Proud community invites Torontonians for a full day of festivities including a GRAND CRICKET MATCH, presence of the Toronto Police Service Mounted Unit, dignitaries' speeches, South Asian food & fair, a youth talent show, baseball, basketball drills and autograph session by TFC Alumni Dwayne De Rosario and Raptors Alumni Jamaal Magloire.
TORONTO, June 3, 2015 /CNW/ - Thorncliffe and Flemingdon Park's Field of Dreams is at last a reality! The new Go Green multisport facility officially opens for community use on June 4 at 2:30 p.m. Activities start with a Grand Match on the Home Ground between the Toronto Police Cricket Club and the Go Green Youth Coaches Team at the site in the back yard of Valley Park Middle School (VPMS), 130 Overlea Blvd. Top brass from four Toronto Police Service Divisions will celebrate with the community including Toronto Police Services Board Chair Dr. Alok Mukherjee. The presence of the Toronto Police Mounted Unit will add to the momentous occasion.
"This is a very special event for Go Green and VPMS. Although we must still raise funds to erect our LED sports lights, we are very excited to open after so much collective effort went into raising $1.75 million dollars, since the dream began in 2010," says VPMS principal and Go Green Co-Chair Nickolas Stefanoff.
The opening ceremony consists of a full day of activities funded by the City of Toronto's Pan Am & ParaPan Festivals Grant program and supported by Jays Care Foundation, MLSE Foundation and Canadian Tire Jumpstart Charities. The events start at 9:30 am with a local elementary school cricket tournament. The official Grand Match between TPCC and Go Green starts at 2:30 pm. At the break after First Innings at about 4 pm, Jays Care Foundation, the primary funder of the Go Green baseball diamond and LED lighting systems will conduct a baseball development clinic with VPMS Beyond 3:30 students; simultaneously, MLSE Foundation will conduct a skills and drills clinic with Toronto Raptors Basketball Development Coaches on the MLSE Jumpstart-funded multisport court. From 5-6 pm, Toronto FC Alumni Dwayne De Rosario and Toronto Raptors Alumni Jamaal Magloire will be onsite for autographs.
South Asian food will be served at 5pm and dignitaries' and sponsors' speeches will begin sharply at 5:30 pm. At 7pm, Second Innings begin while the VPMS 15th Anniversary Talent Show starts indoors in the school Cafetorium.
"Our community is grateful to our partners and sponsors. What is most important is the help they are now providing so that we can run free sports programming and offer coaching jobs to local youth," Stefanoff adds referring to the upcoming free TNO Go Green Summer Camp, which starts July 6 for seven weeks.
Go Green Background
The Go Green Cricket and Sports Field is working to complete Canada's first illuminated cricket field. The overall project cost $1.55 million dollars and the outdoor LED sports lights cost an additional $400,000. The fully wired and purchased lights, poles and cross arms wait in storage for installation.
The outdoor facility accommodates two junior soccer fields, or cricket, softball, baseball and other activities. A red clay running track, cricket sightscreens, a baseball backstop, and an amphitheatre surround the field. Underground and surface storm water is discharged at a bio-swale and wetland system linked to a student-planted urban forest and butterfly meadow. A multi-sport court accommodates basketball, volleyball, ball-hockey and badminton.
Event Detail:
When: Thursday, June 4
Time: 2:30 pm First Innings Grand Match
Where: 130 Overlea Blvd., Toronto, On.
Dignitaries & Major Sponsors' Speakers List:
Toronto Police Services Board Chair Dr. Alok Mukherjee
Superintendent Neil Corrigan, 33 Division, Toronto Police Service
Second in Charge Inspector Richard Hegedus, 33 Division, TPS
Community Response Unit Manager Sgt. Matt Moyer, 53 Division, TPS
2nd in Charge, Inspector Mark Barkley, 54 Division with Community Response Unit officers, TPS
City Councillor Jon Burnside
TDSB Trustee Gershon
Consul General Pakistan Asghar Ali Golo
Ontario Trillium Foundation Chair Dr. Dev Sainani
MLSE Foundation Chair Aris Kaplanis
Canadian Tire Jumpstart ED Landon French
Jays Care Foundation ED Robert Witchel
Toronto Foundation CEO Rahul Bhardwaj
Greenwin Inc. CEO Kris Boyce
SOURCE Valley Park Go Green Cricket Field Committee
Image with caption: "Opening Ceremony of Go Green Cricket and Sports Field in the Thorncliffe & Flemingdon Park Neighbourhoods of Toronto (CNW Group/Valley Park Go Green Cricket Field Committee)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20150603_C6792_PHOTO_EN_17469.jpg
Interview opportunities: Nickolas Stefanoff, Go Green Co-chair & Principal, Valley Park Middle School, 416-949-4130, [email protected]; Mazhar Shafiq, Community Representative, Premier Kathleen Wynne's Office, Queen's Park, 647-717-5149, [email protected]; Ali Baig, Community member & Go Green Board member, 416-727-7906, [email protected]; Ifthikhar Safi, Captain, Go Green Youth Coaches Cricket Team, 647-770-1758, [email protected]
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