Media Release
August 25, 2021
$96,600 OTF Grant Moves Mabelle Community from COVID-19 Response to Recovery
Etobicoke, ON – In late 2020, MABELLEarts has received a $96,600 Resilient Communities Fund grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation! This timely investment has been helping to equip MABELLEarts with the tools it needs to bring the community on Mabelle Avenue through the COVID-19 emergency. The Resilient Communities Fund grant was developed to help non-profit organizations to rebound and recover from the impacts of COVID-19.
“These investments through the Resilient Communities Fund will go a long way in developing new strategies to meet local needs while supporting our diverse community. Not-for-profits such as MABELLEarts are what makes Etobicoke – Lakeshore an amazing and inclusive place to live.” stated Christine Hogarth, MPP for Etobicoke—Lakeshore.
Funds from the Ontario Trillium Foundation’s grant have been used to help with staffing and reviewing new practices around food security and developing new fundraising strategies that will be vital in helping the community. In week one of the crisis, MABELLEarts reached out to over 90 households to conduct wellness checks and hear from residents about what they were facing. Residents indicated that food security was a chief concern - local food banks had closed, grocery prices had risen and vulnerable seniors and the immunocompromised were scared to leave their homes. By week two, MABELLEarts developed a delivery to the door food program for residents that quickly grew into an innovative, multi-pronged food security and support strategy.
That strategy blossomed into what’s now the MABELLEpantry - a free, weekly, outdoor food market in the community-created Mabelle Park and welcomes local residents from more than 550 households with an artful, fun and COVID-safe food bank experience that is reminiscent of a farmer’s market (and sometimes a rock concert). This event has become an unequivocal celebration of community connection and strength, complete with live music, custom farm stalls and therapeutic clowns who remind us to stay socially distanced in the silliest ways imaginable. With the MABELLEpantry now established as a safe gathering place, it is building upon its long-established relationships on Mabelle Avenue– and moving towards COVID recovery.
By building new partnerships and working closely with community leaders, it has pivoted core operations and seen remarkable results. And thanks to the Resilient Communities Fund grant, it will be well positioned to strengthen community leadership and its organizational capacity to respond to current and future challenges.
"The Ontario Trillium Foundation has always been a leader in the province, supporting the most innovative projects and going to the places that need their help the most,” said Leah Houston, Artistic Director, MABELLEarts. “We are honoured to be part of their COVID response and thank them for committing to community connection and strength.”
The Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF) is an agency of the Government of Ontario, and one of Canada’s leading granting foundations. Last year, nearly $112M was invested into 1,384 community projects and partnerships to build healthy and vibrant communities and strengthen the impact of Ontario’s non-profit