If you aren’t familiar with the story of Jeffrey Baldwin and the memorial that is planned for Greenwood Park click here for our previous blog post on our new Leslieville Super Boy. Our community spoke loudly : We won’t stand for child abuse! We funded, in fact over funded, a monument through the indiegogo website.
But we aren’t done yet! A gala event has been planned in support of the monument. The main purpose of this note is to invite you to the event and give you the reason why we need more funds. The organizer, Todd Boyce, asked me to give you an update on the status of the project and let everyone know about the upcoming event in support of it. Todd and I had a good chat yesterday. Is this guy ever great! He has been volunteering his time and working tirelessly to put this together. This is a testament to how one individual can make a difference in a community. The area has embraced this man’s efforts and here is the kicker – he lives in Ottawa and has never even been to Greenwood park. Which is too bad – he would make a great addition to the community! He is a dedicated father who is touched by Jeffrey’s story like so many of us.
“Why do we still need money?” is the first question I asked of course – considering the indiegogo campaign has raised $36,000 of a goal of $25,000. Well here is the short version of the answer.. In my words not his.
The scope of the project has grown significantly and there now is a shortfall which the gala should raise enough to cover. The monument will be a lot larger and will now include a new integrated bench and be moved to a more prominent and less “seasonal” location over towards the clubhouse and skating path. Todd has been communicating with FROG (Friends Of Greenwood Park) and of course the city of Toronto. There is also additional expense in the insurance and maintenence of the monument which the city has requested (a one time fee). Keep in mind Todd is also engaging a top notch team to make sure this is built right. You can see some prior work by Artcast here.
In short: we need some more money! And why not have a party! You can be assured that all funds will go into the monument and there is no one profiting from this.
The event takes place on Saturday March 1st at 7pm at the Stirling Room 16 TRINITY ST. TORONTO, ONTARIO This is a great venue that is on the east side of downtown so close by for residents of Leslieville, Riverside, and Riverdale but also convenient for downtowners.
Full details and tickets can be found here : http://www.stirlingroom.com/man-of-steel/
Please buy your tickets and support this awesome cause!
