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Dr. Ken Ng, Founder of the Federation of Chinese Canadians in Markham (FCCM), welcomed the community to the TD FCCM celebration of Chinese New Year 2021, the Year of the Ox. Hardworking, reliable and persevering are the qualities associated with the ox. Due to Covid-19 restrictions, FCCM hosted a virtual 2021 Chinese New Year celebration event. In the pre-taped presentation, highlights included a Lion Dance, singing and dance performances and a Chinese calligraphy demonstrat...ion. Many dignitaries expressed greetings and good wishes for the year ahead including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Consul General of the People's Republic of China in Toronto Han Tao, Mayor Frank Scarpitti, federal, provincial and municipal officials. Feng Shui Master, Paul Ng, provided a new year forecast and zodiac prediction and TV and radio personality, Larry Lo, performed festive new year songs. See more

To celebrate Lunar New Year Markham Public Library (MPL) hosted a virtual artist talk with Peter Suk Sin Chan, a well-known Chinese artist and member of the Ontario Chinese Artists Association. The program began with a slide show of the artist's paintings chosen in honour of Chinese New Year due to their positive energy and feng shui. Peter was born in Hong Kong and started drawing as a child. He started his own business and travelled extensively but decided to give up his bu...siness to pursue his dream of becoming a fine art artist. Inspired by nature, Chinese masters and the Group of Seven, his style is a combination of abstract and reality, created by blending Chinese and Western techniques depicting flowers, fish, landscape and ancient Chinese women. Peter hopes to achieve personal enjoyment with his art and to be happy and positive and allow life to take care of itself. His dream project is to travel through all the Canadian provinces and paint a series of landscapes. See more

Markham Public Library (MPL) hosted a virtual artist talk in celebration of Black History Month. M.Falconer, a Toronto based self-taught visual artist gave an upbeat presentation about her work, what inspires her and how she creates her art. M. Falconer began painting in 2014 while still at university with a portrait of her mother for Mother's Day. What started out as an outlet to escape her studies grew into a full-time art career. Strongly influenced by North American Black... pop culture, her paintings foster a sense of self-love, empowerment, representation, community and culture. M. Falconer describes her style as "Black Pop Art" due to her use of a bold and unconventional colour palette. Her hope is that her work is uplifting and empowering for the black community and her mission is to use art to inspire her community and to represent the culture. See more

Markham African Caribbean Canadian Association (MACCA) organized and hosted a Virtual Community Service Fair on February 4 and February 5. Representatives from 11 community partner agencies spoke about the services delivered by their organizations and the best method of contacting them. An energizing physical activity break from the presentations was conducted by the Vital Vibes Ambassadors. The sessions were extremely informative, bringing together multiple agencies and services in one forum and providing easily accessible engagement for members of the community.

The City of Markham hosted a virtual community information meeting on Markham's new Draft Affordable and Rental Housing Strategy. The meeting presented the draft Strategy including the work completed to date and provided an opportunity for feedback and questions. The meeting was co-hosted by Darryl Lyons, Manager, Policy, Arvin Prasad, Commissioner, Development Services and Emily Irvine, Special Projects Coordinator, City of Markham. The draft contains a vision, three goals, 34 actions and an inclusionary zoning framework, a new provincial tool that can require affordable housing in residential developments. The meeting was well attended by residents with many questions asked. For more information visit YourVoiceMarkham.ca

This year Markham Stouffville Hospital (MSH) held its first online Raffle of Hope, raising over $92,000 to support MSH’s frontline team as they prepare for any scenario and provide life-saving care to our community. Sergio Montero won the first prize of a 2021 RAV4 XLE FWD (value $38,009.47) donated by Stouffville Toyota. Dennis Mackey was the second prize winner of a ladies diamond bracelet (value $35, 934.00) donated by Lou Tucci. Tracy Pather, wife of third prize winner N...eville Pather, accepted the Samsung Prize Package (value $6,440.97) donated by Samsung. Sobana Murugathas won fourth prize of a 13 Macbook Pro (value $2,484.87) donated by the Allum family and Karen Fletcher won the early bird draw prize of a Samsung 75" 4K UHD TV HDR (value $1,694.99) donated by Card's Appliances & Televisions. Congratulations to all the lucky winners! See more

To give thanks and show support to Lynde Dermatology’s community partners, each year they host a gathering to enjoy food, spirits and friends. Due to Covid-19, this event was unable to take place in its true form. Determined to say thanks, and following all Covid rules and restrictions, the clinic hosted an appointment-based gift pick up to kick off the Holiday Season. Lynde Dermatology, founded and operated by Drs. Charles and Beverly Lynde, has been providing dermatology care to Markham for over 30 years.

