Youths: Free Food + Free Road Hockey + Chance to Win $1000 Education Award

For Immediate Release: Tuesday, March 1  2011 – Press call: 289-221-0928

Youths to Take over Main Street!

Location: Main Street, Newmarket, Ontario , Canada

HEY YOU(TH)! Are you between the ages of 12 and 18?
How would you like to gather community volunteer hours while playing road hockey AND qualify to win a $1,000 Education Award? Enter a team and you qualify for a chance!

The Poverty Action for Change Coalition in cooperation with community partners presents the  Friendly Neighbourhood Youth Road Hockey Challenge …Started as an event to engage youth, this now 7th Annual moves onto Main St. for the 1st time in 2011!

No entry fees for this friendly rivalry stressed tourney – Particpants receive free hot chocolate, refreshments, & hot food. Team organizers are nominated for the Mike Thornhill Memorial Education Award in memory of a Newmarket Mulock Village (where the event originated) youth killed by violence.

Simply gather a minimum 6 players from your school, club, church, or neighbourhood willing and able to play the tourney on Saturday March 19, 2011, on Main Street in Newmarket from 10:30 am – 4 pm, name your team and call ahead to reserve a spot!

Challenge another to play / form a team and earn bonus points. Run practices during March break and collect community hours too! How can you beat this? Reserve before it’s too late..

Additional volunteer opportunities as well including sound set-up, entertainment / comedy play-by-play assist, runners, ticket givers, refs, food ticket people.

All Ages Pick-up games, live cafe & street entertainment, skills challenges and other fun events as well for spectators.

Funny ‘comotional” video of event:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVEUHOchzFA

Call Kristine at 905-895-3126 to get in on the Game! Or visit
www.povertyacc.com/getinvolved

Please keep up to date on Facebook at:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=183066305068778

GOOD LUCK! / BONNE CHANCE!

You may also like:

• Youths: Play Road Hockey and You May Win $1000 Education Award

Youths: Play Road Hockey and You May Win $1000 Education Award

Poverty Action for Change Coalition (PACC)

The 7th Annual Friendly Neighbourhood Youth Road Hockey Challenge

For Immediate Release

Monday February 21, 2011

For Editorial

Location: Main Street South, Newmarket, Ontario, Canada

Date: March 19 2011

Time: 10:30 am – 4pm

Media Contact 289-221-0928

Town Declares Main Street – Open for Business for Families in Winter!

While some municipalities have tried to ban road – hockey, the town of Newmarket is doing the opposite – by embracing it right onto Main Street and making Newmarket the most road-hockey and family friendly town in Canada!

The 7th Annual Friendly Neighbourhood Youth Road Hockey Challenge will take to the street Saturday March 19 from 10:30 am until 4:00pm with a fun youth tourney, “pick-up games, challenges, musical entertainment and finals comedy play-by play with “Grapes Fisher”.

Registered youth teams can be any gender with free entry for players and spectators.

Participating businesses will also feature in-store specials, demos, tours, entertainment, and dish out free hot chocolate and hot food to tourney players!

Hey You(th)!

Form a road hockey team and you could win a $1,000 Education award! Challenge a team to play / form to increase your chances as it goes to a pro-active community and schoolyard leader..like who forms the team! Neighbourhood, church, company, school, club, mixed gendered teams welcome.

The Mike Thornhill Memorial Friendship Award in memory of a Newmarket’s Mulock Village youth killed by violence outside a donut shop. This year’s award is partially sponsored by Newmarket Lions Club North.

Other tournament sponsors thus far include Road House & Rose Funeral Home, DMC Decorating, Wildflower Cafe, Brad Jones Karate and P.A.C.C..

Saturday March 19

The Friendly Neighbourhood Youth Road Hockey Challenge 2011

Join us for Friendly competitive road hockey, entertainment on the street and in the cafes, comedy play-by-play, in-store specials, karate demonstration by Brad Jones and more! Spectators and shoppers welcome!

Youth tourney – 12 – 18 yrs as of December 31 2010 – registration – 9:30 – 10:30 or call to ensure a spot.

Games start 10:30 am sharp with singing of O Canada!

All ages pick up game – no reserve

New! Parents vs kids..no reserve

Skills Competition and Mayor / Council Challenge!…Score one on the Mayor!?

Live comedy play – by Play with “Grapes Fisher” by TP Entertainment

No charge to play…Cars!

Opening face-off party Fri night prior…adults! 7-10 PM Main St location TBA

To register a team, sponsor, or volunteer, call Kristine at 905-895-3126
or email povertyacc@gmail.com or visit www.povertyacc.com/getinvolved

(“Although teams are encouraged to pre-register, those people also wishing to just play “pick-up” game can as well, so something for everyone!”)

Keep up to date on Facebook at:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=183066305068778

Good Luck!/Bonne Chance!

