Scarborough is tired of being ignored and asks Toronto to share the love
Scarborough is being ignored and wants Toronto to share the love in one very important area: hospital donations.
SHN (Scarborough Health Network) Foundation is embarking on an ambitious goal to raise $100 million, and they need the help of the entire GTA to do it.
Launched on Jan. 10, the campaign intends to highlight that although Scarborough makes up 25 per cent of Toronto's population, they get less than one per cent of hospital donations.
59 per cent of Scarborough's population is also made up of new Canadians, and half of Scarborough's population speaks a first language other than English. Across three hospitals and eight satellite sites, SHN serves an area of over 832,000 people.
To make sure Toronto's most diverse area doesn't end up ignored when it comes to health care, SHN is bringing attention to the real people of Scarborough by creating a handwritten font called "Scarborough Sans."
Each letter of the font was written by hand by SHN staff, patients, donors, community members and business leaders.
For example, "A" was created by anethesiologist Cindy, "I" was created by ICU patient Aristotle, "N" was created by nurse Glyn and "Y" was created by youth volunteer Darren. You can even find out more about the person behind each letter.
You can even create your own message using the font and submit to SHN and they might even feature it in the campaign.
As part of the campaign, Jan. 13 was already officially declared Love, Scarborough Day by the mayor, and that's only the beginning.
Funds raised for SHN will go towards much-needed infrastructure upgrades, building a barrier-free community mental health hub, expanding emergency care and upgrading diagnostic imaging.
"We are hoping to reach the whole GTA, including those who live and work in Scarborough as well as people across the city, the business community and major corporations, with our message to not only raise public donations but also to help with the overall awareness and profile of our Scarborough hospitals," SHN CEO Alicia Vandermeer tells blogTO.
"We are aiming to capture the attention of people across the city with our message that Toronto is only as strong as its individual parts."
Aside from donating yourself, you can help by bringing attention to the media campaign. Anyone can create a social media post and use the hashtag #LoveScarborough and tag @SHNFoundation. They even have their own special stickers for Instagram stories.
Love, Scarborough
