In a really sad story from the Toronto, Canada area – Ashley Kirilow has admitted she shaved her head, plucked her eyelashes and starved herself to appear as a chemotherapy patient at benefit concerts held for her.

The 23-year-old woman who faked having cancer, ran a bogus charity and scammed hundreds of people of at least $13,000, says she did it to get back at her parents for a miserable childhood.

“I took it as an opportunity to make my family feel bad for how I was treated,” she said.

Ashley Anne Kirilow said she is sorry for what she has done. Currently unemployed, she said she has spent the money but when she gets a job she will save enough to cover what she stole.

“I can’t possibly give it back to every single person, but I can give it to charity,” she said.

Jamie Counsell, who organized two benefit concerts for Kirilow in Newmarket earlier this year, said he doesn’t accept her apology. “She should be sorry, it doesn’t excuse her.”

Counsell, 17, started raising money for various cancer charities after his guitar teacher — local legend Red Shea — died of pancreatic cancer two years ago.

“For her to take advantage of this disease, but also insult the people who have gone through this, it’s disturbing,” he said.

Kirilow cried throughout Friday’s wide-ranging interview.

Her hands — tattooed with the words “WONT QUIT” and “LOVE LIFE” across her knuckles — shook as she smoked cigarettes and recounted how everything began when she told a few friends that a benign lump in her breast was actually cancer.

Her lies escalated to the point where she shaved her head, plucked her eyebrows and starved herself to appear at benefit events as a chemotherapy patient. In October she started Change for a Cure, a supposed charity that consisted of little more than a Facebook group.

Volunteers say $20,000 was given to Kirilow through Change for a Cure, but Kirilow said it was $4,000 at the most. The group is collecting testimonials from anyone who made a donation so they can provide detailed evidence to police. They say their count is already more than $5,000.

All of the money raised for Kirilow was handed to her in cash. There are no receipts.

Kirilow does not dispute the $9,000 raised for her at a benefit held at a Burlington pub last September, before she started Change for a Cure.

“It was nice to have people care about me,” she said about the event held at The Queen’s Head pub. “At the same time, I felt really horrible.”

Kirilow said she has been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. She showed a reporter two prescription pill bottles with her name printed on it: one was an antidepressant; the other an antipsychotic that is often used to treat bipolar disorder.

Kirilow said when she first started Change for a Cure she had intended to donate the money as promised, but then ran into money trouble. She declared bankruptcy in January after running up more than $30,000 in credit card and loan debts.  Just horrible, what a nasty way to steal money.

A local Realtor made good on a promise to climb Grouse Mountain for charity. Sebastian Albrecht climbed the Grouse Grind 14 times in one day, beating his personal best of 13 from last year. It’s the equivalent of climbing 12,000 meters straight up.

News1130 chatted with Albrecht after his amazing journey. So how was he feeling after hours of Mother Nature’s stair-master?

Albrecht: “Legs are okay actually, feeling a bit nauseous but other than that pretty good.”What was the hardest part about getting up 14 times?Albrecht: “Pretty much everything after number six.”

His trek began at 6:30 a.m. Monday and wrapped up shortly after 11 p.m. A torrential downpour also tried to slow him down, but he says a group of 50 school kids were on hand to cheer him on. Money raised for his event went towards the Royal LePage Shelter Foundation. Good job, another generous Canadian!

Tire Roundup Event for Charity at Standard Auto Wreckers – Do your part by bringing in your old tires and have them recycled for charity!

Standard Auto Wreckers is collecting used TIRES to raise money for The Sunshine Foundation of Canada.

In partnership with Ontario Automotive Recyclers Association (OARA) and Ontario Tire Stewardship (OTS), Standard Auto Wreckers will be collecting you used tires free of charge. All tire fees associated with each tire dropped off will be donated to The Sunshine Foundation of Canada and OARA will match the donation made from all tires collected.

There will be a trailer parked at the Standard Auto Wreckers location for the Tire Collection event.

What: Community Tire Collection Event for charity at Standard Auto Wreckers

When: Friday June 25, 2010 and Saturday June 26, 2010

Where: 1216 Sewells Ave. Toronto, Ontario

Great, uplifting article by Jen Gerson at the Calgary Herald

Clad in Spandex, gloves and thin metallic thermal blankets, more than 8,600 runners hit city streets for the 46th annual Scotiabank Calgary Marathon. The contestants spanned the gamut, from elite marathon hounds to young families.

Renata Martin, 40, an auditor from Calgary, was one of the hundreds of runners to queue for free coffee after completing the 10-kilometre run. She said she trained over the winter for Sunday’s race.

“The winter is the best time to run. You can layer to become more comfortable,” she said. “When it gets warmer, layering up gets harder.” The temperature, which hovered above freezing, may have proven a bit uncomfortable for the sedentary. But for Martin, conditions were perfect.