Update: Homeless Father and Son "Continue the Trek to Find a Home"

Tom Pearson, Chair of Poverty Action for Change Coalition (PACC), provides an update on the homelessness (but not hopelessness) situation of Edward and his son, Damien, as follows.

“…please watch my latest (part 3) installment of the the reality internet saga of Edward and Damien – Homeless in York Region… part 3B is also posted on PACC’s youtube channel @ povertyacc..enjoy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5K_5VTuC28”

“Homeless Damien and Dad Edward continue the trek to find a home for both..or at least someone to rent a room to Damien in Newmarket..York Region Media Group finished their coverage..Edward gets a haircut!”

Contact Info:
PACC (Poverty Action For Change Coalition)
Mailing address
21 Dunlop St. Suite
200 Richmond Hill, ON,
L4C-2M6

Phone: 905-836-7931
Toll Free: 1-888-365-5226
Electronically – povertyacc@gmail.com

Media only call: 289-221-0928

You may also want to know:

• Update: Homeless Father and Son – “House of Hope”

• Updates: (1)York Region Social Audit, (2) Homeless Father & Son

• Update: Fundraiser for a Homeless Father and Son in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada

• Please Donate and/or Attend a Fundraiser for a Homeless Father and Son in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada

• A True Tale of Homelessness

Homeless Father and Son: "House of Hope" in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada

Tom Pearson, Chair of  Poverty Action for Change Coalition (PACC), produced the above video: “Homeless in YR (York Region) Part 2″

Here are Tom Pearson’s comments:

“Father / son – Edward and Damien -  meet the media after the reaction!”

“Homeless father and son, Edward and Damien, react to the out-pour of public support to assist them in finding a permanent home, warmth, and food.”

“York Region Media group Writer Chris Traber’s series of articles caused a public outcry..this episode continues the search for a permanent place to live..PACC’s persistence to expose their dilemma reaches a peak….Stay tuned for Part 3….the conclusion.”

“Join the movement to build a home for those without in YR – the temporarily entitled “House of Hope” was inspired by the plights of Edward and Damian – a homeless father and son…help us get them and their friends living on the margins a home and stepping stones back into the community…’House of Hope”… – be part of the solution.”

Contact Info:
PACC (Poverty Action For Change Coalition)
Mailing address
21 Dunlop St. Suite
200 Richmond Hill, ON,
L4C-2M6

Phone: 905-836-7931
Toll Free: 1-888-365-5226
Electronically – povertyacc@gmail.com

Media only call: 289-221-0928

You may also want to know:

• Updates: (1)York Region Social Audit, (2) Homeless Father & Son

• Update: Fundraiser for a Homeless Father and Son in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada

• Please Donate and/or Attend a Fundraiser for a Homeless Father and Son in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada

• A True Tale of Homelessness

Fundraiser with Live Entertainment

Sunday January 23rd,  starting at 4PM

at Orleans Restaurant in Newmarket
17380 Yonge Street, Newmarket,
ON L3Y 7R6 (905) 836-5299

Admission is $20 and includes some surprises including a Special Guest host who’s performed with greats like JJ Cale! A 91221 event for those musicians in the know!

Please refer to my previous blog “A True Tale of Homelessness” for the original story of a single dad (Edward) and son (Damian) in York Region, Ontario, Canada.

Here is an update from Tom Pearson, Chairman of  Poverty Action for Change Coalition (PACC) and ISARC York Region Social Audit 2010 Co-Covenor:

Dear Editor(s),

Where to begin? Firstly, on behalf of Edward and Damian, I would like to convey their heartfelt appreciation at the outpouring of support from the community. From right across York Region we’ve heard from people wondering how they could help – whether that be blankets, clothes, boots, a room in someones home, food, a mat for” the guy sleeping on cardboard”, even modest amounts of money ( that “envelope stuffed with cash” was actually $60 ) and much appreciated by Edward who only recently starting began receiving a social services cheque just to get him going, after spending over the past year on the streets. He just wants to work and still doing anything to supplement his/their income – for now mostly recycling cans and bottles -all of which he must of course declare to ensure he doesn’t get cut off. Any deductions may reduce the amount he receives which barely covers rent as is.

But what do you mean? What about all those job offers you say? We / they are awaiting hearing back on a few possibilities but thus far we’ve not been able to connect with Tim Horton’s, and other job offers promising but more of an “in the future’ nature and the solar panel offer was interesting, but for a course requiring payment not a job, starting in 3 days which without even a home yet for Damian was asking too much.There are no quick fixes here and their situation is systemic. We need fundamental changes including affordable places for these guys and others like them, including women, and even couples who may be living under undesirable circumstances.

What these guys ideally want / need since everyone seems to want to know is this -

1stly Edward just wants his son Damian off the street. We’d previously secured a room in Newmarket for Edward thus far, but not Damian. In a perfect world, they could be rented a place together in Newmarket with a max rent for two at $850.

