HoHoTO, the holiday charity party that Toronto’s Twitter scene built is back! Back in 2008, a group of Toronto-based friends in the tech, social media, and marketing industries started chatting over Twitter about doing something for the city’s hungry for the holidays (a refreshing change from some attitudes in Silicon Valley). Conversation turned to action, and in a matter of days, The Mod Club was booked, sponsors were lined up, the event was announced, and HoHoTO was born! The party was well-attended, turned out to be a lot of fun, and more importantly, it raised tens of thousands of dollars to help feed less fortunate people in Toronto. You’d think the event was months in the planning, but it wasn’t! (I was at that very first one, and wrote about it here.)
There’s food aplenty to go around in Toronto, but the chasm between the haves and have-nots — like in many other places around the word — is widening. The median monthly income is $691, Toronto food banks are seeing a million visits a year, food bank use in Canada has climbed 21% since HoHoTO’s inception, and 30% of the people who rely on Toronto’s food banks are children. HoHoTO are helping to make a dent in that situation, having raised nearly $300,000 for the Daily Bread Food Bank and sent nearly 4 tons of food to Toronto’s hungry.
HoHoTO returns Thursday, December 19th, from 7:00 p.m. until late, it’s taking place at The Mod Club (722 College Street, at Craword, three blocks east of Ossington), and tickets are on sale online right now. They’re $45 for regular admission, or $150 for the VIP admission package, which gets you drinks and appetizers from 7 to 9 p.m..
Go and support a good cause and have a good time — go to HoHoTO!