High Chai Brunch: A Benefit for Shake Up The Establishment (SUTE)

About the Event
This October, Shake Up The Establishment (SUTE) invites you to our Benefit Brunch— a fully-catered, family-friendly fundraiser event that brings together families, business leaders, healthcare practitioners, philanthropists, and community members who believe that every child deserves to grow up in a healthy environment and every community deserves a meaningful voice in shaping its future. Held in the weeks leading up to Diwali, a season that celebrates generosity, hope, and giving back, guests will gather over chai, South Asian-inspired cuisine, live music, cultural performances, and interactive experiences that celebrate the richness of our communities while supporting meaningful social change.
You can expect:

• A keynote talk by renowned activist-scholar, and Executive Director of Shake Up The Establishment, Manvi Bhalla, who has been recognized as one of Canada's Top 30 under 30 Sustainability Leaders, Top 25 under 25 Environmentalists and Eco-Hero of the Year
• South Asian fusion brunch food and beverages, catered by Moksha Catering
• South-Asian cultural activities, including henna and live music
• A silent auction
• Gift bags with freebies

And more fun surprises!
All of the proceeds raised from ticket sales are invested into our nonprofit work. Purchase your tickets today!
Why this work matters
The environments in which we live, work, learn, and play shape our health throughout our lives. Air pollution contributes to asthma, cardiovascular disease, and premature death. Extreme heat is increasing emergency department visits, particularly among young children, older adults, and people without access to adequate cooling. Poor housing quality contributes to respiratory illness and poor mental health, while limited access to parks, nature, and active transportation affects physical activity, social connection, and child development. As climate change accelerates, these pressures are becoming more frequent, more severe, and increasingly costly for families, healthcare systems, and governments.
These impacts are not experienced equally. Many racialized, immigrant, Indigenous, and lower-income communities continue to experience disproportionate environmental burdens while also facing greater barriers to participating in the public decisions that affect their health and wellbeing.
We want every child to grow up breathing clean air, drinking safe water, enjoying nature close to home, and living in communities that are resilient to climate change. We want families to have a meaningful voice in the public decisions that shape their neighbourhoods, and young people to develop the knowledge, skills, and confidence to become the civic leaders, researchers, and changemakers of tomorrow. That is the future we are working to build.
About Us
Shake Up The Establishment is a registered national nonprofit organization advancing environmental and climate justice through community-based research, civic engagement, public education, creative campaigns, and non-partisan policy advocacy. We work alongside communities to understand the environmental issues affecting their daily lives, translate those experiences into evidence, and work with decision-makers to improve public policy. By bridging the gap between community priorities and public policy, we help ensure that the voices of those most affected by environmental challenges help shape the decisions that affect their lives. Over the past five years, we have reached more than 650,000 people, created 120+ paid employment opportunities for young adults, developed over 150 free educational resources, supported more than 250 community members to participate in government consultations, and submitted more than 15 formal policy recommendations to the federal and provincial governments across Canada.