Newsletter: December 2024
December 19, 2024
A Message from our President
I moved to Huntsville last month. After 37 years in Toronto, it’s a welcome change. Don’t get me wrong, I love the city, but my love for the outdoors is now exceeding my desire for urban culture.
Being outdoors is the quintessential Canadian thing. We gather in urban parks, mingle on ski slopes, camp in nature, watch birds, canoe, hike, fish, hunt, play golf and more. Much of our work at Small Change Fund is about keeping that outdoors intact. About not letting corporate interests destroy natural spaces. About having communities make their own conservation decisions. And about amplifying the efforts of groups across the country that advocate for green spaces, healthy air and clean water.
As we finish the year, I hope you’ll get a chance to get outside. Maybe get rosy cheeks from cold winds and slightly cool toes, while breathing the fresh air only winter brings.
In the meantime, I wish you and your loved ones a healthy and happy Holiday Season!
Congratulations to our partners at Green Neighbours Network of Toronto on receiving the 2024 Greener City for All Award from the Toronto Environmental Alliance! The Network was honoured for the highly successful Reducing Litter at its Source project. Small Change Fund was pleased to support this work: thanks to generous donations, we hired intern Konya Bangura who interviewed Scarborough restaurant owners about their use of disposable and reusable food ware. Konya was one of eight interns involved and received a 2024 Greener City Award of her own – congratulations, Konya!!
Lee Adamson, Chair of Green Neighbours Network Toronto, perfectly summed up the significance of the awards: “I’m very pleased by this recognition of the value of networking – that we can do more when we work together.”
A Climate Carol
Can the music industry play a role in combatting climate change? We certainly think so. That’s why we partnered with Music Declares Emergency Canada to encourage musicians to use their platform to promote climate action, as well as help green the music industry.
Some pretty big names are involved – including Billie Eilish! At her Vancouver concert earlier this month, Music Declares Emergency Canada attended the singer’s Eco-Action Village to speak to concert-goers about how they can take action on the climate crisis.
Bringing the Ideas of Marvyn Novick to Life
Marvyn Novick (1940-2016) was a prominent social policy advocate in Canada who authored major national reports on child poverty, led a pioneering study on social changes in Toronto suburbs and addressed employment, community well-being and children’s life opportunities. Recently, Marvyn’s former colleagues and family came together to support an anthology of this work. Thanks to our Campaign Coordinator Jen Teixeira for her hard work in bringing this anthology to life and to the Laidlaw Foundation for supporting the work.
Photo: Learning for a Sustainable Future
Collaborating on Climate Action
- Need a last-minute gift? We can’t promise when it’ll arrive, but our partners at Movement are selling a hoodie that will certainly get anyone’s attention! Email hello@movementyvr.ca for information and to order. You can also learn more about our movement to build better transit in metro Vancouver.
- Speaking of public transit, check out this opinion piece by Get on the Bus Program Director, Dan Hendry. The piece is published by our partners at The Energy Mix Productions Inc. – you can help us support climate news for climate solutions here.
- It’s a hattrick of transit news! We’d like to congratulate Sophia Young, our Program Coordinator for Get on the Bus, on her selection as one of The Starfish Canada’s 2024 Top 25 Environmentalists Under 25 Winners!
Wishing all of our partners, donors and supporters a very joyful holiday season. Thank you for helping us make BIG change in 2024 – we can’t wait to see what we accomplish together next year!
P.S. Year-end is a time when many give charitably to make the most of tax advantages. If you like what Small Change Fund and our partners accomplish, please consider a direct donation to Small Change Fund. Help us help the folks who want to save farmland and nature, support Indigenous rights, fight climate change, find new paths to affordable housing and decent employment and be heard in the halls of power. Small Change Fund makes good change, with your help. Please donate today.
Contact kim@smallchangefund.ca if you have any questions, or would like to make a gift of securities.
