A mother with no idea how she’ll find enough money for an expensive daycare by next week. A teenager unable to complete her homework without support from an after-school program. An elderly woman mourning the loss of the activities that gave her life meaning.

All came to a community meeting in North York on Thursday night to plead for help after Doorsteps Neighbourhood Services, a beloved local non-profit, closed suddenly earlier this month. Behind the speakers sat a half-circle of empty chairs, labelled with the names of 10 local politicians who didn’t attend.

“We don’t need them,” said Deloris Williamson Braham, whose nine-year-old son went to Doorsteps. “Right now we’re on our faces and not one of them came.”

About 100 people were at the meeting Thursday at the Domenico Diluca Community Centre near Jane St. and Sheppard Ave. W.

Doorsteps was founded in 1992 to serve the Daystrom, Chalkfarm and Falstaff neighbourhoods. The non-profit played a vital role in turning an area with a violent past into one with dynamic social programming, including care for kids of all ages and activities for seniors. Many of the people it assisted were recent immigrants or low-income families.

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