From organizing fundraisers to advocating for vital causes, these five Members represent the generosity and spirit of the Ontario production community. Sari Miettinen, Michelle Berrigan, Andrew Munro, Randy Morgan, and Mary Anne Waterhouse share their stories, what motivates them to help, and why they feel so strongly about making the world a better place.
“I knew from walking by Roncesvalles United Church that the program served meals on Sundays, and in 2015, I found myself in the city during the Thanksgiving weekend. I had no dinner plans and decided to drop in and volunteer. It was heartwarming to help serve a full turkey dinner with all the trimmings to a room full of special guests. The rest is history!”
1st Assistant Accountant Michelle Berrigan
1st Assistant Accountant Michelle Berrigan
Charity: Kindred Kitchen
Michelle: Kindred Kitchen (formerly Dinner With Dignity) is a meal program in my neighbourhood, Roncesvalles Village, that provides a hot, sit-down meal in a safe and welcoming environment to anyone in need. It takes place on Sunday afternoons and is open to all. It is volunteer-driven and relies on food donations from organizations such as Second Harvest. It also operates a warm clothing bank during the winter months. I most often help in the kitchen doing dishes. I am known as the Cutlery Queen! Since 2017, I have also been fundraising for the program through various social events.
I knew from walking by Roncesvalles United Church that the program served meals on Sundays, and in 2015, I found myself in the city during the Thanksgiving weekend. I had no dinner plans and decided to drop in and volunteer. It was heartwarming to help serve a full turkey dinner with all the trimmings to a room full of special guests. The rest is history!
In terms of my fundraising efforts, it was easy to get fellow crew and cast members to donate to a worthy cause in exchange for tasty treats and great coffee. Our first “Coffee and Croissant” fundraiser was held in the Shadowhunters Season 3 Accounting Office in November 2017. We suggested a donation of $20 for all the croissants you could eat and all the coffee you could drink! We raised enough money to buy two hundred pairs of warm socks to hand out at the annual Holiday Meal.
We did a second coffee and croissant fundraiser on Designated Survivor Season 3 in 2018 and raised triple the money. By 2019, it had morphed into a fun-filled 80s dance party fundraiser in the RUC church basement. Many DGC Members and production-related vendors have supported us, and I am forever grateful to them all.
I feel very fortunate to live in a neighbourhood that has a strong sense of community. Volunteering so close to home has been very rewarding, and I have forged great friendships through the program. I also work in an industry that continues to give back to others. Together, we have made a difference in so many people’s lives!
Food insecurity is an ever-growing problem in our city and across the country. With the high cost of living, so many people in our communities are struggling to put nutritious meals on their tables. Kindred Kitchen is one of many meal programs that open their doors on a weekly basis to provide a home-cooked meal to those in need. Since many food banks and meal programs rely solely on volunteers and donations to operate, this is a meaningful way of contributing my time and raising money for this wonderful community.
Photos from Kindred Kitchen’s 80’s Dance Party Fundraiser.
Location Manager Sari Miettinen & Assistant Location Manager Marco Di Flaviano
Charity: Terry Fox Foundation
Sari: The Toronto Film & Television Team for Terry Fox began with Assistant Location Manager Marco Di Flaviano as the team captain. Marco has participated in the Terry Fox run since 1981, and we created the team in 2009. We met, and both work in the film industry. The idea was to gather some crew members and friends together to form a team and see if we could make a difference while having fun at the same time. In 2009, the team was born! As Terry Fox said, even if you have given $1, you are part of the Marathon of Hope. That hope is to live in a world without cancer.
I am sure we have all lost someone we know and love to cancer of some form or other, and it still keeps happening each day. I lost my aunt to pancreatic cancer, I lost my grandfather to lung cancer, and my best friend lost her mother to leukemia. That is the motivation to help support cancer research and find a cure for cancer – extend the life of loved ones who may have received a diagnosis!
Marco and I switch it up and take turns being Team Captain because we both work in Locations, and while on a show, it gets very busy with very little downtime, but we always manage to find a way to make it work. To date, our team has raised $180,700.80! We hope 2025 will encourage everyone to help us break the $200,000 mark, as it will be the 45th year of the Terry Fox Marathon of Hope.
I feel lucky to have been able to make a living in this industry for the past 25 years. While working, we are well taken care of compared to other lines of work, and I am grateful that I can give back.
From left: 2009 first team photo, 2017 Film & Television Team with Isadore Sharp (Founder of the Terry Fox Run) at Wilket Creek Park, 2014 Toronto Film & Television Team photo, 2019 Team photo, Marco Di Flaviano & Sari Miettinen in 2010 with Darryl Sittler.
Production Manager Andrew Munro
Charity: SickKids Foundation
Andrew: This amazing motorcycle ride supports SickKids Hospital in Toronto. This annual event is now in its 16th year, cumulatively raising more than a million dollars for equipment and research. In August 2024, a record 600+ riders and passengers raised $171,000 riding 140km through scenic central Ontario. I’m proud that my amazing sponsors have contributed over $14,000 over the four years I’ve been involved.
I used to participate in another great fundraiser, the Ride for Sight, which supports blindness research. Unfortunately, they had to greatly reduce the size of the event during Covid. That’s when I learned about the Ride for SickKids, which was a better fit for me as it potentially benefitted a wider range of people.
Besides the obvious desire to support a worthy cause and motivate others to do the same, the preparation and fundraising for this event are welcome distractions from what is typically a very hectic workload. I spent five years on the board of another very worthy charity, The Redwood Shelter for Women and Children Fleeing Abuse. As I moved into more Line Producing and Production Managing, the long hours demanded by work made it difficult to support the board properly. Instead, I became a monthly donor for the Shelter and sought out a single-event type fundraiser that was easier to fit within a busy work schedule.
