Friends of Shafiq

We are overjoyed with how much support we had for our latest fundraising event!! We decided to do a little fall cleaning of fancy wardrobes and hold a little garage style event during the Polish Festival.    Why during the festival you ask? Well as a group of five member and owner of Jewel Envy I knew there would be a lot of foot traffic on the street and decided instead of Jewel Envy holding our annual free workshop I would use the time and amazing foot traffic to pass along some very gently used clothing as well as share what we are doing to bring Shafiq's family to Canada.   In preparation for this my daughter has been hard at work making marbled art, drawings, paintings, and jewellery, all to sell during our event.   Not only did we pass along a lot of clothing we helped keep it out of landfills and passed it on to new homes.  I didn't know what to expect in terms of money from this event but we made $802 in total and I have to brag here and share my daughters art raised $1

Our next fundraiser will be taking place on the lot of Jewel Envy but not in the shop. It will be around back during the Polish Festival on Roncesvalles. The Polish Festival will take place on Saturday and Sunday September 16th and 17th. During this time gently worn clothes and other accessories will be sold garage style in the parking area behind the shop with all funds going towards this event. The Polish Festival is a huge draw for our neighborhood and we hope people will be very generous knowing what the fund will be used for! My daughter has also been hard at work for the past few years making drawings and paintings to sell and she plans to set up a table to sell some of her artwork for the fundraiser as well.   If we can get ourselves organized we may have a button making workshop ready for kids to do with us with all fees going to the fundraiser as well. Its going to be a packed weekend and we hope you will join us!        Gillian

Have you ever wanted to help a family in need start a new life in Canada? We bet the answer is yes and all of the goldsmiths at Jewel Envy feel the same! We have a rare and special opportunity to be part of a life-altering change for the family of one of Jewel Envy’s very own goldsmiths, Shafiq Sarwari, sponsoring their immigration to Canada to escape Taliban retribution in Afghanistan. HOW DID WE GET HERE? Shafiq was already an accomplished goldsmith and lapidarist with his own thriving business when he sought asylum in 2016 while on a North American trip to exhibit his work. Although it was difficult to leave his family, he knew that this was the opportunity they all needed to escape that horrible regime. He settled in Toronto and has been a great addition to Jewel Envy ever since, consistently proving himself as kind, caring, and hardworking. Shafiq’s family acted as guides and interpreters for the US armed forces during their time in Afghanistan and when the US pulle