Homelessness: The Good Neighbours’ Club [w/video]

South of Toronto’s Queen Street, at Shuter and Jarvis, an elderly man is tickling the ivories to the tune of Freddie Mercury’s Bohemian Rhapsody. He isn’t singing along, but it’s easy to hear the lyrics as he pours his soul into the second floor of The Good Neighbours’ Club. Is this real life? Is this just a fantasy? The windows are slightly cracked, letting a grand talent anonymously infiltrate the outside world. Based on the crowd he’s garnered, there’s a sense that this centre for homeless and marginally housed men over 50 offers a lot more than food and shelter.

The Piano Man is surrounded by some of the city’s most imaginative minds: members like Ronald Reeve who joined in 2004 and spends his days drawing cartoons and comics that highlight socio-political issues within his community. His preferred pen is sparkly, but specialty ink is running low these days. Read more

David Chilton: The Wealthy Barber Returns [w/video]

When David Chilton self-published The Wealthy Barber during the economic slump of 1989, he had an unassuming goal of selling 10,000 copies and helping Canadians live fiscally solvent lives. The 25-year-old did slightly better. Chilton’s humorous approach resonated with more than two million North Americans by breaking the banal textbook paradigm of personal finance paperbacks. His common sense hit an entire dartboard of demographics, with a novel style that made readers feel like they were having a latte with a financially savvy friend who spoke colloquially about credit cards, real estate and RRSPs.

You can imagine the surreal experience of enjoying that cup of coffee with Chilton a day after the official launch of his long-awaited follow-up, The Wealthy Barber Returns. The conversation coincidentally takes place amongst a backdrop Read more

Vince Tarantino: Invincible

Vince Tarantino can still recall the rough texture of what felt like rock bottom. It was 2005 and the frustration of being consumed with a roaring hunger for success, yet not a morsel of opportunity in sight, was painful. While he had triumphantly climbed the ranks in the banking sector from teller to mortgage sales representative in three short years, he was still financially fazed.

The daily defeats of door-knocking spurred sleepless nights and fears of not being able to feed his two young kids on a commission-based salary. “I just ran out of steam. I borrowed the last dollar I could on the credit card, borrowed the last dollar I could on the line of credit, couldn’t refinance my house anymore; I was down to the last drop,” he says of a situation that many Canadians face.

Weekends were the worst for Tarantino. While he would Read more

Taking the Bully by the Horns

If you follow the news, you’ve likely heard the tragic story of Mitchell Wilson – an 11-year-old Pickering boy who, spurred by bullying, recently took his own life. And what a challenging life it was: cancer robbed him of his mother just three years before, and muscular dystrophy sapped him of his physical strength a year after.

This heart-wrenching tragedy has fuelled public disgust and flooded headlines with news outlining Canada’s poor bullying standing – a recent survey by the Ontario Student Trustees’ Association, for example, found that 46 per cent of teens report being bullied – and a plead to put an end to the malicious act. A recent episode of CBC Radio’s The Current even entertained the notion of deeming bullying a hate crime: A shocking proposition when considering Wilson’s alleged attacker was only 12. But is making bullying a legal issue the correct counter? Read more

Chef’s Challenge: Cooking for a Cure

When six culinary masters enter a kitchen arena – cooking utensils at the ready – leading a team of amateurs into gruelling cooking combat, who will walk out the winner? Why, Mount Sinai Hospital, of course.

That’s because these cuisine-creating warriors won’t be taking up arms against each other, but instead, will be turning their blades towards cancer at the second Chef’s Challenge. Six iconic Food Network celebrity chefs will gather at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre on Nov. 26, 2011, to whip up food and funds, all in support of breast and ovarian cancer research at Mount Sinai.

“I feel I have the responsibility to get involved in my community,” says David Rocco, host of David Rocco’s Dolce Vita, and one of six celebrity chefs competing in the Chef’s Challenge. Read more

New Arrivas at Hazelton Lanes

Imagine yourself in the centre of luxury at Hazelton Lanes Shopping Centre. Its Oval Square is bringing together Yorkville residents, tourists and fashonistas to celebrate the finer things in life. “This is going to serve as a community hub for events, fashion shows, concerts, celebrity appearances, cooking demonstrations,” says Marcella Abate, marketing manager at Hazelton Lanes. Surrounding this newly developed home base are high-end brands, fabulous food and stylish people. Hazelton Lanes houses hand-picked fashion pieces from around the world in stores like Hugo Nicholson, a newly opened TNT, 45-minute complimentary dog sitting, and a Whole Foods Market to accommodate every shopping need.  Read more

Changing the World One Brick at a Time: Vivian Risi

It was October 2008. Major financial institutions in the U.S. were falling at the pace of leaves and the media was saturated with reports of the tumultuous subprime mortgage crisis, market crashes and a looming global recession. Business owners across an array of industries were feeling their first beads of sweat. “Our economy was greatly affected,” says Vivian Risi, owner of real estate firm Royal LePage – Your Community Realty.

Just before the news broke, Risi had taken on the role of Capital Campaign Chair of York Region’s Yellow Brick House, pledging to raise funds for YBH’s much-needed second shelter. “You can imagine the pressure I felt knowing that I had just committed to raising $4 million. I didn’t want to let anyone down,” she says.

In the midst of her concern, Risi was invited Read more

Vitanova Foundation: A Second Chance at Life

Some of us travel down roads that split into darkness until we can’t see where we end up or how we got there in the first place. It’s late afternoon and the sun beats down on idling drivers, frustrated by the wait that comes with a freight train charging through a railway crossing like the speed of life. The horizon appears as the gate arms rise, and, like the train, cars speed off into unknown destinations. Turning off a traffic-laden Vaughan road, a utopia of green and tranquility draws you towards a place that has driven 15,000 lives toward the right direction.

The Vitanova Foundation is a former private residence-turned-rehabilitation centre based on a client-centred treatment philosophy. I walk through double doors and take a seat on a green couch in the foyer to meet Franca Carella, the monarch of a not-for-profit corporation that has helped to rebuild the lives Read more

City Search

We’ve done all the legwork, all you need to do is pick your favourites.

From the classic to the innovative, Studio Sposa’s diverse collection of wedding dresses features renowned designers that continuously push the envelope of elegance. www.studiosposa.ca

This floral lampshade will keep summer on the mind all through the cold. www.anthropologie.com

Selene nestles Italy’s unmistakable style comfortably into your home with simple and modern furniture that is as refined as it is revered. www.selenefurniture.com

Planning for an autumn wedding? Dizennio Floral’s custom arrangements are beautifully orchestrated and won’t let any detail fall to the wayside. Read more

Plastic Money Makes perfect Sense

This November marks a historic first for Canadian currency, as the Bank of Canada (BoC) begins rolling out the latest $100 banknotes, the Polymer Series, acquainting Canadians to plastic money.

If money is power, these polymer banknotes are king. Lasting 2.5 times longer than cotton-based bills, these plastic notes utilize a biaxial-oriented polypropylene substrate developed by Australian manufacturer Securency International.

This innovative substrate, known as Guardian®, has already shown its face in 32 countries since the Reserve Bank of Australia embraced it in 1988, and will denote the first time anything other than paper is fully used for Canadian notes. Read more

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