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As a Métis/Cree person in Canada, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation is an important moment to reflect, respect and acknowledge the resilience, perseverance, and bravery of my family. As Indigenous families and communities continue to heal from the tragic legacy of the Indian Residential School system in Canada, we ask our non-Indigenous allies to take this moment to amplify Indigenous voices, advocate for Indigenous rights, call out biases and misconceptions about

On September 23rd, 2021, an intimate group of students from Mainstream Bursary program was joined by Zeenat Khoja - Sales Director. Senior Leadership, Customer Engagement Innovation, Business Transformation, High Performance Culture at Eli Lilly and Meredith Keenan - Vice President, Human Resources at General Electric Canada for our monthly Fireside Chats. The theme for this Fireside Chat was Curiosity. These meetings provide an exclusive opportunity for youth to meet a wide

On September 18th, Peter, Sean, Michael L. and Michael W. set forth on the 6th Annual 24-Hour Charity Walk. Starting at 12:00am on September 18th, these four amazing guys threw on their running shoes and headed towards the city. 82.5km later and what would normally be a 1hr drive, they arrived at Polson Pier. This year, they walked in support of the Pinball Clemons Foundation Mentorship Fund. This fund supports the most marginalized youth in our communities and provides mento

Congratulating this year's graduating class from the Foundations in Banking Program and PCF Mainstream Bursary Program.

$50K Matching Gift from Pinball Clemons Foundation Boosts The Reading Partnership’s ‘Literacy Liberates’ $100k Challenge THE PINBALL CLEMONS FOUNDATION HAS COMMITTED TO SUPPORTING THE READING PARTNERSHIP BY MATCHING ALL DONATIONS UP TO $50,000 UNTIL OCT. 15, 2021. THIS NEW PARTNERSHIP WILL AMPLIFY THE READING PARTNERSHIP’S ‘LITERACY LIBERATES’ 100K CHALLENGE. The Reading Partnership’s ‘Literacy Liberates’ 100K Challenge, a fundraising initiative to celebrate its 10th anniver

On August 26, 2021, an intimate group of students from Mainstream Bursary program was joined by Carol Henry - Director of HR at Longos and Mike Salisbury - Raymond James Portfolio Manager in Wealth Management for our monthly Fireside Chats. These meetings provide an exclusive opportunity for youth to meet a wide variety of industry leaders, hear about their life and career experiences, and ask them ANYTHING, all in a small group setting. Students ask incredible questions lik

We are excited to share an update on your donor dollars at work!

The Pinball Clemons Foundation is honoured to commemorate National Indigenous Peoples Day and share with you the great work we are supporting to help advance the equity and equality as Canadians. We are excited to share an expanded partnership with One Voice One Team (OVOT), and join us in celebrating the new addition to their team - Roy Pogorzelski. Roy is Métis/Cree from Northern Saskatchewan and we will be raising funds to support their mission to mentor youth and educator

Michael and Diane Lee Clemons awarded Meritorious Service Cross. Pinball Clemons Foundation is proud to announce that Michael and Diane Lee Clemons have been awarded the Meritorious Service Cross. The Meritorious Service Decorations (Civil Division) enable the Governor General, on behalf of Her Majesty the Queen and all Canadians, to recognize the outstanding accomplishments and remarkable contributions made by members of our community. The Clemons were recognized for providi

Announcing a new scholarship opportunity for students in northwest Toronto There is a new bursary that is available for students living in northwest Toronto within the boundaries of the Finch West Light Rail Transit (LRT) project. The Pinball Clemons Foundation has partnered with Mosaic Transit Group to provide bursaries to youth living in Jane-Finch, Rexdale, and Black Creek communities. Mosaic Transit Group is a joint venture company selected by Metrolinx and Infrastructure

Which Black figure inspires you? Orlando Bowen How does this person inspire you? Orlando inspires me simply because of the love he has for helping people. Something we both have in common. He takes that's passion for helping people and takes it to the next level every time and that makes me want to do the same as well. Favourite Quote from this person: "Pain is inevitable, but misery is OPTIONAL."

