At the end of May we hosted Mayday 2009 (http://www.thegatehouse.org/mayday). Mayday 2009 was a huge success and we thank everyone who attended or otherwise supported the event, especially our sponsors. The weather was fantastic, the crowds were bigger than ever and steady throughout the day. We had new entertainment and activities, and exceeded our fundraising goal. A huge thanks to our event co-Chairs, Christina Fox and Kim Hurdon.
The Gatehouse® continues to await the release of the recommendations from the Cornwall Inquiry (http://www.cornwallinquiry.ca/en/). Janet Handy participated in Phase II of the inquiry. We understand the report will be released in October, and The Gatehouse will provide that information as soon as it is available.
In August, The Gatehouse® held its first meeting of the Trainers, Travelers and Speaker's Guild (http://www.thegatehouse.org/news). The purpose of the guild is to conduct ongoing reviews of our programming to ensure it is current for our participants. Many thanks to Janet Handy, Tom Triantafillou, William Tomczak, Richard Perry, Karen Dobbie, Judy Steed, and Lloyd Devoe – the founding members of the guild.
Over the summer, representatives from Deloitte and from Accenture chose to support The Gatehouse® in the development of fundraising and business plans to strengthen our current operation and to help guide us in our future fundraising needs; we expect these plans in the Fall.
You may have also seen the public service advertising located in 20 bus shelters all across Toronto. This extremely valuable bus shelter ad space was generously donated from Astral Media Outdoor and ran for the month of June.
We delivered training in early September for new volunteer facilitators, who will be the leaders of future cycles of the Gatehouse® Adult Support Network program. Our thanks to these valued volunteers.
As well, The Gatehouse® was a recipient of funding from the City of Toronto, under its Community Service Partnerships (CSP) program. Through this program, The Gatehouse® has been able to welcome Julie Moore to the staff. Julie is a tremendous addition, and our thanks to the City for making this relationship possible.
Yes, indeed, it was a very busy summer and we look forward to many continued successes this Fall.
Tracy
Secretary, Board of Directors
