The over $4 million donated to the #TorontoStrong Fund has now been distributed to the 41 victims and families of the Yonge Street van attack and the Danforth shooting.
The fund, a partnership between the City of Toronto and Toronto Foundation, was created to ensure the generous outpouring of philanthropic support was collected and distributed to those affected in an accountable and transparent manner.
“I would like to sincerely thank all of the generous Toronto residents, businesses and community groups who made donations to support these victims and families,” said Mayor John Tory. “These events, while tragic, highlighted the compassion, resilience and humanity of the people of Toronto. While we will never forget these events, we will also never forget how so many people came together dedicated to helping those affected and to healing their communities.”
To distribute the collected funds, the pro bono fund administrator, former Toronto mayor Barbara Hall, met with bereaved families, survivors, medical and social service personnel, reviewed best practices from around the world and received guidance from the #TorontoStrong Steering Committee to create a disbursement framework. The review process also took into account the short- and long-term physical and psychological injuries sustained by survivors, as well as the impact of loss of life on families left behind.
Following the disbursement of all the donations to the victims, Toronto Foundation announced the creation of The Barbara Hall Community Resilience Fund. Working in partnership with the Wellesley Institute, this new initiative will develop and support a network of crisis responders to ensure strong coordination and collaboration between organizations.
To mark these tragic events and memorialize the victims, the City of Toronto will launch consultations with survivors, bereaved families and impacted communities on permanent memorials in early 2019.
About Toronto Foundation
Established in 1981, Toronto Foundation is a registered charity and one of 191 Community Foundations in Canada. We pool philanthropic dollars and facilitate charitable donations for maximum community impact. Our individual, family and organizational Funds number more than 500 and we administer more than $400 million in assets. Through strategic granting, thought leadership and convening, we engage in city building to strengthen quality of life in Toronto. To learn more, visit http://www.torontofoundation.ca.
Toronto is Canada’s largest city, the fourth largest in North America, and home to a diverse population of more than 2.9 million people. It is a global centre for business, finance, arts and culture and is consistently ranked one of the world’s most livable cities. For information on non-emergency City services and programs, Toronto residents, businesses and visitors can visit http://www.toronto.ca, call 311, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, or follow us on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/TorontoComms, on Instagram at http://www.instagram.com/cityofto or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/cityofto.