Damian needs a home base and wants to live in Newmarket near or with his dad, and where he’s built supports, familiarity, transportation, and friends but unfortunately none of the offers for a room came from there. He needs a place that ideally can offer some privacy, where they will sign a rental agreement so he can access a “start-up fund” that will pay first and last months rent with something leftover to get a bus pass and some work clothes. He says he can handle the rest from there regarding working, and school and this quiet kid has no issues working hard. He’s a little bashful about the attention as well.Imagine having no real place to fall back to in private. Damian asked if I could convert the offer of a room from a great lady in Aurora to another “kid” friend whom they both worry about leaving behind. That’s what kind of character they have despite everything, and yes, their young friend took the room.

Ultimately they’d like a place where they could live together even if for a few years, like any family as the son grows up and they are concerned about the friends and others to be left behind – what about them?

This story has created an awareness / reaction from people like no other I’ve seen in the past 7 years or so I’ve been around trying to encourage a more forgiving social net system. To me personally the whole thing has awakened hope in humanity again after years of seeing what I perceived to be an uncaring, or at least complacent public. The swell of support to “build” something that houses people on the margins in homes with perhaps access to supports, work programs, life-skills etc. in-house has people calling in and those close to the issue buzzing about what could be – as a possible site has come available with 18 rooms and with the proper zoning and a willing landlord! Perhaps fate methinks. Want to be a part of something real!?

Come out to the fundraiser with live entertainment this Sunday Jan 23 starting at 4PM at Orleans Restaurant in Newmarket and meet the guys and perhaps discuss how you can help make this all a reality, because the will is there!

Admission is $20 and includes some surprises including a Special Guest host who’s performed with greats like JJ Cale! A 91221 event for those musicians in the know! That’s all I can say!

Tom Pearson
Chairman, Poverty Action for Change Coalition
www.povertyacc.com

Please click here for the map and directions to the Fundraiser at Orleans Restaurant in Newmarket.

Contact Info:

PACC (Poverty Action For Change Coalition)
Mailing address
21 Dunlop St. Suite
200 Richmond Hill, ON,
L4C-2M6

Phone: 905-836-7931
Toll Free: 1-888-365-5226
Electronically – povertyacc@gmail.com

Media only call: 289-221-0928

Immediate Release: Oct 12 2010: Contact: 289-221-0928

Event: International Day for the Eradication of Poverty

AKA – World Day to End Extreme Poverty

Location: Fairy Lake Park, Newmarket, Ontario, Canada (Water Street and Eagle Street)

Time: 1-7PM;  Main-stage Performers – 5PM

Newmarket, Ontario, Canada -

Expect to smell food, and hear hear music & traditional drumming upon arriving as Newmarket plays host to York Region Ontario’s International Day to Eradicate Poverty this Sunday, October 17th, at Fairy Lake Park from 1 Pm until 7PM with free hot food / soup served up from 1-2pm, information booths, “starving artists” performing path-side, a children’s area, main-stage speakers and performers, and a mic for those wishing to speak out about poverty. The internationally marked event was first recognized by the United Nations in 1992 but was inspired and started by a Frenchman named Joseph Wreneski as World Day to End Extreme Poverty.

Joseph Wresinski was born to immigrant parents in a poor neighbourhood of Angers, France. He grew up in a family which suffered from chronic poverty and social exclusion. In 1946, he was ordained as a priest and served in industrial and rural parishes where, right from the beginning, he related to the most deprived families.

In 1956, he was assigned chaplain to 250 families in an emergency housing camp in Noisy-le-Grand, near Paris. The families lived in quonset (nissan) huts erected in a muddy field. He said about his years in Noisy-le-Grand: “The families in that camp have inspired everything I have undertaken for their liberation. They took hold of me, they lived within me, they carried me forward, they pushed me to found the Movement with them.”

In 1957, Joseph Wresinski and the families of the camp founded the first association which was later to become ATD Fourth World. Responding to the demands of the families and working with them, the soup kitchen and the distribution of old clothes were replaced with a library, kindergarten, chapel and workshop. Joseph Wresinski’s firm purpose was to unite all sections of society with the poorest and most excluded. With this aim he met leaders of state, churches and international bodies from all over the world. He believed that every person he met represented an opportunity for the poorest and was determined that the Movement would remain open to people of all cultures, faiths and races.

His appointment to France’s Economic and Social Council in 1979 was a significant step in his quest for official representation of people in extreme poverty. With the publication of the Wresinski Report in 1987, he succeeded in gaining recognition of people in poverty as partners in society.

