Students and school board staff across our system are working tirelessly to respond to the people of the Philippines in the wake of Typhoon Haiyan. The school communities within the York Catholic District School Board contributed to raising a total of $122,413.63 to support this humanitarian effort.

Funds were raised through a combination of school and office fundraisers, as well as a fundraising campaign directed at parents and guardians of the Board’s more than 55,000 students.

“On behalf of the Board of Trustees, I can’t thank the York Catholic students, families, and staff enough for both their open-hearted donations and their hard work in putting together so many local fundraisers, on such short notice,” said Elizabeth Crowe, Chair of the Board of Trustees. “We have a large Filipino community in our schools, and I am so glad that we’ve been able to come together as a system to support our brothers and sisters in the Philippines.”

Crowe, along with Patricia Preston, Director of Education, presented a cheque for $118,738.53 to Father Joe Gorman of Our Lady of Grace Parish, and Arthur Peters, Director of Development at the Archdiocese of Toronto, on December 13, at the Board’s Catholic Education Centre in Aurora. An additional $3,675.10 collected by the Board will also be forwarded to the Archdiocese. The Board has been working with the Archdiocese of Toronto to forward all funds collected to assist with the relief.

The money collected by the Board will be matched, dollar-for-dollar by the federal government through its matching program, thus increasing the amount of monetary aid going to assist in the Philippines to an outstanding $244,827.26.