Teresa Cascioli was the keynote speaker for our 16th Annual City Kidz Sponsor Dinner. She promised to answer questions asked by each table at the event. Due to time constraints that evening, she was unable to answer all of the questions “live”. As promised, here are the questions and answers that were not able to be addressed at the dinner.
QUESTION – Table #75 – Would you ever consider donating to a women’s alcohol and drug rehabilitation centre?
ANSWER – My charitable foundation focuses on essential services such as food, shelter, education and healthcare. It focuses on assisting a broad spectrum of people and does not focus or target on one specific gender. While worthy, my charity would not donate to this type of initiative.
QUESTION – Table #59 – If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be and why?
ANSWER – I like myself. I try to be a good person as often as possible. Having said that, I wish I were better able to tolerate people who stubbornly do not want to remain open minded about things. I strive to get better at that. You can’t change people – they are who they are. I have to keep reminding myself that.
QUESTION – Table #65 – Would you be interested in helping support an orphanage of 300 children in Kisumu, Kenya.
ANSWER – I am involved with the Canadian chapter of Worldwide Orphan’s Foundation. WWO Canada is working to develop an Early Intervention or “granny” – programs by pairing each child with one caring, loving adult. WWO currently provides Early Intervention programs in Bulgaria, Azerbaijan and Vietnam.
QUESTION – Table Anonymous – Is it true that the exiting Chief of Police Brian Mullen beat Ron Foxcroft (aka “The Fox”) in golf?
ANSWER – Well after much investigation it turns out that this is true. However, I am advised that it only happened once.
QUESTION –Table #85 – What was your favourite childhood memory?
ANSWER – I am a lover of all things Christmas. I have fond memories of family and friends spending time together at Christmas time. It was one of the times of the year that I cherished getting toys. My favourite was getting my annual new set of tea cups and saucers from Santa.
QUESTION – Table #76 – How can we expand the City Kidz program to other cities across Canada? How do you protect City Kidz from getting to big that we lose the kids’ perspective.
ANSWER – Very good question. The dilemma in any organization as it goes from small to large is “How do we get big and stay small.” We won’t lose the kids’ perspective so long as they keep getting on that bus. Kids speak with their actions. If they no longer want to get on the Big Red Bus then we will know that we are losing their perspective. They will guide us in that regard.
Expanding across Canada’s will require us to find more “Todd Bender” type of people in each major city that is experiencing child poverty. The City Kidz model can be repeated in other cities so long as the staff and volunteers exist with the same dedication and heart as Todd’s team. We need to walk before we run but we certainly could start to recruit other like-minded individuals once we are at a point that our kids are looked after and our goals are met in Hamilton.
QUESTION – Table #1 – What would you recommend as a strategy for breaking the cycle of entitlement and poverty in our city?
ANSWER – I am very much a capitalist. I believe that if people are gainfully employed then poverty levels drop. We need to find ways of employing as many people as possible and retrain those that are capable and able to work so that they can sustain themselves.
As far as breaking the cycle of entitlement; I think that more young people should visit a Saturday morning program just so they can truly understand how lucky they are. Volunteering your time and seeing poverty with your own eyes will make younger people appreciate the blessings that they have. They won’t think it is so important to have the state-of-the-art computer or computer game for example. They will appreciate the food that they eat and those who prepare it and provide for it.
QUESTION – Table #40 – What are your future plans with your foundation? Is there anything you miss from working at Lakeport?
ANSWER – I will continue to surprise you with respect to my future plans for my foundation. Stay tuned. As far as what I miss the most from working at Lakeport – I miss many things. What I miss is the satisfaction I got from seeing our product go to market and having a positive response from our customer by way of sales. Sales of our product and positive feedback made us all very proud.
QUESTION – Table #29 – What is your favourite City Kidz memory?
ANSWER – Getting on The Big Red Bus and seeing how the kids responded. It wasn’t just a bus – it was a means whereby they were physically removed from poverty. The happiness and positive energy on the Bus was truly moving.
QUESTION – Table #21 – Why did you choose to show the Lakeport video at a not-for-profit event?
ANSWER – Many of those in attendance had no idea of who I was, what my charity was all about or what Lakeport is. The video explained those things.
QUESTION – Table #81 – Olivia wants to know what is your favourite kind of cheese?
ANSWER – How did you know I love cheese? I love all kinds of cheese but Havarti is probably one of my favourites.
QUESTION – Table #61 – Britani (age 12) wants you to name the 9 planets in order from the sun out.
ANSWER – Wow, that’s a tough one! I have to really think. Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptun, Pluto. Did I get it right??
QUESTION – Table #11 – I understand there is a very interesting story behind 24 for $24. What is it?
ANSWER – It would take another website to tell that tale! My fingers would hurt from typing it!!!
