Hands Across the Community.

Regular visitors and readers of Jawny Bakers blog will know that as a business we’re a local, family-owned success story. We know that this is down to the ceaseless support we’ve received from the local community. And so, it has always been part of our philosophy to get involved with the community as much as possible. Whether through active fund-raising work, financial and food donations to special events or prizes to encourage participation, it is our way of saying thanks to the surrounding areas for their support, and a chance to give back and collaborate with our friends and neighbours. 

A recent blog post gave us the opportunity to tell you about how well we did in the East York Mirror’s Best Of competition. However, as much as we love getting praise and doing well in surveys, there’s something truly special in getting thanks and appreciation from the people who benefit from our community involvement. Every year we help out schools, children’s charities and healthcare foundations in their fundraising efforts by providing prizes for auctions and activity fairs. We also are hands on by donating our time and effort to many committees and organizations.

When we’ve donated gift certificates as prizes, the winners will happily tell us about the event when they visit the restaurant and continue the good feelings. A recent visitor told us it was fun for them to bid in their first auction and easy for them to donate when the prize meant they got to bring their family in for a meal. 

The important thing for us at Jawny Bakers is to always remain connected to these organizations. Ultimately, our efforts help to increase turn-out for events and raise money. However, it’s not about simply handing over a reward but spending time with those involved and hearing how our mutual connection helps to bring their missions to life. In a very small way, we feel like we’re helping to make a difference to people’s lives. We’ve been able to put staff teams together to take part in large-scale fundraising efforts such as marathons for The Canadian Diabetes Association, bike rallies for The Hospital for Sick Kids and golf tournaments for the Providence Healthcare Foundation. 

The letters we receive from the people in the front lines of these organizations are a great way to see how our gifts are used and the benefits they’ve provided to the event:

“Thanks to your generous donation, people happily perused the many raffle items filled with coveted prizes. Raffle tickets were purchased in great numbers because businesses like yours took the time and effort to gather items to donate” – Toronto District School Board

So, if we don’t say it enough, we want to thank all those involved in these efforts. From our customers, staff, friends, families and charity collaborators, we sincerely appreciate the chance to get involved and the feeling of engaging with our communities in real and positive ways. 

Tom Zoras
originally posted 10/15/2013

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