Student: Precious Which Black figure inspires you? Harriet Tubman How does this person inspire you? Harriet Tubman inspires me because she didn't let her present situation determine her future. She was born into slavery and fought her way into freedom. When she finally got her freedom she didn't stop there. She was aware that her past situation was the present situation for a lot of other Black people so instead of turning her back on them, she ran back toward what she initia

STUDENT: Richard Which Black figure inspires you? Malcolm X How does this person inspire you? Malcolm X was always looking out for the best interests for his people in order to break the system that has been against Black people for many years now. He was a important figure in the civil rights movement and if it wasn't for him, Black people wouldn't have the motivation and inspiration to continue to fight for equal rights that still haunts us today Favourite Quote from this p

STUDENT: Abagail Which Black figure inspires you? Madam C.J. Walker How does this person inspire you? Madame CJ Walker was the first African American SELF MADE* millionaire. She inspires me because her rise came during the 20th century; an era where racism was a major issue worldwide for our people. She rose above it all with her head held high despite the countless attempts to bring her down. Her favourite quote was “I got my start by giving myself a start”. The odds were st

Student: Avolyn Program: BA Criminology and Psych - University of Windsor Describe what your personal and academic journey was like prior to being involved in the Margins to Mainstream Bursary program. Before my involvement with the Margins to Mainstream Bursary program, there where countless days of stress and worry. There were days when I was unsure whether I would be able to apply for the upcoming academic term due to overdue balances. There were also days where I had to

Please join us in welcoming Kevin Mathiasz to the #PCF family, as our new Director of Development Kevin is a fundraising and sales expert with over 10 years of experience. Having traveled and worked in a vast amount of counties, Kevin is a firm believer in filling your life with adventures, not things and having stories to tell, not stuff to show. Having been born in Paris and having parents of both Irish and Sri Lankan origin, Kevin has always been exposed to many different

UNIVERSAL MUSIC CANADA HAS COMMITTED TO DONATING $250,000 OVER THE NEXT FIVE YEARS TO SUPPORT BLACK STUDENT COMMUNITY LEADERS IN THEIR FIRST YEAR OF POST-SECONDARY EDUCATION THE B.L.A.C.K. LABEL SCHOLARSHIP WILL SUPPORT THE EXISTING PINBALL CLEMONS FOUNDATION’S MARGINS TO MAINSTREAM PROGRAM 02 SEPTEMBER 2020 (TORONTO, ON) – Universal Music Canada’s (“UMC”) B.L.A.C.K. (Businesses Levelling Access to Change and Knowledge) Label Coalition and the Pinball Clemons Foundation (“Fo

Student: Topaz Program: Law Clerk Program - George Brown College Describe what your personal and academic journey was like prior to being involved in the Margins to Mainstream Bursary program? I would say my academic journey was overwhelming which would pour out into my personal life because I would be agitated and end up not wanting to deal with anything. It made everything going on in my life just seem like it was too much to go through alone. I did it anyway because I di

My name is Melanie Amadasun. I am a daughter, a sister, and most of all, I am Alessia’s mother. What makes this scholarship special for me, apart from it affording me the opportunity to complete my social service worker diploma at George Brown College, is that I received it shortly after becoming a mom at 21 years old. This was a life-changing transition for me, during which the foundation added an immense amount of support for me. I remember meeting Mr. Pinball a short whil

On July 13th, the Pinball Clemons Foundation and Pizzaville launched a brand-new campaign to help save the Y.A.A.A.C.E Summer Institute. In hopes of saving the program, Pizzaville launched “Pinball’s Pizza & Popper Special”. They have generously decided that $1 for every special sold will be donated to the Pinball Clemons Foundation in support of the YAAACE summer institute, until August 3rd. The Summer Institute has become a staple amongst the Jane and Finch community. The

It is with deep regret that we’ve have made the difficult decision to cancel Rally For Kids 2020, scheduled for October 23rd and 24th, in light of the developing situation with COVID-19. As a Foundation, the health and well-being of our staff, clients, vendors, event participants and general public is our top priority and we appreciate the understanding under these extraordinary circumstances. We look forward to having you back in the drivers seat next year, when we will be a

We hope you are safe and doing well during these unprecedented times. We wanted to share an update on what’s been happening at the Pinball Clemons Foundation and how our team, our partners and youth have adapted to their New Normal. We work with some of the most under-resourced and under-served, marginalized youth in our community - youth that ‘normally’ would slip through the cracks. As Ontario announced the State of Emergency for COVID-19, we immediately reached out to the

Aiden Lee is an abstract painter and a sixteen year old student. Aiden was born with multiple diagnosis; Autism, ADHD, Anxiety. He has taught art in 12 schools - over 1600 students with a program called, ‘Art From The Heart’. Last year, one of our Board Members (seen in the picture above) purchased this painting from a charity auction. He bid on this item because he believed that it was a visual representation of the Pinball Clemons Foundation. We were finally able to track d

The premise behind Christmas Wish is simple: community members nominate people who go above and beyond in their contributions to the community at large, but whose efforts often go unnoticed or unrecognized. Over the holidays, Christmas Wish teamed up with the Pinball Clemons Foundation and were able to recognize an employee at Youth Without Shelter in Etobicoke. Yesica Gil was flown to Niagara via Fly GTA, where she was recognized for her resilience, passion, and her work wit