All the News

Walk for ShareLife Raises $8800!

Students of St. Michael Academy in Thornhillhad their first Walk for ShareLife last June 12. The day commenced with the kick-off at the First Friday Mass at which they viewed the ShareLife School video and concluded later in the day with each student taking home a package containing ShareLife brochures and sponsor forms. Announcements were also made each day of the following week by 2 students from each grade, reporting for ShareLife. On Friday, June 12, students were invited to wear green and white instead of their school uniforms. They walked for approximately one hour each class carrying large signs for ShareLife. Overall, it was a highly successful event with the students raising $8800 for ShareLife and having fun to boot! (back to top...)

Hockey for ShareLife at St. John Kelly Catholic School

The Father John Kelly Catholic School Community in Maple faced off on the ice last May for a "Teacher vs. Students" ShareLife hockey game. It was an incredible success and a total of $1121.00 was raised for Share Life. It was heartwarming to see staff, student, parents and families attend the event and support ShareLife. Raffle prizes made the day even more exciting as sponsors gave great prizes for the cause. Thank you to everyone who made this event a success! (back to top...)

St. Rose of Lima's Change Campaign

Students of St. Rose of Lima Catholic School in Scarborough did a loose change campaign to raise funds for ShareLife Week last May. Daily announcements were made to encourage students to bring their loose dimes, nickels and pennies.

A total of $ 615.25 was raised and given to Fr. Peter Jae Choi, pastor of St. Rose of Lima parish. The students also collected canned goods for the local food bank and donated over 800 used stamps to help the global community. Students really lived up to the challenges that were given to them last ShareLife week! Well done, St. Rose! (back to top...)

ShareLife Activity Day at St. Robert's

St. Robert Catholic High School in Thornhill did a remarkable job of raising over $1500 for ShareLife. On June 4, 2009, the entire student body (including several honoured guests: Mrs. Susan LaRosa (Director of the York District Catholic School Board), Mrs. Preston (Associate Director), and Mr. Mackey (Superintendent) participated in our very first "Sharelife Activity Day", featuring a celebration of the Holy Eucharist (Celebrant: Fr. Kevin Belgrave, associate pastor of St. Luke's Parish), followed by a BBQ lunch (courtesy of Student Council, Catholic School (Parent) Council, and Nella's Catering). Students enjoyed an afternoon of games and activities, raising funds for Sharelife in the process. (back to top...)

St. Francis Xavier's Day of Service

Close to 100 students and teachers from St. Francis Xavier Secondary School in Mississauga gave of their time on May 13th through their annual ShareLife Day of Service, reaching out to three agencies; Our Place community of hope, Matt Talbot House and Street Haven at the crossroads. FX students lent a helping hand by preparing the exterior of Street Haven by gardening and cleaning, while the others at Matt Talbot House completed the interior pant job that was started by their members months before. The last group had an informative morning at Our Place, followed by making sandwiches and then hitting the streets to provide food and friendship to Toronto’s homeless.Special thanks to the FX students who selflessly gave their valuable time and talent to give back to the greater community. (back to top...)

ShareFair at St. Joseph's in Markham

The end of April marked ShareFair for ShareLife at St. Joseph's Markham. From 1-3 pm on April 30, games, food and fundraising were the order of the day as students sold tickets (each at $0.25) that allowed everyone to participate in fun-filled activities. Each teacher came up with a fun activity, ie. "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader", musical chairs, bingo, pin the tail on the donkey, disco dancing, golf, basketball throw, nail painting, casino, etc. There was a tuck shop where students can buy juice, water, pop and other snacks. There were also raffle draws for different prizes donated by parents and staff and a "Guess the Number of Jellybeans In the Jar" contest. To add more to the fund, there was also a book exchange wherein students brought in books they no longer need and sold it for $0.25 or $0.50. This certainly was a big hit because there are always wonderful books available for pick up! Thanks to everyone's generosity, over $2000 were raised! (back to top...)

St. John Bosco's Shrove Tuesday for ShareLife

For Lent, St. John Bosco has an annual pancake Shrove Tuesday and the students generously made donations from their own savings. On Shrove Tuesday, members of the parent council made pancakes for all the students in the school. The gym was set up with tables and music and classes from all the grade levels went to the gym for a pancake breakfast, with pancakes and juice. The parish priest of Immaculate Conception Church, Father Ramon and ShareLif school rep, Nadia were invited to attend. At a later date, during a paraliturgy in our gym, a cheque amounting to $466.13 was presented to Father Ramon and Nadia spoke to the entire school about Share Life and what the donations were used for. Pancakes - what a yummy way to raise funds for ShareLife! (back to top...)

