Boulevard Club has come 'home' to PARC

Boulevard Club PARC. From left: Charmaine Frado, Resource Development Director at the Parkdale Activity Recreation Centre (PARC), Boulevard Club Gives Back committee members Brooke Sharp, Deborah Carlisle, Peggy Sheffield, Linda O’Mahoney, Claudette Roberge, PARC Ambassitor Glenn Pappin, General Manager of the Boulevard Club Ann Geddes and Executive Director at PARC Victor Willis. The Boulevard Club presented PARC with the funds they raised for the drop in centre in 2011 on Dec. 21. Staff photo/ERIN HATFIELD

Geddes is the general manager of The Boulevard Club, Toronto's waterfront private sports, recreation and family club. Both organizations, although on vastly different ends of the financial spectrum, are about bringing balance to people's lives, she said.

"We had a tour and I said, 'it's like managing a little Boulevard Club,'" Geddes said. "It's the same: You have food, you have programs, you have all these clients and you are trying to take care of them, but in a different way."

About five years ago it was suggested to the Boulevard Club Gives Back, the charitable arm of the club membership, that they take the time to tour PARC and find out what the drop-in community centre has to offer the people it serves, often the unemployed and under housed. It was then that the relationship between the two organizations began. The Boulevard Club Gives Back committee has been fundraising for PARC, among other charities, for the past four years. But, this year it was decided they would focus their efforts on raising money solely for PARC.

"We were a wee bit concerned that the economy was affecting our members also," Geddes explained. "So we decided, because we didn't want to let PARC down... that we would only raise money for PARC."

In spite of the economic state in 2011, the Boulevard Club Gives Back ended up raising more money for PARC than they did for all the charities combined last year. They raised more than $42,000 in 2011, which will go toward feeding the members at PARC.

Representatives from the Boulevard Gives Back Committee attended PARC's Winter Solstice celebration on Dec. 21 and presented the money to PARC.

Fundraisers included an auction where Boulevard Club members could pay for an entire year of meals for one person at PARC.

"Several of our members stood up and paid for the whole year (of food) for one person," Geddes said. "It was really quite touching."

Charmaine Frado, Resource Development Director at PARC, said it costs about $3,650 a year to feed one person, around five dollars a meal and food is the biggest pressure on PARC's budget.

Executive Director Victor Willis said PARC receives about $10,000 a year from the City of Toronto for its food program, which means about 10 cents a meal.

"Without the generous support of the Boulevard Club and other donors that help us pay for the kitchen and pay for the food and everything that is required to produce our meals every day we couldn't do it," Willis said.

He said it was a relationship that was meant to be. In fact, Willis said, at one time, back more than 100 years ago when the Boulevard Club was called the Parkdale Canoe Club, its offices were at 1499 Queen St. W. where PARC is located today.

"We can say they have kind of come home," Willis said. "And we couldn't thank them enough for what they do."