Almost everyone knows someone who has needed SickKids Hospital at some point. My younger sister, as a child, required many ear operations over several years. It was a traumatic experience for her, something that even, as a child myself, I wished I could protect her from. I will always remember how far the SickKids staff, from doctors to custodians, went to make it less scary for her. Hospitals are never going to be a fun place, but I appreciate and support everything they do to make it even just a little less scary.
My wife Jennifer and I have raised three children, and we were very fortunate not to need SickKids. I ride for those who do. My kids are in their 20s now, but I will never forget that terribly vulnerable feeling when they were sick. It was always a comfort to know that a world-class hospital was just a short drive away.
SickKids Foundation Ride For SickKids
From left: Andrew Munro & SickKids ambassador Arianna, 2024 Ride4SickKids (Photo Credit Amelia D’Alessandro), Andrew Munro, 2023 Ride4SickKids (Photo Credit Amelia D’Alessandro), Andrew Munro and with Harley (Photo Credit Patrick Parent), SickKids ambassador Arianna, 2024 Ride4SickKids (Photo Credit MotoPhoto), 2024 Ride4SickiKds group (Photo Credit Through the Eyes of Belfast)
Location Manager Randy Morgan
Charity: Rock For Henry at the El Mocambo
Randy: One of my passions, outside of work, is singing, and I do this in a rock ‘n’ roll cover band called ‘Generator X.’ Another of my lifelong hobbies has been playing ice hockey – something I grew up doing in North Toronto and around Southern Ontario. As an adult, I have lived in Leslieville for the better part of the last two decades and have played in Men’s leagues since 1997.
This summer, Leslieville resident Henry Black, who is 15 years old and a student at Riverdale Collegiate Institute, had a life-changing accident on his bicycle that left him paralyzed from the chest down. He has spent time at SickKids Hospital and Holland Bloorview for inpatient rehab and has a long road ahead of him.
Henry is the son of one of my hockey mates, Gary Black. My neighbour in Leslieville is Adam Mernick, and his daughter Lucy is best friends with Melanie – Henry’s sister. Adam is a drummer in another cover band called ‘St Helen and the Eruptions.’ We saw an opportunity to do something to help, and we ran with it – all the way to the El Mocambo.
Another friend and DGC Ontario Member, Mike Bruce, joined the bill with his cover band ‘Replicant’ and on Saturday, Oct 19, 2024, we hosted a show called ‘Rock for Henry.’
We pre-sold the room out (250 tickets) and had almost 40 more pay the $20 cover at the door. We made almost $6000 that went directly to Henry.
The night raised almost $20,000, and we are talking about making it an annual event.
We had a video crew shoot the event, and we now await a full-length film of the night that Henry will be able to enjoy forever.
Rock For Henry at the El Mocambo on October 19, 2024. From left: guitarists Geoff Olsen and Dave Scott, Location Manager Randy Morgan and Location Manager Mike Bruce, Randy Morgan, 1st AD Joel Hay, Location Manager Chris Moulson.
Production Manager Mary Anne Waterhouse
Charity: Bloor West Food Bank
Mary Anne: In the spring of 2020, at the height of the pandemic, I was connected with a group of wonderful neighbours who, like me, were keen to do anything possible to make a difference to others during those challenging times. During one of our meetings about needs in the community, we learnt about the spike in food insecurity and the lack of access to a food bank in our area. That sparked a few of us into motion, and a few months later, with support from the Daily Bread Food Bank, the Bloor West Food Bank opened our doors – on August 7th, 2020. Since that time, we have grown from serving ten households to more than 350 households, or almost 1,000 individuals each week
It is those individual clients who make this cause so important to me. Each and every client is unique, with their own story or circumstance that has led them to need the support of a food bank. Some are seniors or disabled and are living on income assistance, which is insufficient. Others are working but can’t make ends meet with increasing food and housing costs. More and more, we are seeing families, sometimes just for a brief time while in transition, others infrequently but consistently, as extra costs create the need to reach out for help at times. One client mentioned their heating bill as a reason, and another spoke of having hours temporarily reduced at work.
As we are located in the Bloor West Village neighbourhood, we saw a dramatic increase in our client numbers in early 2022 when war broke out in Ukraine. There are so many reasons that people find themselves in need, and it is important to me that the Food Bank is there for those people. Food is one of the most basic needs and something that, in a country as prosperous as Canada, no one should ever want.
Back in 2020, I was part of the day-to-day operations of the food bank. As our Food Bank has grown and so many incredible volunteers have joined us, my role is now “Executive Director.” I tend to manage financial operations, fundraising, and other activities. We are now a registered charity with a team that works hard every week to support those facing food insecurity in our community. Some of our activities involve “food rescue” from wonderful local businesses who donate food nearing expiry and might otherwise end up in landfills. I am particularly excited to be able to move that food from something harmful from a sustainability lens to something helpful in addressing food insecurity. It is measures like this that our community needs more of.
I know how fortunate I am to be able to work in our industry, and I don’t talk about that privilege lightly. I am committed to making a positive difference for others who, for whatever reason, find themselves in need. I was taught to always “leave things a little bit better than how you found them,” and I want to do that in my life.
Volunteers at the Bloor West Food Bank
Thank you to Sari Miettinen, Michelle Berrigan, Andrew Munro, Randy Morgan, and Mary Anne Waterhouse for taking the time to share what motivates them to help make the world a better place!
