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EDUCATION HERO AWARD

This award celebrates those who engaged in transforming learning experiences for students in Scarborough and beyond during the

COVID-19 pandemic.

THERESA PASTORE

RECIPIENT OF THE EDUCATION HERO AWARD

As the Executive Director of Parents Engaged in Education (PEIE), Theresa Pastore has been instrumental in the development of a Family Service Centre/Education Bank at 857 Milner Avenue to support the Scarborough community with technology-based learning. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Theresa has stepped up to provide home learning kits, including computers, school supplies, games, art supplies, and other school materials for children from kindergarten to Grade 12. She has transformed educational experiences for in-need families in the community during the pandemic by creating physically safe learning space supports and a “food bank for the mind”.

  • Can you tell us about yourself (and/or) your organization?
    My family and I immigrated to Canada in the summer of 2007, and needless to say we faced several challenges over the next 5 years with getting jobs and settling into our new domicile. 5n2 Soup Kitchens was birthed in the midst of these challenging times with a vision to make a meal available to those who needed it in my community.
  • Did you have a source of inspiration or motivation that fueled you to take such remarkable actions to support and serve the Scarborough community during COVID-19?
    The seed for this vision I believe was planted in my heart by God, and I say this because I hadn’t visited another soup kitchen anywhere and this is not my area of work by any stretch of the imagination. While working downtown at GBC I saw the much visible homelessness and poverty on my walk from Union station to 200 King Street east, and while we were raising tens of thousands of dollars for United Way, I began to research what supports were being channelled to East Scarborough where I commuted from. This in turn gave me a further impetus to do something to help those in need in my community.
  • What does winning this award mean to you?
    To me personally, it speaks more to the tireless work of our kitchen, program and delivery teams who have worked tirelessly especially since March 2020 seven days each week to ensure our support to the urgent needs in our communities.
  • What was a positive moment or meaningful memory from this past year that stands out to you?
    When the Covid-19 first came into Toronto, most of our partnerships shut down food services and we had to quickly pivot to an online sign up to meal and grocery delivery requests: at this point a past senior volunteer along with her retired sister who could not even climb the steps into our facility offered to drive ‘any distance’ to help deliver meals and groceries. This blew me away, as why would seniors, and with added physical challenges do this with much risk to themselves. Also, when most of our volunteers stepped off with the fear factor at a high, the very few who took a risk coming out to help multiple days was amazing.
  • If you could describe Scarborough in one word, what would it be?"
    Diversity
  • What does being part of the Scarborough community mean to you?
    It pictures a caring and generous community.
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