The 2012 Mayor’s Luncheon will take place on January 25, 2012 from 11:30 am-2:30 pm at the Venetian Banquet and Hospitality Centre. Tickets are $50 for Chamber members and $75 for non-members; tables of 10 are available.

The City of Vaughan is holding a their second annual toy drive in support of the CP24 CHUM Christmas Wish; this important program distributed over 74,000 toys to needy children last year. Those who wish to donate are asked to drop off a new, unwrapped toy for children between the ages of newborn and 18 at various community centres, libraries, fire stations and Vaughan City Hall. City Hall will be accepting toys until noon on December 14 while the other places will be accepting them until December 12.

On November 17, several people showed up for the first ever Vaughan Tweet-Up. The event which was arranged by The Citizen and Vaughan Mompreneurs founder Patricia Curto was held at Alice Fazooli’s Restaurant.

November has been declared as Diabetes Awareness Month worldwide to coincide with World Diabetes Day on November 14. Over one million Canadians are currently living with diabetes and over 5,000 die from the disease annually. Canada is also an important participant in the search for a cure for diabetes; Banting and Best created the first known treatment for the disease which has saved many lives.

The travelling art exhibit Jack Chambers: the Light from Darkness, Silver Paintings and Film Work is now showing at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection in Vaughan until January 15, 2012. The exhibit about the Canadian artist features 10 of his paintings and four of his films, all created between 1966 and 1967.

It is often hard for those in the creative industries to handle the business side of art; some even feel that if you are a creative person that you cannot handle the money side of your business. In order to help artists get a grip on business matters, Andrew Patricio recently hosted a seminar at the York Small Business Centre in Vaughan.

September 24 was a global day of action for encouraging world governments to move away from their reliance on “fossil fuels and to celebrate sustainable energy.” Ontario celebrated this event with the first Green Energy Field Day; several communities took place in this province-wide celebration including Markham, Toronto and Vaughan. Ontario companies who are already innovators in the green energy market threw open their doors to the public including Sungrow, the Windfall Ecology Centre and the Kortright Centre. In addition, several individuals and organizations held their own Green Energy Field Day events. A rally was also held at Queen’s Park to let Ontario politicians know how important sustainable energy is.

Design City 2011 will take place on November 10-12 at the International Centre in Mississauga. It will be part of Graphic Canada 2011. Admission is $20 in advance and $40 at the door. This event is subtitled “Canada’s Expo for Graphic Designers” and is expected to draw over 1200 designers and buyers. Those in the graphic design industry and related business in nearby Vaughan will be looking forward to having such an event in their backyard; among those related businesses that may benefit from attending are printing services and packaging firms.