Matthew House
About Matthew House: A place of Hope at the end of the Refugee Highway...
Matthew House is a small shelter in central Toronto that welcomes and assists newly arrived refugee claimants, who would otherwise be homeless in our city upon arrival. Since opening as a permanent home in August 1998, Matthew House has sheltered and assisted hundreds of refugees from more than 80 different nations including: Albania, Afghanistan, Angola, Burundi, Colombia, Congo, Cuba, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Iran, Iraq, Kenya, Liberia, North Korea, Rwanda and Zimbabwe.
Matthew House does not receive any direct government funding but exists because of the simple kindness and generosity of those who care about the hardships faced by many refugees. Thus, your support as an individual is vital to our annual Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon (STWM) fundraising drive. The more runners and donors we recruit, the greater our ability to serve an increased number refugee guests.
As we enter our 6th year of participating in the STWM weekend, we gratefully acknowledge the tremendous financial impact the Scotiabank Charity Challenge has had on charities like ours. Members of the Matthew House team in the past have been an incredible mix of people from all walks of life reflecting the diversity or our ministry and our city: doctors, lawyers, CEOs, staff and board members, volunteers, former residents from all corners of the globe (including champion marathoners!) and individual supporters have all taken part in lending their support of our cause — that of providing a warm and welcoming place to refugees at the end of their long journey on the refugee highway.
Canada Running Series three-time female Champion Josiane Aboungono, who once called Matthew House “home” expresses her commitment to “giving back” by her ongoing participation as a Matthew House STWM team supporter. She tells us that Matthew House is never far from her thoughts.
Like many marathon champions, Matthew House is small, but powerful and dedicated in its commitment to go the distance for our refugee guests whose journey on the refugee highway brings them to the city of Toronto. We have been thrilled by the funds raised by our small team in the past and have set a goal to have our largest team ever!
To support this growing team, we have planned some new initiatives.
- A pre-event Meet & Greet with a guest speaker to answer any questions you have about training and participating in the 5K Walk-Run, Half-Marathon or Marathon as well as a chance to meet fellow teammates and be inspired about the Matthew House story. Check our website (www.matthewhouse.ca) for exact date and location.
- A blog for team members moderated by our Development Coordinator Lynn Kobayashi, 2002 and 2003 Canada Running Series, Masters Champion.
Will you consider joining us in this very exciting year? You are invited — in friendship, in hope — you are needed! Join us please and bring along friends, family, neighbours and workmates to help us increase our team size and achieve our goal of at least $60,000 in funds raised.
We Value Your Support!
Thanks for considering becoming a part of the Matthew House Team at the Toronto Waterfront Marathon Group Charity Challenge. There are lots of ways to show your support!
- You can join our team and participate in the marathon, half-marathon, or the 5k race on Sunday October 14, 2012. There is also an online tool that will help make it easy for you to collect pledges for Matthew House prior to the event! We are thrilled to have you join us!!
- Unable to participate in the event? No problem! You can show your support for Matthew House by sponsoring an individual participant or the Matthew House Team.
Funds raised through this exciting event will go directly towards supporting Matthew House's vital work of providing a “place of hope at the end of the refugee highway” for many needy newcomers.
For more information, or to register as a participant on the Matthew House team, contact Lynn at 416-364-8287 or by email at lynn@matthewhouse.ca.
Thanks for your support and God bless you!