Make This World A Better Place

Kintore College Student Residence, Toronto, have set up an initiative entitled Make This World A Better Place during the pandemic : We want to create a little glimmer of hope for our community and to help people realize that they are not alone.

As our world continues to battle this coronavirus pandemic, we are faced with new challenges to overcome. On top of the direct impacts of the virus, people are suffering - mentally, physically, and spiritually - from the residual fears, anxieties and loneliness resulting from the quarantines and lockdowns called for by our governments.

Eleven of us started

Kintore College Team

It is easy to focus on the rising death rates, the recession of the economy, and the anxiety for the future that is felt by everyone worldwide. It is during these times where finding and sharing joy within the community is most important. This is why we, at Kintore College Student Residence, have set up an initiative entitled Make This World A Better Place on March 31, 2020. From our Kintore home, we want to create a little glimmer of hope for our community and to help people realize that they are not alone. Eleven of us started working together to send love to those who need it most.

Kintore's handmade cards

Sending cards to frontline workers and many others…

The main aim of our campaign is to send out motivational cards to frontline workers, residents of long-term care facilities, patrons of a sandwich distribution group, seniors living alone as well as cancer patients.

Kintore card sent to a resident of a long-term care facility

We have sent thank you cards, letters and videos to over 1,000 frontline workers in Canada, United States, U.K., and Philippines who have contributed their expertise and skills to provide care for the people affected by the virus. We thank them for their hard work in making and providing a healthy environment for everyone during these trying times.

Kintore thanks our heroes!

Kintore thanks our heroes!

Kintore thanks our heroes!

Kintore thanks our heroes!

Our second group of card recipients were 276 residents of two long-term care facilities. The elderly are the ones that are affected the most by this pandemic. Sometimes, they are unaware of what is happening in the world and think that their families and loved ones do not want to visit them. Thus, we made it part of our mission to make them feel loved and show that they are not forgotten through the little handwritten cards we send them. Seeing pictures of them smiling also gave us the hope and the motivation to continue our journey to put as many smiles on people as we could.

Kintore College deliver 276 cards to residents of Rekai Centre long-term care facilities.

Our third group are patrons of community outreach programs in Toronto and Montreal that provide nutritious packed lunches for those in need on a regular basis. To show that they are loved, we decided to insert our handwritten cards in their bagged lunches. The words of encouragement on the cards are very well appreciated by the patrons as they bring joy to their hearts. To date we have sent over 200 cards.

Meals with Kintore's cards for patrons of Miller Group in Toronto.

Lastly, we have sent over 100 cards to seniors living alone and cancer patients. We dedicate time to video call people who greatly appreciate having company and we also have started receiving food donations which we give to our local church.

Kintore sends love

Becoming a national campaign

What started as a little initiative in March with eleven people has now become an international campaign. We have over sixty-five family, friends and Kintore alumni helping us Make This World A Better Place. We work with like-minded people from all over Canada as well as from New Zealand and Brazil.

At Kintore, every day after dinner during our family get-together, we gather and divide the work amongst ourselves while we talk, laugh and learn from each other. Being with our Kintore family when putting in our best efforts to put a smile on the world made the whole process of making the cards worthwhile. The dedication and the time that everyone has been contributing make this campaign a success and we will continue to Make This World A Better Place. If you would like to join us, please visit https://www.kintorecollege.ca/covid-19-outreach


Help us enrich this section by sharing your story during this time of family quarantine by sending us the text and your photos to the following address opusdeipressca@gmail.com