ELEMENTARY TEACHERS’ FEDERATION OF ONTARIO

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Advancing Education and Equity

The ETFO Humanity Fund

The ETFO Humanity Fund is dedicated to creating 
a world of difference for children and their com-
munities. Financed primarily by members, the Fund 
supports children and their teachers around the 
world, enriching their lives and the lives of their 
communities.

The Stephen Lewis Foundation is the Humanity Fund’s 
signature charity and receives over half of the Fund’s 
donations annually. Established in 2003 to fight the 
AIDS pandemic in Africa, the Foundation has sup-
ported 1,100 initiatives, and partnered with over 300 
community-based organizations in 15 countries.  

The Humanity Fund is financed through payroll 
deductions agreed to by members. Each participating 
member has a dime a day - or $20 a year - deducted 
from their salary through automatic payroll deduc-
tion, which is then forwarded to the Humanity Fund 
by the member’s school board. The Fund also receives 
individual donations from ETFO members, staff and 
locals. A resolution was passed at ETFO’s 2011 Annual 
Meeting to contribute $200,000 a year to the ETFO 
Humanity Fund. The Fund is run by a board made up 
of members of the provincial Executive, leaders from 
participating locals and two rank-and-file members.

The ETFO Humanity Fund encourages any local that 
is not currently a member of the Fund to work with 
their members and district school boards to join. 
There are many worthy projects appealing to ETFO 
for funds, and every new local that joins expands the 
Federation’s ability to help those in need, in Canada 
and around the world. 

Project Overseas 

In a year that saw renewal of the appli-
cation and selection process for Project 
Overseas, over 30 applications were 
received. The following members were 
chosen to provide professional learning 
with teacher organizations in nine coun-
tries this summer:  

Barbados: Catherine Bracken Mussio 
(Thames Valley Teacher Local), team member

Dominica: Gail Bannister-Clarke (Peel 
Teacher Local) and Leslie Hunter-Duvar 
(Grand Erie Teacher Local), team members

Ghana: Joseph Jarrett (Elementary 
Teachers of Toronto Local), team lead-
er and Diane Lawler (Bluewater Teacher 
Local), team member

Guyana: Alvarine Aldridge (Elementary 
Teachers of Toronto Local) and David Ball 
(Durham Teacher Local), team members

St. Kitts: Deirdre Buckley-McKie (Ottawa-
Carleton Teacher Local), team leader

St. Lucia: Lindsay Freedman (Peel Teacher 
Local), team member

St. Vincent: Daniel Martin (Ottawa-
Carleton Teacher Local), team leader, 
and Monica Goodfellow (Simcoe County 
Teacher Local), team member

Trinidad: Kathryn Holst (Ottawa-
Carleton Teacher Local) and Nancy McKay 
(Elementary Teachers of Toronto Local), 
team members

Uganda: Francesca Vonella (Greater Essex 
County Teacher Local), team member