800 Acts of Caring
Poverty is an issue all around the world, but at Centennial College, students are making the community a priority.
By Tracy Martin
In 2006, 2,100 families in the Danforth area, spanning O’Connor, Broadview, and Coxwell, were living in poverty. This spurred a number of events including Countdown for Change, a poverty awareness event held at Centennial College, and 1.4 Billion Reasons, a presentation conducted by the founder of The Global Poverty Project. After these events, Centennial College administrator Kathy Mahoney wondered if there was something to be done by students to fight poverty. She passed on her idea to Tilt, a student-run communications agency at Centennial.
800 Acts of Caring was born and is hoping that all 800 students of Centennial College will donate pieces of poverty-related work – journalism, art, and photography – to members of Tilt or the Advertising Student Society (ASS). These works will be displayed in front of the cafeteria at Centennial. The expectation is that these works will create a dialogue within the community so that solutions to poverty can be discussed openly. ASS also holds small events, such as movie nights, in which entrance admittance requires two non-perishable food items that are then donated to the Daily Bread Foundation.
Matthew Bressan, a Centennial student helping with 800 Acts of Caring, explained: “It is our goal to gain attention to remind people there is still a battle to be won. As a generation poised for changing the world, this is an issue that we can tackle.” With the help of campaigns like 800 Acts of Caring, people around the city and the Danforth area can spread awareness and start making a difference.
To learn more about this initiative or become a part of the caring community, visit there website here.
Check out these 3 Acts of Caring commercials: