Today I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to my family and all the members of Toastmasters Clubs in the cities of Brampton and Mississauga for their generous support and encouragement in making my Holiday Season Food Drive a resounding success. The joy of giving and supporting someone’s dream is indescribable and awesome but I could not have done it without you.

1. Thank You
Today I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to my family and all themembersof Toastmasters
Clubs in the cities of Brampton and Mississauga for their generous support and encouragement in
making my Holiday Season Food Drive a resounding success.The joy of giving and supporting someone’s
dream is indescribable and awesome but I could not have done it without you.
On November 11, 2013 (Remembrance Day) when the project was launched my goal was to collect at
least TEN 3.0 cubic feet (18 x 18 x 16) boxes of non-perishable food items to be delivered to the
Salvation Army of Brampton on Wednesday, December 18, 2013. On Wednesday, whenI made my final
delivery to the Salvation Army of Brampton I exceeded my target by at least five (5) boxes. My last
delivery was approximately 620lbs making the total donation an estimated 2,000lbs of non-perishable
food items.
I am elated but the joy of this journey would not have been possible without the support of my family,
and all the members of Toastmasters clubs the cities of Brampton and Mississaugawho contributed to
the food drive. To my family, thank you for encouraging and inspiring me to follow my dreams and
sharing my core value of care. I am especially grateful to my wife, Michelle, who constantly adjusted her
schedule so that I could meet my speaking engagements and pick-up donated items. She took the time
out of her hectic schedule to accompany me to Trillium’s Holiday Dinner and Party where I had the
opportunity to talk about the food drive. She supported me emotionally andaccommodated my
constant requests to run here and there to collect the donated items. Michelle I always knew that you
believed in me and my mission to help those less fortunate than us, thank you. I am also grateful to
Michelle’s mother, Mrs. Carmen Smith, for her help in storing and packing some of the boxes. I am
thankful for her genuine concern about how I was going get the large boxes out of my basement. On
every occasion that I brought home more donated items she would express her concern despite my
constant reassurance that I would get someone to help with the heavy lifting,.Mrs. Smith, you exemplify
the true meaning of caring for others, thank you.
A special thank to the executive and members of the following Toastmasters Clubs for their participation
and generous contribution to my Holiday Season Food Drive: Speak to Inspire, Soar to Excellence,
Leaders’ Corner, Leaders In Action, TD Creekside, Trillium, Lamb to Lions, Comfortably Speaking,
Chosen Voices, Point of Tale, COMET and City Centre. You constantly provide a friendly environment
where others can hone and develop their communication and leadership skills, and for my project you
went beyond your core mandate of the Toastmasters program to support a truly worthy cause, thank
you.
Over the past four weeks I learned several important lessons one of which was the reaffirmation of the
human spirit of true compassion towards our fellow citizens and that most people will go above and
beyond to help others succeed. For this reason I am especially grateful tothe following individuals –
AmparoCifuentes,Ping Ge, Odecca Ordonez, Anjula Evans, TuulaRedditt, Diana Alandete, GeofferySim,
Ambreen Khan and BhushanRele who went above and beyond to publicise and promote my Holiday

2. Season Food Drive.NeeruRia, thank you for stepping in at last minute notice to be my replacement
speaker when you did as well as for accompanying me on some my visits to collect donated items.
FarazMoin and Judy Martin, you are both awesome. Your initiatives expanded my target group and in
the process won the hearts of the staff and management of your firms, thank you. To the members of
staff and management at Loblaw in Mississauga and Give & Go Prepared Foods Corp in Etobicoke, thank
you for your generous contribution.
My friends, there are so many others such Rhonda Templeton, Shalini Alleluia, Bent Fink-Jensen, Stella
Zhang, Cora Bryce, Daniel Chin, JeetTulshi and Marc Samodee that I must say thank you to and for those
individuals I that have not named publicly, I know you too also share my core value of care, thank you.To
Gordon Randall, director of the Salvation Army of Brampton, his staff and volunteers thank you for your
continuous service to our communities as well as for accommodating my three deliveries.
Today I feel a sense of contentment knowing that through the support of my family and members of
Toastmasters clubs in the cities of Brampton and Mississauga I have contributed to the Salvation Army
of Brampton’s mission to meet human needs and be a transforming influence in my community by
helping to feed those in need.
To my family, fellow Toastmasters and friends, my success is your success. My joy is your joy. Together
we have contributed to feeding our fellow citizens. Together we have made a difference this Holiday
Season.
Thank You!
Mark McKenzie is a leading Subject Matter Expert in financial services regulation and supervision as well
as a professional motivational speaker, corporate trainer and youth mentor. He can be contacted by
email mastbmckenzie@gmail.com or by telephone 647-406-4622. Read my blog
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