Meet Your Neighbour Week Recap

Our 4th Meet Your Neighbour Week was our biggest yet and we're so grateful to each and every neighbour who helped make it so special!The week began with Willowdale Fun Day a collaboration between Sunnyside Up Camp, the Willowdale Central Ratepayers Association and ourselves! Neighbours of all ages enjoyed activities, bouncy castles, pizza and even some impromptu karaoke! Congratulations to Sunnyside Up Camp on 10 amazing years! That first weekend also saw a lemonade stand from Lansing United Church, a Brazilian festival from REACH Church and a poetry reading in the park organized by neighbours!

During the week the North York Seniors Centre hosted an open house and movie screening. Willowdale's newest board game cafe Twilight Cafe hosted a community board game night and Delmanor Northtown hosted a delicious ice cream social. It was touching to see a family in the neighbourhood join the residents for ice cream while also bringing fruit skewers for all of them to enjoy. 

We also held a "Tech & Tea" at Willowdale Manor! The wonderful team at Best Buy Richmond Hill joined the seniors for refreshments and provided much-needed tech support.

This week of community connection concluded with Willowdale Yard Sale Day! The rain held off, and it turned out to be a beautiful morning. Our longest running event - Willowdale Yard Sale Day continues to be a catalyst for new friendships. Whether it is two people selling side by side, volunteers making pancakes together, or shoppers bonding over a good deal - we love to see how this event brings people together who might not have met otherwise.

We're grateful to everyone who helped make the event possible

• Spring Garden Church for the space and delicious pancakes

• Starbucks (861 York Mills) for the coffee and iced tea

• All the incredible volunteers

• the 50 market vendors at Spring Garden Church 

• North York Arts for bringing crafts for kids

• Willowdale School of Music for the fun instrument petting zoo

• The 25 Home Yard Sale hosts 

• All of the attendees 

A special thanks to everyone who donated a non-perishable food item!

Meet Your Neighbour Week is just the beginning of a summer full of opportunities to connect with fellow Willowdalers! Let's all be more intentional about getting to know the wonderful people who live around us!

We look forward to the return of our summer camps for youth, fresh produce distribution and Youth Mobilization Network. We'll have more newcomer and senior events too! Stay tuned for all of our exciting adventures in the weeks and months to come! See you in the neighbourhood!