News & Events

Santa has plenty of helpers on campus this year.

The holidays are a busy time of year when it’s easy to get caught up in shopping and gift giving. Still, community members have found different ways to extend a helping hand to those who are less fortunate. From small acts of kindness to fundraising efforts, Ryerson students, faculty and staff are reaching out to give to those in need.

Simple Gestures is a new program that delivers floral arrangements post-event to a community partner. Julia Shin Doi, general counsel and secretary of the Board of Governors, discovered the program in the U.S. and started it at Ryerson with the help of President Sheldon Levy and Enactus (SIFE Ryerson). A team of 10 Enactus members share the responsibility of making the deliveries, led by students Jason Lu and Daniela Camilli who are the project managers. Anyone interested in donating flowers, can contact the team via Facebook.

Yesterday, Lu and Camilli hand-delivered eight arrangements from the president’s holiday celebration to St. Michael’s Hospital. It was their fifth delivery and the third to St. Mike’s.

“Our first delivery was to Convenant House. It was an amazing experience,” Camilli said. “To see everyone’s faces when we brought the flowers gave us the best feeling ever. The flowers brought instant happiness to everyone and seeing how happy they were made us all feel amazing.”

This year, athletes who mentor youth as part of the Rising Rams program have adopted three families for their annual Adopt-a-family campaign. Players collected $2,200 from gate revenue at Rams games to donate to a single mom and 14-year-old boy; grandmother with twin eight-year-old boys and an 11-year-old; and parents who have a son, 12, and two girls, six and five.

A group of student-athletes will deliver the wish-list items this weekend including a microwave, toaster oven, stockings for the children, clothes and educational toys and video games. The holiday cheer doesn’t end there though as the women’s hockey team produced a Christmas music video. Watch it at http://bit.ly/VF7HX4.

Holiday helpers have emerged from the Digital Media Zone (DMZ) and Campus Facilities and Sustainability as well. DMZ entrepreneurs wanted to show their appreciation of the Ryerson community by collecting seven bags of canned goods for the Ryerson Food Room. Joyce Ramsubick, campus facilities help desk, collected $650 from the comfort of her desk and bought groceries for the Ryerson Food Room as well. “I do it at my church so this is just an extension of that,” said Ramsubick.

MBA student Daniel Freiman launched a fundraising campaign for the Grace Care Orphanage in Kenya, where he worked this past summer. Freiman made a video with the children re-creating Larry Bird’s steal and game-winning assist from the 1987 NBA Finals as a way to raise awareness and fundraise for a new sports field at the orphanage. The video has been viewed more than 150,000 times and over $14,000 has been raised so far. See the video at https://fundrazr.com/campaigns/bNnE3.