Generosity Aplenty at Holy Family

Students at Holy Family School in Alliston proved their generosity when they did a double fundraiser for ShareLife and "Clean Water for Ghana". The school had two students visiting from Ghana together with their principal and they spoke to the student body of the need for clean water in their country. Students brought home empty water bottles and filled it with loose change. The total was eventually split for ShareLife and "Clean Water for Ghana". Two great causes, one very proactive student body, what a great way to celebrate sharing and caring for the local and global community... thank you Holy Family Catholic School! (back to top...)

Spare Some Change at St. Edward's

From March 30 to April 9, the students and families of St. Edward Catholic School took part in an event called “Spare Some Change” in which all students were encouraged to contribute some change to help the agencies supported by Sharelife. The activity was spearheaded by the Student Council who prepared the kick-off presentation, made daily PA announcements, prepared the collection containers, collected and rolled the coins, and tallied the results each day. The whole school got involved, with staff encouraging everyone to bring in their change, our secretary helping with the banking, and our caretaker helping to carry the heavy loads of coins to the bank! The Catholic School Advisory Council contributed a prize of a pizza lunch for the class which raised the highest amount per pupil. The school was very pleased to present our parish priest, Fr. Paul Saleh, with a cheque for $1003.00 at a presentation which was held following our Marian Mass at the beginning of May. (back to top...)

Fun and Fundraising at St. Stephen's

St. Stephen Catholic School in Woodbridge, brought their school community together with a ShareLife Family Bingo Night on Friday, April 17th. Parents, grandparents, staff and students came out to enjoy this fun-filled evening to raise money for ShareLife. Miss Teen Vaughan, Celeste Borgese, a former student of St. Stephen, also lent a helping hand at this fundraising event.

The event proved to be very successful with just over $1900.00 being raised. It was a fabulous fundraiser and a great community builder! (back to top...)

Pennies for Lent Campaign at Our Lady of Fatima School

At Our Lady of Fatima Catholic School on St. Clair Ave. E. in Scarborough, the staff and students collected pennies and other loose change during the 40 days of Lent. Each classroom had a "Pennies for Lent " jar in the room and the staff and students were encouraged to bring in their pennies and fill it up. The goal was to have each person bring in 100 pennies thus the school would potentially have $730.00 to donate. The school surpassed that goal by $100.00 and $830.00 was collected to donate to the ShareLife Campaign. We are very proud of the Fatima community for surpassing its goal and becoming more aware of the ShareLife campaign. (back to top...)

$hareLife's TTC Day : $pare Change for Change!

March 25th 2009 marked the second annual ShareLife $pare Change for Change day in the TTC. Dedicated volunteers from the Knights of Columbus, St. Michael’s College University of Toronto, Toronto Catholic Secondary Schools; Neil McNeil and Bishop Marrocco/Thomas Merton, and St. Joseph’s Secondary School from Mississauga (in photo) braved the morning and afternoon rush hours to collect funds and raise awareness for ShareLife.

Special thanks to all 75 volunteers who collectively raised over $3,700 to support ShareLife’s 33 Catholic Social Service Agencies and 10 grant recipients. Way to go! (back to top...)

An Art Auction for ShareLife at Our Lady of Peace

Since October 2008, the Junior students at Our Lady of Peace Catholic Elementary School in Maple, Ontario, have gathered once a week to explore the world of art and create their own masterpieces. Under the direction of grade 4/5 teacher and Ontario College of Art and Design graduate, Elizabeth Liberio, these students have produced their own interpretations of Canadian landscapes by the Group of Seven, still life paintings by Van Gogh as well as dabbled their brushes in abstract painting.

On Thursday, March 5th, 2009, the Art Club students in grades 4, 5 and 6 celebrated their talents, love for art and Catholic faith by hosting a silent Art Auction to benefit the Catholic charity, ShareLife. Ms. Liberio’s goal was to teach these young artists the importance of sharing the gifts that God has given them. By donating a painting to the ShareLife Art Auction, not only did these students share their gifts but they used them in a way to help those in need in their community.