On 17 October 1987, in the presence of 100,000 people from every social background and continent, Joseph Wresinski unveiled a commemorative stone in the Trocadero Human Rights Plaza in Paris. On this marble, his call is engraved: “Wherever men and women are condemned to live in poverty, human rights are violated. To come together to ensure that these rights be respected is our solemn duty.”

Since then the commemorative stone has become a rallying point for people from all walks of life.

October 17th was declared “International Day for the Eradication of Poverty” by the United Nations in 1992. In several countries, on the 17th of each month, people gather to acknowledge the lives and efforts of those living in extreme poverty, and to renew their commitment to join them in their struggle.

Since the York Region event has been held, from 2005, it has evolved from a soapbox and a microphone for performers and speakers to envelope beautiful Fairy Lake Park in Newmarket, and now includes an opportunity for singers, composers, musicians and other performers to play original works on a stage and at the same time keep the message of ending poverty alive beyond just October 17th.

In 2008 Newmarket town council approved, officially endorsing the day, and agreed to a permanent marker on site at Fairy Lake Park with regional council representative John Taylor unveiling the plaque in 2009 – with its own commemorative rock – representative of the stone statue in France – along with Mayor Van Bynen.

2010’s York Region event will again offer free hot fresh food and some information booths including information from the Legal Clinic of York Region, The Housing Help Centre, York Region Food Network, Ninos Kom Tin ( aboriginal), Make Poverty History, Poverty Action for Change Coalition, and others with it’s most expanding element being in the arts segments.

This year the event is allowing “starving musicians” to line the paths surrounding the event to add to the atmosphere and split anything raised with the organizers to help pay for the event. A main-stage is also part of the events features , not only used for the speakers but also for an “ Open Mic” session for performers doing pieces relating to poverty followed by Feature Acts including : Ninos Kom Tin drummers/singers, Composer/ Singer – Guitarists Glen Marais, Fred Joly, Brenda Bakos, Rappers - Krhyme Syndicate, Hip Hopper- Darius Mirshahi aka Testament &  Spotlight Theatre presents cuts from RENT. Other performers wishing to come up must check in at the main-stage.

For more info call  289-221-0928

Or visit

www.povertyacc.com/getinvolved

http://www.oct17.org/event.php?id_rubrique=133&id_secteur_virtuel=210&lang=en&annee=2010

http://www.facebook.com/?tid=1294928952652&sk=messages#!/event.php?eid=155474907810283

Itinerary

International Day for The Eradication of Poverty 2010

AKA – World Day To End Extreme Poverty

1PM – 2PM Drumming / background music, Hot Food – served from Gazebo location

1-5PM Info Booths, Street Performers

2PM – Main-stage MC Tom Pearson welcomes – Mayor – introduces the 1st speaker – year of the youth – Greg Carbis (teen) who will read the pledge against poverty followed by “Open Mic” for those speaking out about poverty. Those speaking from experience get 1^st opportunity.

2:45: Engagement Interlude –

3PM “Do The Math” participants speak about their experiences eating a food-bank diet including York Region Media Group’s Debora Kelly.

3:15 Open Mic – Politi-Speak : Anyone who wishes to speak about any ideas to move things politically. Politicians may speak however no electioneering allowed and they must speak about what they would like to do towards eradicating poverty. Regional Councilor John Taylor will bring people up to date on what the Region has done thus far and where they are looking to go in regards to poverty related.

4:15PM: Engagement Interlude – engage politicians, others in ideas…

5:00: PM

Open Mic – music/spoken word

Main-stage Performers:

Ninos Kom Tin drummers/singers; Composer/ Singer – Guitarists Glen Marais, Fred Joly, Brenda Bakos;  Rappers - Krhyme Syndicate;  Hip Hopper- Darius Mirshahi aka Testament &  Spotlight Theatre..more TBA.

Friends, Countrymen,
Lend Me Your
Voices!

On World Day To

END EXTREME POVERTY!

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2010, 1 – 7 PM

Fairy Lake Park, Newmarket, Ontario, Canada

• 1-2 PM – Free Hot Food

• 1-5 PM – Info Booths, Guest Speakers, Open Mic, Kids Area

• 5 PM – Feature Performers including Singer-Songwriters

GLENN MARAIS

FRED JOLY

BRENDA BAKOS

Rappers KRHYME SYNDICATE

Hip Hop Artist TESTAMENT

YOU!!

Tired of Seeing People Go Hungry!?
Tired of Going Hungry?!
Join Voices World-Wide on October 17th
Help End Poverty Now!
Join Host PACC (Poverty Action for Change Coalition) Chair Tom Pearson and guests including anti-poverty advocates,
faith leaders, poverty victims, entertainers, and politicians and help end poverty now!

SPECIAL THANKS TO:

York Region Food Network, Krasman Centre, Legal Clinic of York Region, Citizens for Affordable Housing, Housing Help Centre, Make Poverty History, Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF)

w w w. p o v e r t y a c c . c o m