Commitment to giving

A few years ago, Bluish was stuck in a rut. I’d been running my creative hustle on the side for years and at that point, it was more like a hobby. Sales were shrinking. I contemplated if it was the end of an era. So I began asking the really important questions: What are we here for? And what good can we leave behind?

I decided then, as long as Bluish is still around, that we would do good and give back. Not as a percentage of sales, but as a fixed commitment. That we would do good anyway, not only when our business is doing well. So we committed to a few charities, and we’ve been giving back consistently ever since.

- Sarah

  • We donate to 5N2 Kitchens monthly. It’s on a mission to feed hungry people in Scarborough. When my family first immigrated here, we lived in Scarborough. The area has changed a lot since then and so has its needs. A newspaper article left serendipitously next to my coffee brought me to the kitchen and I volunteered there until my second trimester.

    It’s operated by an extremely lean team, every dollar we donate is used effectively back into its mission of feeding the hungry. I had witnessed this first hand while volunteering there.

    This charity was founded by Seema David, who is an immigrant to Canada and a compassionate Christian.

  • We donate to the Yellow Brick House monthly. It helps provide shelter to abused women and children in York Region. I learned about this charity through my church. We volunteered there as a group several years ago, and it opened my eyes to the very real needs of our community.

    Domestic abuse and violence is often invisible. It happens behind closed doors and the scars are covered by clothing or buried deep inside. The realness of help during those very desperate moments is unveiled here at this charity, where they offer shelter, essentials, and assistance for the abused to break free and rebuild.

  • We donate to the ICC monthly. It helps provide care to orphans with disabilities in China. This charity and their mission holds a dear place in my heart, because of my very own experience with birth defects and the strenuous medical care that followed.

    Not long ago, I visited the very village in China where my dad was born. It was a small collection of stone houses separated by narrow alleyways, where people and small animals co-existed. It was nestled deep in the countryside where healthcare was a luxury, and survival was a strained probability.

    ICC gives the children who are born into such impoverished circumstances with disabilities, a fighting chance.

  • Through ad hoc events and single donations, we’ve also supported these loving institutions:

    • Sick Kids Hospital

    • Markham Stouffville Hospital

    • Cherish Integrated Services for persons with developmental disabilities

    • OXFAM for ending poverty