Thank You

Today I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to my family and all the members of Toastmasters Clubs in the cities of Brampton and Mississauga for their generous support and encouragement in making my Holiday Season Food Drive a resounding success. The joy of giving and supporting someone’s dream is indescribable and awesome but I could not have done it without you.

On November 11, 2013 (Remembrance Day) when the project was launched my goal was to collect at least TEN 3.0 cubic feet (18 x 18 x 16) boxes of non-perishable food items to be delivered to the Salvation Army of Brampton on Wednesday, December 18, 2013. On Wednesday, when I made my final delivery to the Salvation Army of Brampton I exceeded my target by at least five (5) boxes. My last delivery was approximately 620lbs making the total donation an estimated 2,000lbs of non-perishable food items.

I am elated but the joy of this journey would not have been possible without the support of my family, and all the members of Toastmasters clubs the cities of Brampton and Mississauga who contributed to the food drive. To my family, thank you for encouraging and inspiring me to follow my dreams and sharing my core value of care. I am especially grateful to my wife, Michelle, who constantly adjusted her schedule so that I could meet my speaking engagements and pick-up donated items. She took the time out of her hectic schedule to accompany me to Trillium’s Holiday Dinner and Party where I had the opportunity to talk about the food drive. She supported me emotionally and accommodated my constant requests to run here and there to collect the donated items. Michelle I always knew that you believed in me and my mission to help those less fortunate than us, thank you. I am also grateful to Michelle’s mother, Mrs. Carmen Smith, for her help in storing and packing some of the boxes. I am thankful for her genuine concern about how I was going get the large boxes out of my basement. On every occasion that I brought home more donated items she would express her concern despite my constant reassurance that I would get someone to help with the heavy lifting,. Mrs. Smith, you exemplify the true meaning of caring for others, thank you.

A special thank to the executive and members of the following Toastmasters Clubs for their participation and generous contribution to my Holiday Season Food Drive: Speak to Inspire, Soar to Excellence, Leaders’ Corner, Leaders In Action, TD Creekside, Trillium, Lamb to Lions, Comfortably Speaking, Chosen Voices, Point of Tale, COMET and City Centre. You constantly provide a friendly environment where others can hone and develop their communication and leadership skills, and for my project you went beyond your core mandate of the Toastmasters program to support a truly worthy cause, thank you.

Over the past four weeks I learned several important lessons one of which was the reaffirmation of the human spirit of true compassion towards our fellow citizens and that most people will go above and beyond to help others succeed. For this reason I am especially grateful to the following individuals – Amparo Cifuentes, Ping Ge, Odecca Ordonez, Anjula Evans, Tuula Redditt, Diana Alandete, Geoffery Sim, Ambreen Khan and Bhushan Rele who went above and beyond to publicise and promote my Holiday Season Food Drive. Neeru Ria, thank you for stepping in at last minute notice to be my replacement speaker when you did as well as for accompanying me on some my visits to collect donated items. 

Faraz Moin and Judy Martin, you are both awesome. Your initiatives expanded my target group and in the process won the hearts of the staff and management of your firms, thank you. To the members of staff and management at Loblaw in Mississauga and Give & Go Prepared Foods Corp in Etobicoke, thank you for your generous contribution.

My friends, there are so many others such Rhonda Templeton, Shalini Alleluia, Bent Fink-Jensen, Stella Zhang, Cora Bryce, Daniel Chin, Jeet Tulshi and Marc Samodee that I must say thank you to and for those individuals I that have not named publicly, I know you too also share my core value of care, thank you. To Gordon Randall, director of the Salvation Army of Brampton, his staff and volunteers thank you for your continuous service to our communities as well as for accommodating my three deliveries.

Today I feel a sense of contentment knowing that through the support of my family and members of Toastmasters clubs in the cities of Brampton and Mississauga I have contributed to the Salvation Army of Brampton’s mission to meet human needs and be a transforming influence in my community by helping to feed those in need.

To my family, fellow Toastmasters and friends, my success is your success. My joy is your joy. Together we have contributed to feeding our fellow citizens. Together we have made a difference this Holiday Season.

Thank You!

Mark McKenzie is a leading Subject Matter Expert in financial services regulation and supervision as well as a professional motivational speaker, corporate trainer and youth mentor.  He can be contacted by email mastbmckenzie@gmail.com or by telephone 647-406-4622. Read my blog http://mastbmckenzie.blogspot.ca/ and always write me a comment and share. Follow me on Twitter @mackynacky. Connect with me on www.youtube.com, Google+, Facebook and Linkedin.