East End Adventure celebrates building community ties and raising funds for Michael Garron Hospital

By JESSICA SHACKLETON

If you were out in the neighbourhood last Saturday, Oct. 18, you may have seen people in white t-shirts racing around. They were participating in the first East End Adventure, a fundraiser put on by Michael Garron Hospital. 

It started and ended at Monarch Park on what turned out to be a lovely fall day. On their quest back to the park, racers visited local businesses and completed challenges. 

The winning team was Purple Presents, who happened to be Michael Garron volunteers. The top fundraisers were Crash Cart, a team made up of emergency room physicians at the hospital.  

The prizes were donations from businesses such as Lululemon, Porter Airlines, Accor Hotels, and local businesses. 

Dr. Nadia Incardona and Dr. Jefferson Hayre were members of Team Crash Cart, and they said taking part in the East End Adventure was an important chance to show support for the community, local businesses and the hospital. 

“It’s about bringing the community together, supporting local businesses, and the local hospital while having a great time,” said Incardona about why the event is important.  

“As physicians, we really appreciate the community supporting us in our work and helping us to give back to the community,” said Hayre. 

Michael Garron Hospital takes its role in the East Toronto community seriously and the East End Adventure helped to connect the people who rely on the hospital’s services every day.  

There were games, food, and live music throughout the day (and even a beer garden supported by local breweries) throughout Saturday at Monarch Park, helping to make the day a true community festival.

East End Adventure required 64 volunteers on the course and at the festival to make it happen and Vice President, Annual, Events and Operations at Michael Garron Mary Cranston was thrilled with how the day went. 

She was stationed at Monarch Park all day and heard from those around the neighbourhood about how everyone came together to make it happen.  

“People walked through the park not knowing what was going on, and were excited when they realized it was for Michael Garron,” she said. 

Racers and sponsors enjoyed the celebration into late Saturday afternoon sunshine.  

Cranston said East End Adventure will be back next year. The event was extremely successful, and the organizers plan to build on how the inaugural one went as they continue into the future. 

“We were really lucky with the weather, and we may do it a different time next year, but we want to do the same thing and get even more people involved,” she said. 

East End Adventure raised a total of $413 686.

To learn more about the Michael Garron Hospital Foundation, please visit https://mghf.akaraisin.com/ui/eastendadventure