FirstService Corporation: Donating Life Saving Blood in Honor of a Special Child

Employees from FirstService Corporation’s Toronto headquarters joined together in a month-long drive to donate blood in honor of a special little girl.  Ella was born with a serious heart defect called “Transposition of the Great Arteries.” In her first six years of life, Ella has endured more than many do in an entire lifetime, including nine heart surgeries, being placed on an artificial heart and lung machine for four days, and receiving well over 50 units of blood. Thanks to donors who have generously donated their own blood, Ella has celebrated birthdays, Christmases and will be starting Grade 1 in the fall.

Honoring Ella

FirstService donated blood under “Team Ella” which was started by Ella’s parents as a way to give back to the organizations that have helped Ella. While their original goal was to collect 50 units of blood in Ella’s name to “put back into the system” what Ella had used, they have far surpassed this goal and continue to encourage blood donation.

As Ella’s mom says, no one ever expects that they, or someone the love, will need blood someday. But if you do, you absolutely better have it when you need it, where you need it, and the right type.

Thanks to the contributions of the FirstService team, Team Ella’s monthly blood donations increased by 50% for the month of July.

How You Can Help

The need for blood is great throughout North America, and we encourage you to consider donating through Canadian Blood Services or American Red Cross Blood Services.

If you wish to support Team Ella, please follow these steps:

1. Visit https://blood.ca/en/ways-donate/donate-partner/becoming-partner/team-member-registration

2. In the “Partner ID” box, type “TEAM368169”

3. Put in the rest of your personal information as requested

4. Click Submit

5. To locate a donation center near you, please visit: https://myaccount.blood.ca/

FirstService: Walking Together to Raise Crucial Funding for MS Research

On a bright and beautiful Sunday morning, colleagues from FirstService’s corporate office in Toronto joined together to participate in the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada’s Mandarin MS Walk in support of friends, family members and co-workers who are affected by the disease. Through its fundraising efforts, the team raised $3,380 for MS research.

“We were happy to join 1,000 other community members to support the MS Walk. When we were researching causes to support, the fact that Canadians have one of the highest rates of MS in the world means many of us have friends and loved ones afflicted with the disease,” said Ryan Bedrich, director, finance for FirstService Corporation. “It is estimated that 1 in every 385 Canadians is affected with the disease.”

MS Can Strike Any One at Any Time

While it is most often diagnosed in young adults aged 20 to 49, younger children and older adults are also diagnosed with the disease.

MS is  classified as an autoimmune disease of the central nervous system which attacks the protective covering of the nerves called myelin. This causes inflammation which often damages the myelin which is necessary for the transmission of nerve impulses through nerve fibres. If damage to myelin is slight, nerve impulses travel with minor interruptions. In cases with substantial damage, and if scar tissue replaces the myelin, then nerve impulses may be completely disrupted, and the nerve fibres themselves can be damaged.

An unpredictable condition, MS can cause symptoms such as extreme fatigue, lack of coordination, weakness, tingling, impaired sensation, vision problems, bladder problems, cognitive impairment and mood changes. It affects different people in different ways and these effects can be physical, emotional and financial.  While there is currently no cure, every day researchers are learning more about what causes it in the hopes of one day knowing how to prevent it.

This is why it’s so important to raise awareness of MS and funding for its research. Learn how you can help support the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada.

 

FirstService: Committed to Our Environment on Earth Day and Every Day

An important pillar of our Social Purpose is Our Environment. Our companies routinely participate in activities designed to raise awareness about sustainability and environmental causes.

Making a Difference in Our Communities & Our Offices

Our teams lead and participated in a variety of clean up activities including roadside cleanups in Texas and Northern Virginia, beautifying office parks outside our offices in Ontario, helping restore a healthy ecosystem in South Florida and rallying those around us to join together to maximize our impact during London Clean & Green.

Within our FirstService Residential offices in Dania Beach, Florida and Dallas we stepped up our efforts to conserve energy and encourage recycling. In Dallas office we provided additional blue bins for associates to have convenient access to recycling at their desks, established recycling stations and provided education on which items are recyclable. We also brought in experts to educate our teams about water quality improvement, pollinator conservation, and co-existing with wildlife in an urban environment, valuable information we will share with our client communities.

This June we will once again participate in #Daylight Hour, a global social media campaign to raise awareness about energy conservation in the workplace. Last year 115 of our locations participated and we were recognized with for the fourth consecutive year with the Jetsetter Award for the most participating offices.

FirstService Corporation: Providing Needed Funds to Ensure Students Receive Healthy Meals

At FirstService’s Toronto office, the Social Responsibility Committee is always looking for ways the team can positively impact its community. Child poverty is a growing problem, and many children do not receive adequate nutrition as a result.  Through a series of “Breakfast Club” fundraisers, the team raised $1,960 to fund Student Nutrition Programs in the Toronto area.  For every $100 raised, 70 children will receive a hot and healthy breakfast. 100% of the donations collected by the team went directly into these programs.

“Food security is something many of us take for granted. For kids, having access to nutritious meals affects their ability to focus and learn in school,” said Erica Foster, senior manager, accounting and part of FirstService’s Social Responsibility Committee. “Toronto Foundation for Student Success’ mission to help students succeed by providing meals is something that resonated to many of us and we wanted to do our part to help ensure no child in Toronto begins the school day hungry.”

