Strangers In The Night charity gala – Toronto 

Larry Day:

It started 18 years ago in Montreal. It was just something that we put together, because we wanted to raise some money for kids. August 20th of this year we had The Jacksons, and we had 5,000 people in 70 restaurants. It’s all about kids. It’s all about raising money. You know, we choose the charities very carefully. But it’s also with everybody, and, what we want to do is, we don’t want a stuffy gala. We want people to have fun. That’s the secret behind Strangers in the Night.

Children Believe — which I think is an incredible organization — and the other charities that we’re working with… I think that’s going to be something that’s just going to be ongoing.

Fred Witteveen:

It’s an opportunity for charities to really reintroduce themselves to the broader Canadian public. You know there are important issues that we’re all working on in our respective spaces. I mean Children Believe works with vulnerable children around the world who are desperately in need of access to education. And, so this gives us a chance to be able to show what we do, and why it’s important, why these causes are so important to support.

Karen Homer:

This is a very exciting evening for Children Believe to be part of Strangers in the Night. The debut event here in Toronto. It’s a wonderful opportunity for people to hear about what we do. [At] Children Believe we have a single focus that education is the best way to change children’s worlds, and tonight more people are going to hear about that. And, so, Children Believe is working really hard to keep kids in school and get them back to school.

Aki Temiseva:

First of all, doing this with other charities, doing with Strangers in the Night and then coming out here and meeting all these people — so it’s all about the context and coming together with people that believe in children and that they are really the future.

So this kind of fundraising gala does it in a fun way so people enjoy and have a good time while actually giving back and making it all possible for the children.

Michelle Ramlochan:

I want to talk a little bit about one of the charities that are benefiting from this wonderful event tonight. The conflict in Ukraine is heartbreaking, and many of us wonder how’s the best way to help. We’re pleased tonight to welcome Your Support Foundation, a charity that is doing incredible work on the ground in Ukraine.

– Children singing-

– Music-

Derry Grehan:
Great organizations set these things up, so we’re really happy to be here to play, eat some food, raise some money. We always like to do this, definitely it’s great.

-Music-

Ewen Farncombe and Alex Bird:

I think the most important thing is the fact that we’re all here tonight to support a really great cause.

It’s really all about raising money for a good cause. I think that’s what everybody’s here for. That’s what everybody’s excited about; I mean the music it’s great. We got The Jacksons about to perform. It’s wonderful; we’re all excited.

-Cheering-

The Jacksons:

Yes, so we’re gonna try this one more time. Are y’all ready to party?

-Music-

Shanelle Kaul:

A lot of people here came out tonight to be generous, to donate their money, to donate their time. Where are all those proceeds going to go?

Aki Temiseva:

We’re going to share them between all our four charities — amazing charities here locally internationally. And, so each charity has their key focal points, but one of our key focal points is now in Africa, in a country called Burkina Faso where millions of children have been displaced through extremist behaviour, and so also child marriage is rampant there. So we are really trying to make a change in that country so all of your donations that you’ve already generously made, and that you I know you’re still going to make tonight, are going to be very welcome for us and all the other charities, too.

-Music-