As we push through the second year of living in a global pandemic, many of us have adapted our routines and schedules to keep mentally and physically active, connected to loved ones, and above all, safe. This Seniors’ Month, we celebrate and recognize those three themes – Staying Safe, Active and Connected – and focus on how Dixon Hall, as an agency, can continue to help our seniors’ community feel supported.
My name is Esther, I am 15 years old, and I am a Dixon Hall Music School student. I have been learning at the Music School for over eight years. Currently, I am taking piano and classical guitar lessons, and am a part of the senior choir.
Suzanne Labarge, a McMaster University chancellor emerita and alumna, is investing $5 million in research to help improve the lives of marginalized and at-risk seniors, a group that is not often seen and heard. Labarge’s gift will support the creation of the MIRA | Dixon Hall Centre, a unique partnership between the university’s McMaster Institute for Research on Aging (MIRA) and Dixon Hall, an established multi-service agency located in the heart of downtown Toronto.
As we mark the one-year anniversary of the start of our current global pandemic, it is important to reflect on how much and how deeply our community has been affected. Here at Dixon Hall, we are taking a moment to look back at the experiences and challenges that certainly tested us, but that also made us stronger as an organization, and as a community.
March 8, International Women’s Day, is a day for all of us to notice. And from where I’m sitting, as part of Philanthropy & Communications at one of Toronto’s oldest multi-service agencies, there are reasons to pause on this date, one that is meant to be both a celebration of the achievements of women, and a call to action for gender equity.