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the City of Markham's annual Remembrance Day ceremony was observed virtually with a commemorative video viewed on markham.ca/markhamremembers. Included in the video were readings of students' winning poems in the 2020 Remembrance Day poetry contest: For All of Us by Annabelle Jay, Unionville Montessori School, Our Soldiers Brave by Stephanie Ng and What is your Name? by Amisha Packiareginauld, both at St. Brother André Catholic High School. This... year marked the 75th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. During Remembrance Week November 7-14 residents were invited to place poppies at the Veteran's Square and Cenotaph, Markham Village and Crosby Memorial Cenotaph, Unionville and pay their respects to those who made the ultimate sacrifice in the military service of our country for peace and freedom. Messages could also be left on the City's virtual Book of Remembrance on markham.ca/markhamremembers. See more

Markham Arts Council (MAC) features artists from Markham and York Region in its Markham Artists Unplugged series to showcase the diversity and inclusivity of the region. The weekly MAC programs presented unplugged concerts as well as insight into the artists' lives and creative process. Recent episodes have featured Courtney Bowles performing in a duo with Graham Unsted, Julia Gartha singing her new release "Nothing's More Lonely" and soprano Sarah Amelard singing selected arias in A Taste of Opera.

360kids recently hosted its Annual Every Kid Matters Virtual Gala. Due to COVID-19, for the first time, its signature fundraising event united guests via Zoom, to share in a fun evening of gourmet food and drink, fantastic auction items and entertainment with live and recorded speakers. All proceeds from the event will go to helping 360kids achieve its mission to help youth overcome crisis to a state of safety and stability. 360kids has had to act quickly and adapt its ser...vice models in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the demand increases for its support services. In March, 360kids was forced to close its Richmond Hill Home Base Center but now the Home Base Center is in operation on an appointment basis, three days a week. The four housing programs have remained operational and full during this time, supporting over 40 youth. Counselling and employment programs are operating virtually enabling 360kids to continue providing the wrap-around support youth need during a time of crisis. See more

SoGal Toronto presents Fireside Chat: Building A Winning Consumer Brand! Tomorrow at 5:30pm EST, guest host Marie Chevrier, founder of Sampler will be hosting a... panel discussion with some other leading women founders. They will be discussing how to build a winning brand through consumer packaged goods, and how they leveraged packaging as their foundation towards building a leading brand and company! Register: http://ow.ly/DqVO50Cm2kA #YorkUniversity #InnovationYork See more

Promoted by Flato Markham Theatre, Classic Albums Live presented a live-streamed performance for serious Pink Floyd fans from the Empire Theatre in Bellville of Pink Floyd's 1977 release Animals. The album was played note for note/cut for cut. Animals is both a progressive rock album and a concept album, focusing on the social-political conditions of mid-1970s Britain.

On October 17 the Kindred Spirits Orchestra (KSO) presented its first live orchestral music symphony concert after the lock-down. Under the baton of Music Director Maestro Kristian Alexander, the Orchestra presented Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 and two newly written works by Canadian composers Erik Kreem (Waltz) and Werner Chan. It was the world première of Werner Chan's Concerto for Violin and Orchestra featuring award-winning violinist Sarah Davidson-Gurney. The event took pl...ace at the St. Maurice and St. Verena Cultural Centre and was broadcasted to a live audience of 50 patrons and live-streamed to an online audience of over 300 art-lovers from Vancouver, Montreal, London, Toronto, and across the GTHA. The concert was made possible with the support of Heritage Canada, Ontario Arts Council, Ontario Cultural Attractions Fund and Celebrate Markham. For more information about the KSO upcoming concert on December 12, 2020, visit KSOrchestra.ca See more

Early in the fall, we shared Helen Lennon’s story about her courageous battle against breast cancer after losing her husband to brain cancer. Today, we are happ...y to share that Helen is healthy and well. And your generous support has helped raise over $111,000 for urgently needed equipment to help us care for patients like Helen. You may not know that government funding does not cover all urgent, priority needs and equipment. That’s why your support is so vital. On National Philanthropy Day, we thank you - our generous community for your overwhelming support during these unprecedented times. We’re stronger together. To read Helen’s story or to donate today, visit mshf.on.ca/helen.

Portraits of Giving has created awareness and inspired the community through photography, stories, education and thought leadership about the importance of corporate and social responsibility in York Region for the past eleven years. Portraits of Giving went virtual this year. Watch the virtual presentations of Markham Honourees Lifetime Achievement: Roger Keeley, Sports Honouree: Master Akmal Farah and Markham Honouree: Kim Campbell at the Portraits of Giving story video premiere at facebook.com/MerkPhotography. Photos of the Markham Honourees were on view at CF Markville in late November.