“If it were warmer, I might not have made it out. I might have walked,” she said. This is the first year marathon organizers launched the Scotiabank Group Charity Challenge, which raised more than a quarter of a million dollars “and counting,” according to Michelle Cobb, a spokeswoman for the bank.

“We are just thrilled with the $250,000. It’s the inaugural year for the charity challenge so we couldn’t be happier,” she said. The amount was well over the target of $150,000. The challenge gave runners the opportunity to gain pledges for one of 19 charities, including Team Diabetes Canada and the Alberta Cancer Foundation.

Team Diabetes was the top fundraiser, collecting more than $78,000. The marathon attracted several elite runners, including Lisa Harvey, a Calgarian and 1992 Olympian; Kip Kangogo, a Kenyan native who lives in Lethbridge; and Jason Loutitt of Trail, B.C., who recently won the Vancouver Marathon.

However, the Calgary Marathon is increasingly becoming a family affair as well. Scott Fisk, 42, a business analyst, completed a five-km portion of the marathon with his eight-year-old daughter, McKenna. “I wanted to do it because I thought I could have a lot of fun and get some exercise,” she said. Fisk said the race was a great opportunity to bond with his daughter.

“We ran for the first kilometre, then we got tuckered out a bit, didn’t we?” he said. “Then we walked and ran for the rest, but ran across the finish line. That was exciting.” Glen Scott, 40, an engineer, completed the 42-km circuit in just under two and a half hours in a specially designed wheelchair for runners.

“It wasn’t bad considering I had a flat tire for half of the race,” he said. “It was a little slower than last year.” He’s been participating in the marathon for the past five years. “I used to do the marathon as a runner. Now I race in the chair.”

Amazing accomplishment and great example of never giving up.

One of our favourite Canadians is helping yet another charity in her hometown.  PETA spokeswoman Pamela Anderson has taken a walk on the wild side – to help raise money for charity.  The former Baywatch star participated in a three-mile fundraising walk through her hometown of Malibu.

The walk benefited the California Wildlife Centre and Anderson, who is currently participating on the reality TV show Dancing With The Stars, was also given the top honour of the day.  She released back into the wild a pelican that had been rehabilitated by the Centre.  Now three miles is not exactly a marathon but Pam is always doing great things for charity so we salute her!

I was lucky enough to get a snap-shot of a really cool cheque presentation ceremony today. $13k in cash will help provide 26,000 meals to hungry people across Canada!

From left to right: David Gold – Owner of Standard Auto Wreckers, Paul Coon – VP Green Vehicle Disposal, Jay Granofsky – Search Marketing Manager Charity Car Canada and Kayley Collum – Program Co-ordintor and Heather Nelson – Manager of Development both from Food Banks Canada

Lailani Mendoza wrote a nice article about our website!

Did you know that you can dispose of your vehicle for free and help a charity of your choice?

A company called Charity Car makes this possible. By calling their 1-800 number or filling out an online form, you can arrange to have that old clunker sitting in the backyard towed for free. Charity Car will write a cheque equal to the value of your end-of-life vehicle and send it to your chosen charity.

“It was a surprise,” said Stephanie Klaus, B.C. SPCA’s manager of corporate relations, when they were told that a Kamloops lady had donated a 1984 Toyota Camry to support the organization. SPCA’s recent partnership with Charity Car makes them one of Charity Car’s 70 Canadian partners.

How it works
When you contact Charity Car, you’ll be connected with a local affiliate who’ll arrange a time of pick up for your vehicle. Your car will be towed to an authorized treatment facility that ensures your vehicle is disposed of in an environmentally friendly manner.

Company vice president Paul Coon explains the process. “The things that’ll sell off of the car will get dismantled and inventoried into the warehouse. The rest of the car will be decontaminated, crushed and be processed for scrap steel.”

“We only deal with licensed auto recyclers. We want the vehicles to go to licensed auto dismantlers who have all the proper tools to process the vehicles,” he said.

Vehicles destined for the junkyard may contain fluids or chemicals that can seep into the ground or water reservoir and pollute the environment if not disposed properly.

Fluids such as antifreeze, gas and oil and other hazardous materials such as batteries and mercury switches are removed from the vehicle and either reused or discarded properly.

The operation was founded by David Gold, co-owner of Standard Auto Wreckers in Ontario. Gold comes from a family of auto wrecking business veterans and is the first Canadian recipient of the Most Influential Auto Recycler of 2009 award for setting a positive example in the auto wrecking industry.

Championing charities and the environment
The charity receives 100 per cent of the car’s value, usually between $80 and $100 per car. After the donation is received, the charity writes up a tax receipt for charitable giving and sends it back to the individual donor.

