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At Kardinal Offishall’s “Free the City” party with Nelly Furtado in support of Free the Children

Nelly Furtado
  • December 21, 2013
  • charity, culture, party
  • Comments Off on At Kardinal Offishall’s “Free the City” party with Nelly Furtado in support of Free the Children

While December is relatively quiet for special events in Toronto compared to other months due to the holidays, one thing the rest of us staying in the city get to look forward to is Kardinal Offishall’s annual Christmas bash.

This year’s event, entitled “Free the City” was the 15th annual party held at Muzik with Nelly Furtado as a co-host in support of the Free the Children charity. Kardinal travelled to Kenya last year to visit the Free the Children projects firsthand. Inspired by his travels there, Kardinal’s goal is to raise enough funds to send 10 inner city youth there to volunteer and help the Free the Children communities in Summer 2014.

Elusive tickets to this event were won and distributed by Mr. International himself over Twitter. Radio station Flow 93.5 and DJ Lissa Monet were others that gave out tickets and luckily we were also able to do a giveaway (thanks Ashley and Sarah!).

In attendance we had Nelly Furtado, Maestro Fresh Wes, Karl Wolf, Shawn Desman, Stacey McKenzie, Lyriq Bent, Jessica Tyler, Sitara Hewitt, the Toronto Argo cheerleaders and many many more. It was great to be able to rub elbows with them all. The DJ Lineup included Starting from Scratch, DJ Lissa Monet, Court Jester, DR. Jay, and D’BANDIT.

Marc Kielburger, co-founder of the Free the Children charity, was on hand to talk about the charity he started with his brother Craig when they were kids. Live auction items were up for grabs including dinner at Ki with Kardinal Offishall, Nelly Furtado and Marc Kielburger.

It was a great night and Kardinal Offishall is always a great entertainer and host.
Click here to learn more about Free the Children

Kardinal Offishall dancing on stage

Kardinal Offishall dancing on stage

 

Kardinal Offishall, Karl Wolf, Shawn Desman

Kardinal Offishall, Karl Wolf, Shawn Desman

Nelly Furtado with Jessica Tyler on the left (Degrassi) and the Argos Cheerleaders

Nelly Furtado with Jessica Tyler on the left (Degrassi) and the Argos Cheerleaders

Maestro Fresh Wes, Karl Wolf

Maestro Fresh Wes, Karl Wolf

Karl Wolf

Karl Wolf

Nelly Furtado, Rachel David

Nelly Furtado, Rachel David

Stacey McKenzie, Lyriq Bent

Stacey McKenzie, Lyriq Bent

Jackie P, Karl Wolf

Jackie P, Karl Wolf

MORE PHOTOS

All proceeds from Kardinal Offishall’s Christmas Party provide youth from inner-city areas the opportunity to volunteer in communities assisted by Free The Children in partnership with Me to We.
Click here to learn more about Kardinal Offishall’s goals in Kenya and donate

SEE ALSO

Estelle, Kardinal Offishall

Kardinal Offishall’s 14th annual Christmas Party

Scuba Claus and his elves dive into Ripley’s Aquarium

  • December 20, 2013
  • lifestyle
  • Comments Off on Scuba Claus and his elves dive into Ripley’s Aquarium

Today Santa Claus or rather “Scuba Claus” and his merry elves made their inaugural dive at Ripley’s Aquarium of Canada in Ray Bay to feed the sting rays, giving them treats of mackerel.

Santa Dives will occur daily at 11:15am, 3:15pm and 5:15pm daily until December 24th.

And don’t forget the aquarium is open 365 days a year from 9am to 9pm even on Christmas Day and New Years Day!

Visit the website for more details
http://www.ripleysaquariumofcanada.com/

Our photos from today’s dive

Photos from the St Royals Wish charity concert

In an evening of soul-filled tunes of Motown, funk and soul, The St. Royals 16-piece superband – including 4 singers, a blazing 5-piece horn section and a 7-piece rhythm section got the audience into the holiday season at The Virgin Mod Club for a “The Christmas Soul Revue” charity concert.

They performed Christmas classics with special guests Ania Soul and DJ Lissa Monet with proceeds benefitting the CP24 CHUM Christmas Wish program

Ania Soul

Ania Soul

St-Royals-StRoyalsWish-BestofToronto-2013-012

Melissandre, Catriona Smart

St-Royals-StRoyalsWish-BestofToronto-2013-025
St-Royals-StRoyalsWish-BestofToronto-2013-018

St-Royals-StRoyalsWish-BestofToronto-2013-015

MORE PHOTOS

Check out this teaser video to see what they’re all about

The CP24 CHUM Christmas Wish program has become one of the largest distributors of toys to children in need in the Greater Toronto Area. In addition, the program provides financial assistance in order to ensure hundreds of thousands of children are able to enjoy the holiday season. In 2012 alone, the CP24 CHUM Christmas Wish initiative assisted approximately 300,000 children in need through toy and financial support. For more info visit click here.

