing prices!

 

My advice to new neighbours is… 

Go out of your way to get involved and connected in the community. It could be a knitting club, running group, mommy-baby group, farmers’ market (hint: we’d be thrilled to have you join us!), volunteering at a service club or whatever else you are interested in.  StatsCan recently released a report stating that the people of Toronto scored second last when it comes to ‘happiness’ in Canada while my hometown, Sudbury, scored number one. It suggested that ‘connectedness’, not wealth has much to do with happiness and I certainly agree with that! So get connected Danforth East and get happy!  :)

 

The things I love most about Danforth East is…

How more and more great restaurants and gastropubs are opening within 1km of my house.

 

My biggest local pet peeve is…

I could always see the cigarette butts littered on the Danforth, but until last weekend when I was cleaning up the boulevard in front of my house, I never realized how many cigarette butts are discarded on the side streets as well.

 

My neighborhood secret is…  We like to walk a lot and spend time at East Lynn Park on the weekends with our kids, but the places we go aren’t really a secret. It’s actually getting hard to walk around with my children these days because there are so many places to stop for treats – cookies at Celina’s, ice cream at Carters, dried fruit treats from Plank Road Market. One somewhat hidden place we’ve discovered is Danforth Bowl (1554 Danforth Ave). It’s the perfect size for a family outing or a children’s birthday party.  It’s especially good for the real young ones because of their itty bitty bowling balls and launching frame to help make sure the balls at least start off in the right direction.

 

The place I go in DECA’s stomping grounds that you’ve likely never frequented is…

The Apple Cafe. It’s located in the medical building at 840 Coxwell Avenue across from Toronto East General Hospital. Because it’s only open Monday through Friday 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. many people may not have managed to visit it. Hannah and her husband Amir, a trained culinary chef, have been making homemade meals there for the past ten years. Having studied natural medicine in Montreal prior to coming to Toronto, she brings her knowledge of the body and healing to her international array dishes. Whether it’s her chicken biryani, spanakopita, green vegetable soufflé or robust salad bar, she uses real, fresh ingredients and regularly changes up the menu. For Hannah, it’s more than just a cafe. Given the location of the cafe many of her customers are elderly or limited mobility. She takes great pride in going out of her way to escort them to tables, assist them in getting seated and delivering their food.  It’s definitely worth the detour to meet Hannah and Amir and try one of my fav’s – the chicken caesar salad or the hummus and tabouli wrap. While you’re there ask them about catering services as well!

 

The thing I’ve done as a DECA board member that makes me most proud is… Helping coordinate volunteers for the farmers market along with a fantastic group of ‘farmalicous femmes’. There are over 70 regular volunteer ‘slots’ and 20-30 community booths for the market each season, in addition to the musicians, magicians and movie nights. Each week we have two volunteers to staff the DECA booth and someone voluntarily cooks dinner for all the farmers (hint #2: we’d be thrilled to have you join us). It’s hard for me to volunteer my time on Thursday afternoons when the market is running because of my work schedule and three young kids, but helping in this way allows me to donate my time when I have it doing most of the work after the kids are asleep.

  

My final word….

Opening day of the East Lynn Farmers’ Market is June 4th!  Please mark your calendars and contact me if you’d like to be involved. (Ed note: Shelley’s email address is shelleydarling@yahoo.ca)

If you have a kid and you’ve been to the farmer’s market in East Lynn Park, you probably know Melissa Peretti. She’s the person who plays with her or him, while you go smell the peaches and size up the fresh garlic.  For years now, she’s run a creative crafts table every week at the market, teaching kids how to make home-made maracas and finger puppets.

If you don’t know her from there, then maybe you’ve visited her storefront Mrs. Darling. She’s been one of our pop-up entrepreneurs not once, but twice.

But what you should really know about Melissa, is that she’s spent countless hours over many years helping set up and run the annual Danforth East Arts Fair. She is extremely humble about her efforts (“just one of a team!”), but we want to shout out our praises because we think, truly, she is an example of how much of a difference one person can make to a neighbourhood.

