The presentation room at St. Clements Girls' School was crowded and humming with a bad case of suppressed excitement and adolescent nerves.
Nine Grade 9 girls, neatly turned out in their school uniforms, were sitting poised but jittery in the front two rows earlier this month, each waiting her turn to stand up and deliver a 10-minute pitch on why her favourite charity deserved to win a $5,000 grant from the Youth & Philanthropy Initiative, a foundation launched three years ago by the Toronto-based founders of M.A.C Cosmetics.
The earnest young women, divided into four groups, spoke passionately about why, for instance, breast-cancer survivors need the vital services provided by the Willow Breast Cancer Support Clinic.
A threesome stood up and explained how the seven-bedroom Etobicoke Girls Residence is often the one lifeline that saves many abused young people.
The third group extolled the benefits of the Trails Youth Initiative -- provider of a camp experience for attention-starved kids.
The last pair took centre stage and, without benefit of notes, pleaded for funds to help the homeless at the Touchstone Youth Centre, an emergency shelter for young people 16 to 20.
The speeches were well researched and heartfelt, filled with personal impressions by the girls about seeing the inner belly of a world they had never really believed existed. There were a few sniffles when the Etobicoke Girls Residence team talked about the events leading up to one 16-year-old's stay at the home. The girls related how this young woman, abused in South Africa by family members, had thought she had found a white knight when Toronto relatives offered to sponsor her to come here.
She arrived, and they abused her too. Then they kicked her out of the house because "she was too much work," recounted one of the presenters, clearly enraged.
When the presentations wrapped, many in the audience -- including three low-key VIPs sitting on the opposite side of the room -- murmured about what a tough call the judges had to make.
"I always think they all deserve the money," says Julie Toskan-Casale, who, along with her brother, Frank Toskan, and her husband, Vic Casale, founded the Youth & Philanthropy Initiative after they sold the family business to Estée Lauder Cos. seven years ago.
Ms. Toskan-Casale doesn't sit on the judging panel, but she's intensely involved -- she and her family come to almost every presentation that school kids in Ontario make as part of their YPI program. These days, that means they've all been extremely busy.
YPI started in 2002 with one school -- the private Royal St. Georges -- interested in offering its students the chance to make a pitch that could win a $5,000 donation for a good cause. Word quickly spread among teachers about how committed the students became to their handpicked charities, and others requested YPI's free curriculum materials, which are aimed at Grades 9 and 10. This year, there are more than 50 Ontario schools and one in Vancouver incorporating the YPI program into classrooms.
As a result of their efforts, the Toskan Foundation expects to donate $250,000 to grassroots social-service organizations -- from addiction centres to homeless shelters, food services, facilities that assist women with eating disorders and breakfast programs.
Helen Harakas, executive director of Windfall Clothing Support Services, said the YPI money her organization received helped to establish a new clothing program for younger kids, an area always lacking. "We used the money to increase our marketing efforts aimed at those manufacturers and retailers. We got 1,500 Gap coats this past month," she adds proudly.
Ms. Toskan-Casale started the program after attending a philanthropy workshop at New York's Rockefeller Foundation. Inspired by the good works, she racked her brain trying to figure out how her family could pitch in. A mom of three boys, it finally came to her: Kids are, by nature, giving souls, but there's a sad lack of tools to show them how they can help people who are struggling.
She decided to set up a program that would actively involve children, and inspire them to want -- and know how -- to make a difference to the communities in which they live. "Youth are expected in Ontario to do 40 hours of community service before they graduate, but they don't know how to look at charities . . . or where will be a good fit," Ms. Toskan-Casale says.
With YPI, they have to research the charities and pick one. Then they have to visit the organization, present a business plan on why it should get the grant and then present it to their classmates. About 60 per cent of the young people go back and volunteer at the organization they've researched through the program, she says.
Ms. Toskan-Casale, who loves the groundswell of support YPI has found, acknowledges that she never expected it to take off in this bush-fire fashion. "Initially, I figured if we could do this, little by little, we could make a big difference. Well, it seems to be working."
At St. Clements, the judges took about 25 minutes to choose the winner. When Etobicoke Girls Residence was announced, the students high-fived one another -- clearly, it didn't matter who won, since all were considered worthy.
The residence's program director, Tina LaBonte, was ecstatic when the girls called her with the news. This gift, she says, will be used for recreational and social activities (they like to take the girls to Canada's Wonderland or to the circus each year), a new computer, a new TV for the common room, as well as clothes and some personal-hygiene products. In these places, money stretches embarrassingly far.
Eventually, Ms. Toskan-Casale hopes the YPI program will run throughout Canada. "There is a force for change that to date has been relatively untapped. It is the power of youth."
Gayle MacDonald