Aliyah Davida Elena Rotman lived 7 years, 9 months of a beautiful life. She filled people around her with love and joy, song and dance, creativity and wisdom, stories and Lego. She was constantly giving and checking in on others, tender and caring.
Aliyah had a deep belief in social justice, she was an environmentalist, and a feminist. She had started taking real, principled, and courageous action in each of these areas, and inspiring others around her to do the same. She had huge plans: to plant trees, to fight for equal rights and justice, to clean up our world.
She left this earth far too soon, and with unfinished business.
The purpose of this fund is to help realize the impact she wanted to have in the areas she valued so deeply. To carry on what she started.
We’re not yet sure what this will look like, but one idea is scholarships for girls to accelerate their activism. We know how big Aliyah’s heart was, how big her personality was, and how big her plans already were early in life. This will require substantial resources, so please give generously so that the fullness of her potential impact can be realized.
Aliyah’s uncle, aunt, and cousins have made the first contribution of $2,832, a dollar for each of the very full and beautiful days she lived.
In her own words through a morning announcement she made to her school community in October 2021:
We got one earth and that one earth is special. We all are very fortunate that we got a home to live in. Everyone got one life here, and that one life, we want to live it good.
Sometimes in movies they just get a big ship and load it up with everything from the earth. But we can’t do that. I think we can just take care of this problem. And we only got a little time to do it. We got about 10 years to do this and I want to get started now.
If you would like to make a gift via cheque, please make your cheque payable to Toronto Foundation, write "Aliyah Rotman Fund" in the memo line and mail it to:
Toronto Foundation
1603-33 Bloor Street East
Toronto, Ontario
M4W 3H1
This Fund’s granting purpose is subject to change at the request of the Donor Advisor. To enable the Donor Advisor to properly recognize donors for their contributions, Toronto Foundation will share your contact information and donation amount with the Donor Advisor unless you have checked the anonymous box on the donation form.