May 13, 2020
Dear Members of the University of Toronto Faculty Club
Since the Faculty Club took the difficult but necessary decision to close its doors on Monday, March 16th in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, you will have received messages from the management team telling you about the wonderful virtual program that they are organizing to keep the Club active. Speaker sessions, whisky tastings, recipe ideas from the Club’s Chef Harold, and suggestions for Mother’s Day can all be found on the Club’s website at https://www.facultyclub.utoronto.ca/Club_Events.
In this message, the Club’s Board of Directors would like to provide some brief context for the challenges confronting the Club. In future messages we will update you on where the Board sees the Club going insofar as it is possible to plan at present, including trying to answer the allimportant question: when might the Club be able to open?
Obviously, the last few weeks have been incredibly difficult for the staff, and your Board has been doing its best to support our General Manager, Leanne Pepper, as she works to keep the operation going. An application has been submitted to the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy Program (CEWS) to maintain staff wage continuity, a critical priority for us. The closure left the Club with a considerable amount of food on its hands. We are delighted to be able to report that this was not wasted: 250 meals worth of produce was donated to Unified We Grow with FoodRescue.ca (https://twitter.com/TOFacultyClub/status/1247556821092642818/photo/1). Meanwhile, the art collection that the Club treasures has been moved to secure storage while the building remains closed.
Until the Club is able to re-open, the volunteer Board executive committee has been meeting regularly (remotely, of course) to plan our responses to the changing COVID-19 crisis, to support our dedicated staff, and to develop strategies for the Board’s approval aimed at keeping the Club viable. We are incredibly grateful to the whole team – staff and volunteer Board members – for their dedication to this goal.
We shall continue to keep you informed about the strategies that the Board is developing to ensure the Club’s future during these incredibly difficult times. In the meantime, please keep well, and we look forward to seeing you as soon as it is safe to do so.
Sincerely,
Leslie Shade
President
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