Support the Kids and Youth of South Etobicoke

For 14 years, we’ve been providing fun, low-cost, and welcoming programs for kids and youth in South Etobicoke. Hundreds of them each year, on the soccer field, at camp, in leadership training, and in all the everyday moments in between.

We’d like to tell you honestly how that happens.

We’re not a big organization.
Our team is small: Three of us working year-round, alongside an incredible group of volunteers. Everything you see happening in this community runs on a handful of people who care deeply and keep showing up.

And we raise every dollar ourselves.
As a non-profit, we’re responsible for raising our own salaries and our program costs. We’re not telling you that to pressure you. We’re telling you because it’s the reason monthly giving matters so much. A steady monthly gift lets us plan ahead, stay full-time, and be here year-round, not just when a season happens to line up.

It’s more than programs.
The soccer league, camps, and leadership training are a big part of what we do, but they’re really the doorway. The heart of this work is relationship: being present with families when life is hard, celebrating with them when it’s good, and being a familiar face in the neighbourhood long after the final whistle. That kind of care can’t be scheduled into a program. It only happens when someone is free to be there.

Why now.
There is more need in this community than two people can carry. Every person who can give themselves fully to this work means more kids known by name and more families not walking through hard seasons alone. Your support, especially monthly, is what makes that possible.

WAYS TO GIVE

The South Etobicoke Team

It costs about $50,000 a year to run our programs well, including the Lakeshore Soccer League, Creative Arts program, and leadership training. Families contribute about $15,000 through program fees, which we keep low so cost never keeps a kid out. Faithful partners and our annual spring charity run, which our community has made a tradition and which typically raises around $5,000, cover more. The rest has to come from people who believe in this community and give monthly.

We’re looking for about $2,100 a month in new monthly support.

(LINK TO COME)

Support Chelsea

Chelsea has a heart for walking with young people and pointing them to hope. She supports the Lakeshore Soccer League and Leaders in Training program in South Etobicoke, where over 250 kids find a sense of belonging each summer. Her desire is to build trust, share life, and partner with God in the growth of her community.

She also has a passion for creative arts and for supporting young women in the neighbourhood. This year she helped launch the Orange Slice Podcast for our LITs, and she’s working on launching a creative arts program for young women called Blooms of Joy.

Her work is full-time, and it’s made possible by people who give monthly. That covers her salary and the costs we’re responsible for as a non-profit. Monthly gifts of any size let her be fully present for kids and families here, in programs and in the moments outside of them.

(LINK TO COME)

WANT TO KNOW MORE?

We believe in being open about how this works. If you’d like to see the details behind what it takes to fund this work, we’d love to talk. Reach out to Andrew at aironside@yugta.ca and he’ll gladly walk you through it.

Whether you give once or monthly, thank you. You’re not just funding a program. You’re helping us stay present for this community for the long haul.

[One-time gift link]