advertisement
FYI

Bella Black, 15, Bakes Up Big Ten Campaign To Raise $100K

Fifteen-year-old Bella Black is not only making a difference: she’s baking a difference.

Bella Black, 15, Bakes Up Big Ten Campaign To Raise $100K

By Nick Krewen

Fifteen-year-old Bella Black is not only making a difference: she’s baking a difference. For 10 years, she has been hosting Bella's Bake Sale in Toronto on her family’s driveway in their Beaches neighbourhood, selling cupcakes, cookies and other pastries in order to raise over $100,000 to build schools in developing countries, via WE Charity.


Now, she’s launching her most ambitious project: To commemorate her 10th year of philanthropy and being in Grade 10, the Malvern Collegiate Institute student has initiated The Big Ten campaign. Her goal is to raise enough money over a single school year to finance the construction of 10 schoolhouses, which cost $10,000 each.

advertisement

She holds her bake sale two weeks after the school year begins but continues to “sell” virtual cupcakes via donation on her web site, issuing a tax receipt for $10 or more.

“I want people to settle in first at school, then when I announce the bake sale and that I am raising money for kids who don’t have a school to go to, it hits hard,” Black, one smart cookie, tells Samaritanmag.

So far, Black, who only just turned 15 on Dec. 26, has financed the construction of four schools in Kenya (one through a program called Change Heroes), two in India, two in Haiti, one in Nicaragua and one in rural China. – Continue reading this Nick Krewen feature here.

advertisement
Saya Gray
Jennifer Cheng
Saya Gray
Awards

20-Song Long List Announced for New SOCAN Polaris Song Prize

The new accolade will award the best Canadian song chosen by a jury of the nation’s critics. Tracks by Kaytranada, Saya Gray, Mustafa, Snotty Nose Rez Kids and more are competing for the $10,000 prize.

For the first time in 2025, the Polaris Music Prize is going to a song.

The SOCAN Polaris Song Prize has unveiled its 20-nominee long list. Like the Polaris Music Prize, which honours one Canadian album based solely on artistic merit, this one does the same but for an individual track. Similarly, the Song Prize will be voted on by the members of the Polaris jury without regard to musical genre, label affiliation or commercial popularity.

keep readingShow less
advertisement