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High Park Zoo: Keep the Memories Alive

We didn’t go anywhere when I was a kid.

Actually, we went everywhere. We just didn’t go in very many places. I had a rich and varied childhood, filled with the experiences of so many front lobbies, entryways and exteriors. From the wax museums of Niagara Falls to the Royal Ontario Museum and the Hockey Hall of Fame, we visited some of the greatest thresholds in the region. Once, we even stepped over a low railing and walked around the grounds of Fort York. That was a thrill. My brother still talks about the time my parents actually bought tickets to take us to the top of the Empire State Building. It was mind blowing.

One place we did go, however, was the High Park zoo. Growing up in the west end of Toronto, the zoo was a mainstay of my childhood. It was always open, year round, and it was always free. In fact, I’m not sure we ever went there when it wasn’t freezing cold. My dad would park up near the Grenadier Cafe and we’d scurry down the steep hill toward the entry. We were always trying to hustle in just before sunset, it seems, when the old wooden gate would be pulled closed for the night.

Once inside, it was always the same animals, the same ones that are there now. The fallow deer are quickly followed by Mouflon sheep and the peacock pen. Moving on, you can check out wallabys and Barbary sheep and (my favourite) the bison. The stinky yaks are across the road next to the Highland cattle. Bounce back to visit an emu or two and then finish up with the capybara and the llamas. And that’s it.

There’s an intimacy to that zoo and its rough-hewn road and walkways. It’s just big enough to be truly thrilling for a small child and small enough to get through without a meltdown. It’s a living, breathing part of my own personal history, my family history and the history of our city. And bringing my own children there is one of the great joys of my life.

The High Park zoo has lost its funding. The zoo is not included in the city of Toronto’s operating budget for this year and won’t be able to stay open beyond June — this June! — without alternative funding.  City Councillor Sarah Doucette believes $100, 000 (and there’s only $75,000 to go!) in donations will be able to keep the zoo running until the end of the year and buy enough to time to explore corporate sponsorship or other funding options. (The entire park was bequeathed to the city on the grounds that it remain always free of charge and open to the public, so user fees are not an option.) My husband, Edward Keenan, also wrote about the plight of the zoo if you want to learn more. Fellow mom blogger and High Park local Emma Willer wrote about what the zoo means to her family. She wants to see you there for Earth Hour!

Here’s what you can do:

  1. Donate right now, right here. Ten dollars will score you a tax receipt. Double that and earn my undying gratitude. Pick up the entire $100, 000 tab and I’ll have your baby. Kidding. Kind of.
  2. Spread the word. Anybody who has ever been to High Park has fond memories and a story to tell. We want to hear yours. Blog about it, tweet about it (#SaveHPZoo), Facebook about it, talk about it at the water cooler. Remind people that places like the High Park zoo make this city worth living in and then get them to donate. (See step one.) Heck, here’s a bit.ly link to the donation page: http://bit.ly/HnnWSM
    Put it out there! (After you donate.)
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Prizes, Prizes, Prizes Galore!

Playground Confidential is hosting a raffle to raise money for breast cancer research at the Princess Margaret Hospital.  I will be walking 60 km during The Weekend to End Breast Cancer, September 12 -13,  and have only three weeks to raise $2000.  Read the post Money Can Buy You Love for more about the walk and my motivation.

DONATE HERE to enter the raffle. Every $10 donated will automatically get one virtual raffle ticket. (Make sure to include your contact info so I can get the prizes to you.)

Extra big love and thanks to my generous sponsors for donating such fabulous prizes! Here they are:

The regularly “scheduled” (ha!) Playground programming continues below.

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Money Can Buy You Love: Donate and Fight Breastcancer

I don’t have a personal breast cancer story to tug at your heart strings. Trust me, I’d use one if I could. In fact, I’m one of the only people out there who hasn’t lost someone to breast cancer. Not yet, anyway. I do have an aunt who beat breast cancer (I think), but we don’t talk much about that sort of thing in my family. My husband lost his grandmother to the disease before he was born and one of his eight aunts (on his father’s side alone!) is a breast cancer survivor. (Another aunt is currently battling vaginal cancer.)

I do know, however, that the Canadian Cancer Society says that in 2009, “An estimated 22,700 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer and 5,400 will die of it.” In Canada alone. (Add another 192,370 diagnoses, and 40,170 deaths in the United States according to the National Cancer Institute.) That’s a lot of people. It is the leading type of cancer among women and one in nine woman will be diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime. So, no, I haven’t lost anyone to breast cancer. Not yet.

I also happen to live in a city that is home to the Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH) — the largest cancer-specific institution in the country and a top five ranking hospital for cancer research in the world. The Campbell Family Institue for Breast Cancer Research is supported by the PMH and is a world leader in cancer research and continues to break new ground in breast cancer research, treatment and studies. It all costs money, though. Does the institute have enough money? Not yet.

For the past four years I have been inspired by a team of women in my husband’s family who have participated in the Weekend to End Breast Cancer. Led by my sister-in-law, Tara Keenan, the Keenans and the Crew For the Cure have raised over $80,000 for breast cancer research. ($30.5 million have been raised since 2004 in total.) First, each individual needs to raise at least $2000 worth of donations and then they walk. And walk. They walk 60km and it takes two days.  Get 4757 women walking together through the streets of Toronto — that’s how you raise awareness. I hear it’s a life changing experience, but I wouldn’t know. Not yet.

The treatment and detection of breast cancer is evolving by leaps and bounds. Women who would have faced certain death a decade ago can now fight for survival. We can screen for genetics and breathe a sigh of relief if we don’t have the breast cancer gene. If. I don’t have a personal story of breast cancer loss, no. But I do have a baby girl. When she grows up she will likely have a one in nine chance of developing breast cancer. I don’t like those odds. I don’t think I want to take that bet. So let me see how much money I can wring out of you fine people. Let’s see just how far our research dollars can take us. No, we don’t have a cure. Not yet.


Here’s the thing, though. The Weekend To End Breast Cancer is September 12 -13 which is less than a month away. I need to raise $2000 by then and my own funds are already earmarked for the groceries. So I really, really need you to move on this. Here’s how it works: follow this link here (or click through the pretty button on the sidebar) and donate to my fundraising efforts. Just in case the satisfaction of fighting cancer is not enough … I will, in return, not only walk like crazy for two days, but I will fundraise like crazy for three weeks. I will beg and plead and otherwise persuade business people to donate prizes to my cause. Every $20 donated will get one entry into a draw to be held on Thursday Sept. 10. Be sure to include your contact info in the message portion of the donation so I can get your prize to you.

Check back for an updated list of prizes as they come in.

I would also love to hear your breast cancer stories in my comments section. (Or just link to them if you’d like.) Oh, and tell your friends, why don’t you?