Somehow, we got her to join the board too.

Here is veteran DECA board member MELISSA PERETTI, in her own words….

My name and age is… Melissa Peretti holding strong at 38. I grew up in Peterborough, went to an intergraded arts high school, and couldn’t wait to leave and find everything in the big city. What I have ended up finding is a welcoming, closeknit community unlike anything there was in my small suburban town, where you had to drive every where to get or do anything.

One thing people don’t know about me is… that I’m that “market craft lady” Mrs. Darling, and due to popular request I’ve recently launched my new interior design business for families to help them have creativity, play, and whimsy in the homes they should love to live in now though purposeful design.

I also belong to an awesome business ladies group, IBOSS (Independent Business Owners Stratagy and Support Group, but I like to think of us as a Secret Society). We meet monthly, usually at Cake Town, but had a spring lunch (in the pic below) at Melanie’s Bistro.

I moved to Danforth East… in 2005 two weeks after I got married in Italy, into a house on Strathmore Blvd., from Spadina and Queen. Big changes.

One change I’ve seen over the years….  the influx of young families. There are waaaay more little ones toddling around then when my eight-year-old was that young. You need a reservation to get into the sandbox at East Lynn now. (Joke credit Andrew Mattews)

The thing I love most about Danforth East is… the proximity to everything. I can get everything I need with in a ten minute walk, but if I do have to leave there’s the subway. Boom! DVP. Boom! Lakeshore Gardiner right down there. Beaches, Greek Town……

My biggest local pet peeve is… the sidewalk flower planters. But I know the street scraping is being rolled out in stages just now. (Thanks MMM!)

My neighborhood secret is… going with my daughter to Royal Beef on a Sunday to get a sandwich (which they will make you if you didn’t know) and her weekly supply of “crack ham”, better known as Applewood smoked ham. She’s nuts for it.

The place I go in DECA’s stomping grounds that you’ve likely never frequented is… my street’s progressive dinner party we host in the cold depths of February. Just when you are starting to forget what your neighbours look like, it’s a great time to make merry. The first one I joined, I brought my one-month-old baby along. She slept in the bassinet as we went form house to house. It was probably the last one were I was conservative with the wine pairings.

The thing I’ve done as a DECA board member that makes me most proud is… my work on the Arts Fair. Really a lot of fun. We are a small group (but can always grow!!). We hand pick every artist, try to create a perfect balance, making sure each one has a unique voice at the show. After all those months of work, there’s nothing like the feeling on a cool, dewy September morning, helping the artists set up and it all coming together.

My final word…. DECA always can use more hands. I was very intimidated by the super-involved, over-achievers when I started hanging around my first meetings. But not everyone has to lead a project to get involved. You just need to figure out what feels interesting and see where it takes you. A few hours lending a hand here and there really makes a big difference to pulling off most of the events we all enjoy.

( *For those fellow solo-pronours, or simply curious neighbours, members of IBOSS pictured with Melissa in the photo include: Isabelle Bouchard, owner of Ankh Yoga, ankhyoga.com ; Heather Corbin, graphic designer, corbincreative.ca; Samantha Lowes, bookkeeper, lowesconsulting.ca ; Tobi Asmoucha, photographer, tobiphoto.com ; and Tammy Lai, accountant thecarrotcounter.com. Final member Queenie Best wasn’t there for the pic. She’s a graphic designer,   queeniescards.com.)

If you haven’t met Sheri Hebdon yet, you really should. She’s funny, whip-smart and can whisper into power’s ear at Queen’s Park, where she works.

She was tricked onto the board, she likes to say, and it’s true. We invited her to the neighborhood DECA party, and once she arrived — with her baby Nate in her arms — we told her it was in fact the annual general meeting, and would she like to be on the board? She was so delirious from exhaustion, she hardly remembers holding up her hand.

