SINCE 1989 CHILD POVERTY HAS GROWN

Did you know? In 1989, approximately 1 in 7 Canadian children were living in poverty The Canadian government promised to end child poverty by 2000 Currently, 1 in 6 children living in poverty In Toronto, 1 in 3 children live in poverty As youth, this is an issue that directly affects us!

Our Kids Our Future (OKOF) Who are we? OKOF is a youth organization in Mary Ward whose goal is to end child poverty in Canada. We want to educate Canadian youth on child poverty and inspire them to take action. This means YOU!

Past Projects Food Donation Program Biweekly food delivery program to the Touchstone Youth Shelter, an emergency shelter used to house over 30 homeless youth. Matrix Movie Nights Together with United Social Justice, OKOF held two movie nights to raise funds for The Santa Claus Fund and the Metropolitan Toronto Catholic Education Foundation’s nutrition program.

Current Projects Volunteering at Nutrition Programs We are taking students to St. Rose of Lima Thursday and Friday mornings to help prepare and serve breakfasts to over 250 underprivileged children. Advent Project Give a Kid a Christmas Campaign… Want to know what it is?

Advent Project: Give a Kid a Christmas To raise awareness about child poverty in Toronto and Canada. To raise money for the Toronto Star Santa Claus Fund, which delivers gifts to over 45,000 poverty-stricken children in Toronto, Brampton, Mississauga, Ajax and Pickering every Christmas. Want to make a make a difference in the life of a child right here in Toronto?

Here’s How! If your TA picks this as an Advent Project, each advisee is asked to donate $5 to the cause. The cost of each gift package is about $35. Assuming that each TA has about 15 advisees, each TA could collectively raise about $75. This means that your TA could give a Christmas to 2 impoverished children this year!

No matter which Advent project you choose, TAKE ACTION!!! But most importantly… Please pray for our nation’s children!