Concurrently with the art auction, a parent and child “Art Adventure” took place in the school’s gym. This was a wonderful opportunity for parents to engage in art activities with their child, take part in their child’s interests and learn about art. Such activities included, “Origami,” “Colour a Masterpiece,” “Tangram,” “Op Art” and “Create a Group of Seven Puzzle.” Assisting Ms. Liberio in organizing the event were teachers, Vanessa Alati, Chris Cunha, Mary DiThomasis, Renee Iannuzzi, Cathy Milioto, Lisa Principe and Chris Zitoli.

The evening was a celebration of art and life. Parents, friends and families came together as a community in an effort to be charitable by purchasing a child’s artwork at the silent auction and donating to ShareLife. The ShareLife Art Auction was certainly a visible sign of faith in action in the Maple community. (back to top...)

Poster Challenge Winners Visit the ShareLife Office

February 17, 2009 was a memorable day for our ShareLife Poster Challenge winners, Kathleen Soodhoo and Sophie Kim of St. Agnes Elementary School in Toronto. That day, they got to visit the ShareLife office, meet the Archbishop of Toronto, Most Rev. Thomas Collins and have lunch with him! Kathleen came with her grandparents while Sophie was with her parents. They were also accompanied by their art teacher, Terri Anne Perfetti and the ShareLife coordinator for St. Agnes Elementary School, Lucy Pallotta.

The visit started with a tour of the Catholic Pastoral Centre and its various offices. The girls had a great time learning how the Catholic Register staff prepares the newspaper for publication. Likewise, they visited the Catholic Charities office wherein its Executive Director, Michael Fullan, talked about the various agencies ShareLife gives funding to. Thereafter, Archives Director Marc Lerman, explained to everyone how the archdiocesan files are organized and how old records and priestly vestments are preserved.

Last stop was the ShareLife office wherein Kathleen, Sophie and their families finally came face to face with Archbishop Collins and enjoyed a sumptuous lunch with him and the ShareLife staff. When asked by His Grace how they came up with their poster idea, both girls replied that they wanted to show people how giving and living our faith can make a difference in the lives of other people.

Before concluding their visit, Tim Lee Loy, ShareLife school and employee campaign coordinator, presented Kathleen and Sophie a framed replica of their poster. (back to top...)

ShareLife Poster Challenge : Winners Mixed Creativity and Faith!

(January, 2009) Tim Lee Loy, ShareLife School and Employee Campaign Coordinator, wants to thank everyone who joined the ShareLife Poster Challenge and sent their artwork in. The ShareLife Team saw several single entries, as well as team entries submitted by as many as 3 people! They had quite a difficult time selecting the winner as all entries were wonderfully creative, inspiring and attractive.

The five English speaking school boards in the Archdiocese of Toronto were encouraged to invite their students to take part in the challenge. It has come down to the one poster whose message was clear, simple and direct. The chosen poster shows how getting involved in ShareLife activities develop not only outward concern for others but likewise an inward growth in faith. The ShareLife team thought that the poster’s message and design sparked a physical, emotional, and spiritual response.

The poster was created during an art class led by grade 5 teacher Terri Anne Perfetti from St. Agnes Elementary School in Toronto. The poster creators, Kathleen Soodhoo and Sophie Kim drew a road leading to a cross highlighting two significant ideas that are at the root of ShareLife - encouraging all to “let faith be their guide” and what each of us can do to make a difference – donate, organize a food drive or clothing drive and volunteer. These are wonderful ways to encourage and motivate others to care about people, live their faith and act with charity.

Here’s what the girls had to say about their poster: “The topic for the poster was, ’Driven by Faith’. The road represents the journey towards faith. The cross represents Christianity. In the rainbow, we wrote things that could drive us closer to faith. Also, the scene near the bottom of the road had pictures of dead and dying flowers, but as you get closer to the cross, the plants grow fuller and beautiful because faith helps you feel better, fuller, and more beautiful.”

Copies of Kathleen and Sophie’s poster along with our ShareLife school campaign brochures and recognition plaque stickers are on their way to every elementary school (451) in the Archdiocese of Toronto. Not only that, Kathleen and Sophie were also invited to visit the ShareLife office, take a tour of the Catholic Pastoral Centre, get their photo taken with Archbishop Thomas Collins and have lunch with the ShareLife team. A framed replica of their poster will also be given to both girls. Congratulations and thank you to Kathleen and Sophie, for their vision and for sharing their gifts and talents with the entire community. Special thanks once again to all who shared their talents with us through the ShareLife Poster Challenge.

Click here for a full version of the official ShareLife elementary school campaign poster. The file is likewise available for downloading the resources section of this website. (back to top...)