Moorelands is a Toronto-based organization devoted to reshaping the spectrum of opportunities available to children from Toronto’s poor and under-served neighbourhoods. Although the organization has been around for a century, right here in Toronto, many of the younger generations have barely heard of it and thus their donor base has been slowly dying off. Thankfully, a tremendous group of young professionals took it upon themselves to organize the annual fundraiser – and what a fundraiser it was.
Masque Toronto took place on Thursday, June 7th, at Courthouse on Adelaide. Aside from the great beats spun all night, Masque featured unbelievable performances by trained stilt walkers, hoola hoop performers, and incredible acrobats who bended and flipped their way through the crowd and up onto the bar.
Not to mention, they had amazing raffle prizes such as Medcam skin consultation, Samsung Notes (x2) and Samsung Nexus, a couple other cell phones and headsets, a Wellington Brewery tour and tasting for 21 people, a weekend stay at the Delawana Inn, a Healthwinds spa gift certificate, sports tickets and a signed hockey stick and baseball, Mr. Brainwash print, and other art, a Jamie Oliver 11-piece cook set and a ton more. The money raised from Masque will go towards the programs that Moorelands offers such as Youth Leadership Programs, sending children to overnight summer camps, after school initiatives and much more.
Despite the many challenges of planning such an event, like coordination, getting sponsors and donors, and having full-time demanding careers, this group of entrepreneurial ladies did a kick ass job. We asked one of these ladies, Chris Swail, what advice she would have for our readers regarding successful fundraisers. She explained, “I think you need to make sure you have a good group, where everyone is on board. Make the meetings fun (we have wine at ours) so it’s a social event, so ideas flow, enthusiasm grows and work gets done. We just had to strip off our pride and shyness and hit the pavement (and call our contacts) to chat up the cause and the event. It’s nerve-wracking, but fulfilling. We also included Moorelands in our meetings so it was really great to be working closely with them.”
Click here to see the full gallery.