one by one®: Bernard Betel Centre
The Bernard Betel Centre is a nonprofit community centre serving adults 55 and older in the Toronto metro area. A longtime pillar in the community, its extensive list of programs covers fitness, recreation, community support, health and wellness, and beyond. Services are provided in English, Russian and Hebrew.
“Our mission is to provide our exemplary and multilingual educational, cultural and wellness programs in a safe and supportive environment,” said Charm John, recreation coordinator. “We want to encourage healthy, active and creative living for older adults.”
A lot of history, a lot of lives touched
The organization, founded nearly 60 years ago, has 1,800 members and is powered by about 40 employees and nearly 250 volunteers. Its services—some of which are open to both members and non-members—also include a meal delivery program providing between 2,000 and 3,000 meals to community members each week.
Branded swag items stand out
The Bernard Betel Centre hosted an active living fair to showcase its array of programs. It included members who are curious individuals from the community and are interested in learning about the offerings. Healthcare professionals were on site to provide free cancer, blood sugar and blood pressure screenings.
The staff used a one by one grant to purchase pens and tumblers to help boost brand awareness after the event. Attendees were given a free pen for filling out a questionnaire and the tumblers were door prizes. Both boasted the Bernard Betel Centre’s orange brand color and stood out among the crowd, John said.
“Opportunities like the one by one grant are extremely important for organizations like ours,” John said. “Funding is always a challenge and having a grant like this really helps us be able to improve our programs and our services and present them to our clients in a way that’s friendly and nice.”
A note from Cheryl
It’s wonderful to learn how the Bernard Betel Centre provides so many services to older adults in Toronto—and has done so for decades. It was a delight to help out by providing branded swag items that helped increase visibility for this organization. If you’re interested in a one by one grant, visit onebyone.4imprint.ca.