Chairman’s Challenge continues in 2023, with growing golf tournament fundraising on tap this year .

As the pandemic hit and pushed AIA High Fives for Kids Foundation’s perennial fundraising events to the sidelines, Chairman Ray Proulx launched the Chairman’s Challenge to help fill the gaps.

It has since become a solid source of fundraising as well as a good source for building awareness of the foundation.

For 2022, the AIA High Fives for Kids Chairman’s Challenge raised more than $30,000 for youth oriented programs across Canada.

“In 2022 we made some donations to the Y W C A in Calgary. We also supported the Kerr Street Mission in Toronto. We also supported the Junior Achievement of Northern Alberta which is a fundraiser in conjunction with Fountain Tire. And we’re also very, and, and in which we basically donated over $26,000 for these charities alone.

“As to other support mechanisms that we participate in we have our scholarship program in which we recognize four students from Georgian College, in which they received some scholarships from High Fives. And then we have our Arthur Paulen Scholarship Program, in which, again we recognized four students in which it support, we supported them financially again, to achieve their goals and be our future leaders in Canada.”

All these initiatives are very consistent with the mandate of helping lend a hand to youth oriented causes and individuals across the country.

With the launched of the 2022 Chairman’s Challenge one of the areas that the foundation’s board felt deserved some special attention, was the situation that a lot of Ukrainian refugees and kids coming to Canada found themselves in as a result of the conflict there.

We have a very significant Ukrainian community in Canada and you know, the foundation’s board felt that it made a lot of sense to do what we could to help out.

It turned out to be a bit more difficult than initially thought to find organizations that met the foundation’s mandate of serving youth oriented programs in Canada, but earlier this year two organizations were selected:

In Manitoba the Newcomer Employment Education & Development Services (N.E.E.D.S.) Inc. organization that provides a variety of youth oriented services including recreational, and educational, and psychological services for youth.

In Ontario the Ottawa Ukrainian Canadian Social Services organization has a Ukrainian response activities, and including offerings like summer camps and other support services focused on youth.

“We did make a commitment to donate $2,500 to the Manitoba charity and also another $2,500 to the Ukrainian charity in Ottawa, Ontario,” says Proulx. “So we’re very proud of that. We had made that commitment so we have gone forward with that, and hopefully it’s going to help these families and their children seek a little better life, if you will, in Canada. So we’re pretty proud of that accomplishment.”

“We’re very, very grateful to the support we have received, but there’s still a lot of work ahead of us to be done in the future.”

Looking ahead, the Chairman’s Challenge is back for 2023, with fundraising being further bolstered by renewed and expanded commitment from industry golf tournaments that are expected to build fundraising this coming year.

“So in 2023, we do have a few golf tournaments coming back. And certainly that is a critical piece of generating some revenues for our foundation. So we’re very confident that we will be able to exceed the goals that we accomplished in 2022. And again, these monies will be spent to continue to help children’s charities across Canada.

But, Proulx reminds members of the industry, there’s no need to wait for an event to make a donation.

“Anybody can go into our website and make these donations. We’ve had significant support from different members, and we could not accomplish this without some sort of a focus over and above the way we were generating revenues in the past. So hats off to the AIA Canada members who have participated, who have supported us.

“It is a reflection of our commitment as an industry of what we’re trying to do and create a difference for these children’s charities.”

Visit AIAHighFivesforKids.ca to learn more and to donate.

---

High Fives for Kids Foundation Giving At A Glance

The AIA High Fives for Kids Foundation donated more than $26,000 as part of the 2022 Chairman’s Challenge:

• YWCA – Edmonton
• The Children’s Breakfast Clubs (Ontario)
• Child and Family Services of Western Manitoba, the
• YWCA of Calgary, the
• Kerr Street Community Services (Oakville, Ontario) and the
• Junior Achievement of Northern Alberta.  

In addition, contributions to focus specifically on helping Ukrainian youth in Canada as a result of the conflict are going to:

Newcomer Employment Education & Development Services (N.E.E.D.S.) Inc. in Winnipeg, Man. that provides a variety of youth-oriented services including recreational, and educational, and psychological services for youth.

In Ontario the Ottawa Ukrainian Canadian Social Services organization has Ukrainian response activities, and including offerings like summer camps and other support services focused on youth.

Through its educational scholarship program, it contributed more than $15,000 to students attending Canadian post-secondary institutions.