Last fall, with Anita stepping down as chair, Sheri bravely put up her hand again. By then, she had three little kids and a full-time job.

She is awesome.

Here is SHERI HEBDON, in her own words….

Sheri Hebdon, 38.

One thing people don’t know about me is… My parents started and ran the local neighbourhood association when I was growing up in Willowdale, so I am genetically inclined to volunteer for DECA. Their association launched to fend off developers who wanted to build a condo on an unused school. They were successful and the school re-opened as a French immersion elementary school, although it seems that the land is in question again.

Mel Lastman (Mayor of what was then North York) lived up the street from us and he never paid the $5 to join the association, which always annoyed my mom.

I moved to Danforth East … in 2005, and was renting. Then, I got an email one morning about the listing for a home on Oak Park and I drove by that afternoon when my baby son unexpectedly fell asleep in the car. I told my wife that evening that I had found our house and we hadn’t even seen inside. Offer day came and there were nine offers but somehow we got it! It was our first offer ever and we have loved the house every single day that we’ve lived here.

One change I’ve seen over the years…. So much has changed in the last 10 years it is hard to choose just one. Truthfully, the walkability of the neighbourhood is what’s really different. I remember when Melanie’s first opened and it was the first restaurant and the first new place to open. Now we have so many shops, cafes and restaurants – it’s fantastic! I love weekends when I don’t even have to get into my car (okay fine, it’s a minivan).

The thing I love most about Danforth East is… that this feels like a small town. Everywhere I go, I run into neighbours and friends and there’s always someone to say hi to. It’s really something and it’s unique to this neighbourhood. All of this but with all of the amenities of a big city – truly the best of both worlds.

My biggest local pet peeve is… I can’t say what my biggest is (I don’t want to implicate anyone!), but my second biggest is the cigarette butts along the Danforth. I can’t understand why people don’t see throwing their butts on the ground as littering, because it is!

My neighborhood secret is…  My weekend isn’t usually complete without a trip to Silly Goose with at least one of my three children. It is such a special place, not just because of what they sell but because of how committed they are to the neighbourhood. I also love getting lattes at Seb’s Cappuccino and then going to East Lynn Park with the kids.

The place I go in DECA’s stomping grounds that you’ve likely never frequented is… Basil Thai Kitchen at Oak Park and Danforth. They serve Thai, Malaysian and Burmese food and it is so fresh and flavourful. It is also well priced, and my kids like it too which is always a win!

We also love Oak Park Deli at Lumsden and Oak Park. Toula, the owner, opened it 8 years ago, when she was pregnant. Her family has owned the property for decades. Two of her sisters are ECEs who have looked after lots of neighbourhood kids and the other sister is a talented cake decorator.

We love the Oak Park Deli for their pizza. The toppings are all fresh and homemade and the pizzas are enormous and so reasonably priced. A large really is large!  The only warning is that it makes it hard to order from chains after you get used to real ingredients.

The thing I’ve done as a DECA board member that makes me most proud is… the social media stuff I’ve done, along with Shelley and Amanda. It is a lot of work but I love being in a position to spread information to others. I think DECA’s online presence sets a tone of positivity and community and I am one of the people behind that.

This year, I hope to finally … I am really excited to be the Chair of such a strong Board this year. I want to make sure that people feel valued and appreciated because people give so much of themselves to make things like the Farmers’ Market, Arts Fair and the Garage Sale happen. I also want to expand the ways in which we reach out and connect with the community. People want to join with us but it isn’t always easy so we need to get better at finding entry points for people to become engaged.

My final word is …. We are a group of volunteers. We may seem organized and well-connected (or not!) but we’re just a bunch of neighbours who are doing our very best to make this community better and stronger. I invite naysayers, who may think that we aren’t doing something as well is it could be done, to roll up their sleeves and join us. There is always room at our table for more ideas, more help and more awesomeness!