March 28, 2024

By SPENCER BEEBE

Calendars will be sold at Conestoga this week and next to help raise funds for a new facility for Community Support Connections – Meals on Wheels and More.

A group of students from Conestoga’s project management program will be selling the calendars at booths set up at Doon at Doors 3 and 6 tomorrow, Friday and next Thursday (April 3) from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and at the Cambridge campus in the atrium on April 1.

Proceeds will go to CSC, which provides a range of supports and services that enable seniors and adults with disabilities to live at home with independence and dignity. In addition to delivering meals, the agency holds exercise programs, provides transportation and co-ordinates care for elderly citizens and people living with disabilities.

CSC began looking for a new facility more than two years ago, requiring a site that would enable them to build their own kitchen and co-locate their Kitchener and Waterloo offices to introduce more programming opportunities.

Operating their own kitchen will allow the agency to accept food donations and invite volunteers into the kitchen, bringing down costs and saving money.

To fund the initiative, CSC launched a $600,000 capital fundraising campaign. To help raise money they partnered with the Levene family on the special calendar project which will also help keep the memory of their son alive.

Leejay Levene died in July 2007 while undergoing a routine wisdom teeth extraction in an oral surgeon’s office in Waterloo. Since then his family has donated the aspiring architect’s artwork to fundraisers across North America. Each year they select a local charity to work with on the Leejay Levene Calendar Project.

“Leejay had a very kind heart and always considered the well-being of others,” said his mother Shirley in a press release.

The group selling the calendars call themselves the FAB – SIX, and consists of students Shashidhar Narasimha, Parth Shah, George Dwamena, Vaidehi Patel, Emmanuel Vincent and Olusola Odunsi.

The calendars featuring Leejay’s artwork cost $10 each, with proceeds going to the CSC fundraising campaign.

For more information, contact CSC’s resource development team at 519-772-8787.

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