For more info about the St Royals visit www.stroyals.com

Introducing 10 year old changemaking blogger, Hannah Alper

  • December 19, 2013
  • charity, Profile
  • Comments Off on Introducing 10 year old changemaking blogger, Hannah Alper

Hannah Alper
If we had to choose who to profile for our very first featured person on this website, what better place to start than 10 year old eco-blogger, Hannah Alper. She started blogging when she was only 9 years old and has accomplished so much already. Subjects that Hannah have written about in the past year include eco-friendly living, fair trade, bullying, clean water and child labour.

As stated on her blog, “I started this blog so that I could share my passions including the environment, social action, and people and things that inspire me. I believe that the little things that we all do add up to make a big difference.”

Hannah Alper

Her list of accomplishments is long and extensive. She’s been on television on Canada AM, The Marilyn Dennis Show, App Central, CBC’s Fresh Air, The George Stromboulopoulos Show and much more. She has been featured in Chickadee Magazine and named as a “Champion of the Earth” in Owl Magazine. She also recently wrote a post for Yahoo worldwide on her advice for new-school wary kids and has a spotlight in Scholastic’s Choices Magazine.

She’s proven her talents by giving motivational speeches at local schools, leading the charge to collect 97,500 pennies for Free the Children’s clean water projects. She travelled across North America on the Free The Children’s We Day tour (founded by household names in activism, Craig and Marc Kielburger) as a featured speaker.

Watch how effective and captivating she is in this great interview with Band Aid’s Midge Ure on the importance of using your voice, power of music and community.

During this holiday season with the spirit of giving, it’s pretty inspiring to look at what this 10 year old is doing. As the interview above says, it starts with spreading awareness and getting others involved, too. Thanks for the motivation, Hannah, and keep up the great work!

Check out her blog at www.CallMeHannah.ca

SEE ALSO

wwf-gift

How to make a difference with your holiday shopping

Craft beer arrives at Jack Astor’s for a “Winter Fling” and we’re giving away a $50 gift card

  • December 18, 2013
  • Contests, food, Restaurant
  • Comments Off on Craft beer arrives at Jack Astor’s for a “Winter Fling” and we’re giving away a $50 gift card

UPDATE: Our $50 Jack Astor’s gift card giveaway is now closed! Congrats to Bobbi Jo P., enjoy your craft beer winter fling!

The Jack Astor’s restaurant chain is now featuring a “Winter Fling” campaign, encouraging customers to stray from their mainstream beers and have a “fling” with craft beers. With cheeky messaging like ‘let’s get hop and heavy’ and ‘are you beer-curious?’, it’s on now until January 19, 2014 at all Jack Astor’s locations. The list of beers available in Ontario locations include Mill Street Organic Lager, Tankhouse Ale, Muskoka Cream Ale, Flying Monkey Hoptical Illusion Pale Ale, Granville Island Lions Winter Ale. Don’t forget to scroll down for our contest details.

If you haven't heard of any of these beers, then I'm sorry, we can't be friends.

If you haven’t heard of any of these beers, then I’m sorry, we can’t be friends.

I must be honest and say that many of these are my favourite flavourful beers. Tankhouse is one of my go-to beers and I always enjoy Flying Monkey Hoptical Illusion.

Accompanying these crush-worthy craft beers, Jack Astor’s serves up its original Cluckin’ Chicken Dippers ($9.82). These tender chicken pieces are served with unique salts and sauces to sprinkle, dip, mix and match to create chicken dippers all of your own. The Winter Fling Festival menu also includes a creamy Asiago Shrimp & Smoked Mozza Ravioli ($16.74) and a hearty Holiday Brie Chicken dish served with Jack’s mashed potatoes and sweet onion gravy ($17.97). For dessert, enjoy a decadent Cherry On Top Chocolate Trifle ($3.97).

Jack Astor's Chicken Dippers

Jack Astor’s Chicken Dippers

“At Jack Astor’s, we’re all about being cheeky and playful. With this campaign, we tried to bring our guests new flavour experiences we know they’ll love tasting,” said Lauren Michell, vice president, marketing, Service Inspired Restaurants. “Our chefs have created some incredible new dishes that will quickly become old favourites and we’ve carefully selected a series of craft beers ideally suited for a ‘winter fling’ – we promise your regular beer won’t get bitter.”

I think this campaign is a good thing and I hope it sticks because the more awareness of craft beers, the less I will have to run into the unfortunate situations where bars only serve Coors Light and Molson Canadian.. in bottles (ugh!). Let that never happen again. We’re not Americans who are known for drinking watered-down beer. So do me a favour and drink beer like a real Canadian, please!

For more info visit www.jackastors.com/craftbeer.aspx

$50 JACK ASTOR’S GIFT CARD
In celebration of great craft beer, we’re giving away a $50 gift card to Jack Astor’s! We’re doing it over Twitter only, so be sure to follow us on Twitter (@BestofTorontoTV) and tweet us this:
@BestofTorontoTV I want a $50 #WinterFling with Jack Astors bit.ly/1c1kWgH

Contest closes on December 23rd, 2013 at 3:00pm. Winner will be by random draw. Must be following @BestofTorontoTV on Twitter to be eligible. Ontario residents only.

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