 

FirstService Corporation: Harvesting Produce to #FirstServeOthers

August 23, 2018, was back-to-school day for 20 FirstService Corporation employees who visited the Bendale Business Technical Institute (Bendale BTI) campus. But instead of carrying backpacks and laptops, volunteers donned gardening gloves and garden tools. This back-to-school day was different than most. On this day, the team volunteered to tend to the vegetable gardens at Bendale BTI as part of a community service initiative to support FoodShare Toronto, a non-profit organization established in 1985 whose mission is to partner with communities and schools to deliver healthy food and education.

FoodShare’s School Grown is an innovative schoolyard farming project, where fruits and vegetables are grown on school lawns and rooftops to create student employment. Students learn it all – from seeding to weeding, to harvesting produce and running their own farmers markets twice a week in two locations in the City of Toronto, Borden Farmers Market and East Lynn Farmers Market.

School Grown produce is shared with students, sold to the public at local farmers markets and donated to food share programs to support the culinary classes and lunches at Bendale BTI and Eastdale CI.

Bendale BTI launched its garden on a ¼ acre of school lawn in 2010. In addition to learning horticulture, students get to harvest and cook garden-grown produce, helping them to establish healthy eating habits and lifelong skills. The results of the program have been impressive.

• 30 School Grown youth employed in 2017
• 37,913 lbs of food harvested from School Grown gardens
• $203,641 paid out in youth wages to date

During the summer months student employees are off for summer break so volunteers are needed to help tend the gardens. The FirstService team was looking for a teambuilding event which included a community service component as part of its #FirstServeOthers initiative, and that could accommodate 20 volunteers — which can be a challenge to find. FoodShare Toronto was a perfect fit.

Orlando Martin Lopez Gomez, Bendale BTI’s Urban Agriculture Manager, educated participants about the program and the varieties of produce grown on-site. He divided the group into teams who were each tasked with different duties including weeding and tending to the tomato plants. Before long they got to dig in and begin the rewarding task of harvesting fresh produce. Turnips, radishes, tomatoes, and beans were all harvested, cleaned and packed – ready to be taken to the farmers market for sale. Along the way, volunteers got to sample a wide range of organic produce including colorful and sweet tomatoes, kale, peppery arugula, spicy radishes, several varieties of lettuce and even raw okra.

“When planning our event, we looked at a number of different volunteer opportunities and were intrigued when we learned about FoodShare Toronto,” said Michael Smith, who works as a strategy and corporate development analyst and was part of the event planning team. “Most of us spend our days behind desks working on computers so to have the opportunity to get outdoors, roll up our sleeves and dig in was a great change of pace. Because students were off for the summer, the gardens needed some TLC and we were able to make an immediate impact, which was extremely rewarding.”

This was an eye-opening experience for many who had no idea such urban farms existed in the city, and certainly not on school grounds. For more information about the wide array of programs offered by FoodShare Toronto please visit www.foodshare.net.

 

FirstService Corporation: Lights Out for #Daylighthour

Throughout North America, more than 115 locations within the FirstService organization celebrated Daylight Hour by going “lights-out” in day lit spaces for an hour on Friday, June 22. Why? To show you can conserve energy, boost productivity and have fun while you’re at it. In fact, some employees were so enlightened by the experience they opted to keep the lights off for the rest of the day.

FirstService Corporation: Distributes food, supplies and companionship with Ve’ahavta in Toronto

This past week, 3 members of FirstService Corporation teamed up with Ve’ahavta to distribute food, drinks, supplies and most importantly companionship for 6 hours on a brisk February evening. This night is 1 of 3 planned over the next several months for FirstService to get involved. Some Statistics:

• Over 235,000 Canadians experience homelessness in a year, including over 5,000 in Toronto alone (Toronto has the 2^nd highest homeless population of any Canadian city).
• Approximately 1,350 chronically homeless people die each year in Canada, with an average life expectancy of 39.

Ve’ahavta’s Theory of Change

• by providing health supports, referrals to shelters, and essential supplies, we can meet the basic physical needs of homeless or under-housed individuals, and we can ensure their safety.
• by providing consistent, frequent, and compassionate service, we can decrease social isolation, and build trusting relationships that provide the emotional support needed to create change.
• by engaging and educating volunteers, we can raise consciousness about homelessness, reduce the stigmatization of the homeless, and inspire people to seek solutions to end homelessness.

Waj H. (Analyst, Risk and Compliance) describes his experience as “eye-opening”. “It made me recognize how fortunate I am to have everything I need, and perhaps I shouldn’t complain about the small inconveniences in my life. I could go on and on, but overall I’m thankful I had the opportunity to give back, connect and appreciate how fortunate I really am. Thank you to Ryan B. (Director, Finance) for organizing.”

If anybody in the Toronto area ever wants to get involved with this great program, feel free to learn more here. 

FirstService Corporation: Donates to Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto

To commemorate the holiday season, FirstService Corporation made a donation to Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto on behalf of its employees.    

FirstService Corporation: Daily Bread Annual Food Drive a Success – 377 lbs of Food

In keeping with the spirit of giving and the holiday season, FirstService Corporation participated in the annual “holiday food drive” for the DAILY BREAD FOOD BANK.   We are proud to announce that FirstService doubled its donation, and achieved 377 lbs of food, which surpassed the 300 lbs of food goal.

• 2016 – 178lbs of food
• 2017 – 377lbs of food

  FirstService Corporation is proud to serve the underserved. #FirstServeOthers http://purpose.firstservice.com/event/daily-bread-annual-food-drive/