What does it mean for us to love our neighbours? Due to the rapid growth in Willowdale over the last few decades, many people no longer know their neighbours - making it very hard to love them. This pandemic has highlighted the importance of living not just in houses and condos, but in community. We Love Willowdale was founded with this desire - that we could love our neighbours through the Yonge Street Tragedy. With this same desire, we started the Willowdale Covid Response Network to address the needs in our neighbourhood through the pandemic. I am grateful for all the volunteers who have h ..read more

I teach Children’s Liturgy at St. Gabriel's Catholic Church. I added an element of kindness to our craft given the Gospel was about finding lasting happiness (Gospel of St. Luke 6:17,20-26) . I had the kids make these hearts ..read more

I sell Avon and the majority of my clients are in the Willowdale area. I talked to each client about Neighbourlink and encouraged them to support the food drive at ValuMart in our plaza. I was blessed by the readiness of so many to do it. I also spoke to many of my apartment neighbours to be sure they were aware of the food drive. Many said they would watch for the Nighbourlink drop off. We all shop at ValuMart ..read more

My husband had surgery today, after being in the hospital over a week. Several dozen friends and family members, in three countries, have been in frequent touch to say how much they care and offer support ..read more

It was the day of the Yard Sale Day in August. I hosted my own Yard Sale, non stop customers all day and I was tired. After 5 hours, there were fewer items so I was tidying up. One of my actual neighbours, Doug, saw that I was doing it myself and came over to see how I was doing, and offered to help me lift the table and remainder items all under the tree because the sun was hot. It was just what I needed at that moment. Then another neighbour Yo came over to chat and asked me if I would like some granola bars for a snack, and ate one with me on the driveway. Another act of kindness very much ..read more

Do you have a story about a kind teacher in your life? Share it in our Kindness Blog ,www.welovewillowdale.ca/blog! Our Willowdale Kindness Movement continues throughout the rest of 2022! This back to school season we encourage students and families to do acts of Kindness for teachers and school staff! See some ideas below! Take a basket of goodies to the teacher's lounge Nominate your favourite teacher for an award Re-stock staff restroom with nice soaps Get to know them Offer your help Donate to their classroom library Donate transportation cards (i.e. Lyft or Uber) Ask for their Amazon wis ..read more

Our Friends at the North York Seniors Centre provided us with a list of Acts of Kindness you can do for senior neighbours this month: Send older relatives a card just to let them know you’re thinking about them. Pay a visit to an older friend who lives alone, in a retirement community or in the hospital. Surprise an elderly neighbour with a home-cooked or baked item. Offer to do grocery shopping for an older friend or neighbour. Take an older person’s dog for a walk or offer to clean the litter box. Download Big Band music to a CD, make copies and give them to older neighbours. Take your lapt ..read more

It all started with my gesture to mobilize the community to create 3,600 thank you cards for the entire staff at North York General hospital and that WLW wanted to engage schools. I drafted a kindness heart and asked Sebastian Biasucci, Marketing & Events Manager to create a digital version that teachers could print out and have students make. I had contacted many school for hospital initiative so I offered to distribute the idea. Two super engaged, kind and loving high schools, Cardinal Carter Academy for the Arts and Marshall McLuhan jumped on board. It should be noted that they each co ..read more

I, like many, have family and friends in healthcare and the stories I hear about exhaustion, mask acne, fear of COVID - let alone mental health, coupled with the idea that our healthcare workers were asked not to identify themselves during the convey made my heart break on a whole other level. I took my sadness and compassion and decided to leverage my community and connections to collect 3600 thank you cards for ALL staff at NYG (https://www.nygh.on.ca/about-us/overview/statistics-and-area-served) and the fun began! Our collections are as follows: • 615 cards from community members including ..read more

I visited my neighbour in the community. She is a senior , and an amputee. While visiting one day I discovered that her phone had broken and died because it was so old. Also I discovered that the internet was down and her son hadn't come, so I was able to reset her modem . Afterward I was talking to Neighbourlink and explained that my neighbour is living alone without a phone. They went to visit her and I bought her a new phone ..read more