“I think it’s amazing. It gives people the option to support, in a significant way, a non-profit organization by donating things that they wouldn’t necessarily think to donate,” said Klaus. “A lot of people have used cars out there. It just gives them the opportunity for recycling first of all and then supporting a charity. It’s a very cool and innovative donation program.”

In Toronto where it’s based, Charity Car has helped support charities big and small.

“We rely solely on donations from corporations and individuals to ensure we have the funds to grant wishes for children with life-threatening illnesses,” said Linda Marco, director of the Children’s Wish Foundation. “The support from Charity Car helps us fulfill our mandate.”

Ashleigh Saith of Interval House, an organization that supports victims of abuse, said it takes little work on their part and raises awareness of their organization’s work in the community.

“Not only did they help us raise over $2,500 last year, their program presents a creative way for individuals to support Interval House,” said Saith.

“Auto recyclers pick up and buy cars every single day. That’s what we do for a living. All that we’re really doing is transferring the funds,” explained Coon. “I’m gonna either pay you $100 to $200 for your wrecked car, or I can send that to a charity.” It’s a win-win-win situation with the charity getting the most benefit, he added.

The next time you need to dispose a vehicle, consider donating it to charity instead. Visit www.charitycar.ca or phone 1-877-363-6354.

Dear Colin:

This letter is to reiterate our support of 10,000 Trees for the Rouge.

As you know, we here at Standard Auto Wreckers are very proud of our environmentally sound processes – they are fundamental to our philosophy of being responsible business operators within the Rouge Park. After we had a chance to meet with you and the 10,000 Trees executive we got a sense that our stewardship goals are aligned with yours. I personally have volunteered, with my children, at some of the group’s plantings, and find them to be well-organized events.

For these reasons Standard Auto Wreckers felt quite confident in directing the donation of $10,000 made by OARA to your group. We believe 10,000 Trees for the Rouge is doing important habit restoration work in our community, and we feel our donation will make a real difference to the group. Of course, 10,000 Trees for the Rouge remains as one of the selected charities listed in our “Charity Car Program.”

Wishing you success in the upcoming year,

David Gold – Co-Owner, Standard Auto Wreckers

Toronto, ON (CharityCar) March 5, 2010 — CharityCar (www.CharityCar.us and www.CharityCar.ca), green vehicle disposal (www.greenvehicledisposal.com) and charity car donation company, today announced that its total donations processed for 2009 exceeds $91,000 USD.  Over the course of the year, 50% of customers traded their vehicles in for cash while the other 50% donated the money to charity. This trend is expected to continue in 2010.

CharityCar would like to thank its many generous donors across North America who, despite the economic downturn, contributed to its success; more importantly, the success of its supported charities and the betterment of the environment.

David Gold from Standard Auto Wreckers (www.standardautowreckers.com) and the founder of the program said: “We originally started this program to give back to our local community in Toronto, Ontario and when friends in the business heard about what we were doing they all wanted to join in. Now, three years later, we have over 150 partner charities and more than 70 member recyclers in both Canada and the USA participating! It really is heartwarming to see.”

About CharityCar
CharityCar (CharityCar.us and CharityCar.ca) accepts the donation of old vehicles on behalf of charities and non-profit organizations across North America. CharityCar utilizes its partner Green Vehicle Disposal’s eco-friendly recycling technology, offers ‘free pickup’, does not take any fees for processing or handling charity vehicles and donates 100% of the recyclers value to the customers’ chosen charity in the United States or Canada. CharityCar’s purpose is to provide its customers with an eco-friendly solution for the disposal of old vehicles. All vehicles donated through CharityCar are disposed of in an eco-friendly manner which meets and exceed all recycling rules. For more information, visit: www.CharityCar.us or www.CharityCar.ca.

They are proud to practice environmentally sound processes when dismantling and recycling our vehicles. This is achieved by properly draining all hazardous fluids from the vehicle thereby not having them drain into the ground. They remove Mercury switches and other dangerous substances from the vehicles and dispose of them in a safe way in accordance with local laws.

The Good Samaritan laws protect from liability those who donate and distribute food in good faith.  In Ontario it reads as follows:

Liability of donor

1. (1) A person who donates food or who distributes donated food to another person is not liable for damages resulting from injuries or death caused by the consumption of the food unless,

(a) the food was adulterated, rotten or otherwise unfit for human consumption; and

(b) in donating or distributing the food, the person intended to injure or to cause the death of the recipient of the food or acted with reckless disregard for the safety of others.

Non-application

2. This Act does not apply to a person who distributes donated food for profit.

Good Samaritan Doctrine: is a legal principle that prevents a rescuer who has voluntarily helped a victim in distress from being successfully sued for ‘wrongdoing.’ Its purpose is to keep people from being so reluctant to help a stranger in need for fear of legal repercussions that they do not offer aid.