All posts by Danielle Donovan

September 23, 2017 – Event Recap

We were absolutely blessed to have SoftRock 97.7 partner with us for this event! They helped to promote our giving circle to their audience and we were fortunate to have Christina Rowsell with us at the event and you can hear her on the radio daily from 10 – 2pm! So, be sure to tune your radio to 97.7 and follow them on social media.

We had so much fun at this event! Kyle Shewfelt Gymnastics Centre was such a great venue, it was hard to keep the kids sitting still as once their feet hit the mats they just wanted to be moving. Kyle and his team brought a ton of energy to the evening and we started by playing some games to burn off that energy. Kyle then shared his Olympic Gold Medal (I think the adults in the room were more in awe than the kids) with everyone and told a bit about his experience playing a sport at such a high level. We were all inspired to continue to find the things we love and do them well!

At the event we presented The Happy Birthday Project with a cheque for $710!! Allyson Palaschuk was there to accept the cheque and thank everyone for this amazing donation. She also shared the impact our donation has on their organization. Allyson explained that our donation would buy a party pack for everyone in attendance, which is big deal! The $10 each of the kid members gave helps many more children feel special on their birthday. There is a huge demand for this service in our city so if you would like to get further involved The Happy Birthday Project is also looking for Delivery Drivers. You would pick up donations and deliver the party packs to agencies around the city and in surrounding areas.

The following charities were nominated before the event:

KidSport ~ NorthernStar Mothers Milk Bank ~ JoySocks ~ Fur-ever Homes ~ Between Friends ~ Sheldon Kennedy Child Advocacy Centre

*Remember that if your charity didn’t win the vote you are still able to nominate them again at the next meeting. And more than one child can nominate the same charity. (that just means more chances for that charity to be chosen)

The three chosen charities for the evening were:

  1. Sheldon Kennedy Child Advocacy Centre – Lauryn & Brielle Lines & Rory Quigley
    These three girls were very well prepared and did such a great job speaking together. They shared that the Centre helps kids who have been abused by providing all the necessary services in one place so the child only has to tell their story once! The support is there for the child and their family to be sure everyone heals. There is on average 123 children accessing the centre every month. The money raised would go to things like basic baby needs, movie passes, zoo passes, Calaway Park passes and other fun activities. It would also help provide money for camps, household items, groceries and clothing.
  2. KidSport – Tristan Donovan
    Tristan decided to start his speech by sharing a baseball game story to show why he loves sports so much. Sports allows him to feel joy and like he can accomplish anything. Tristan wants all kids to feel that joy and for all kids to be able to participate in sports if they want to. Some kids have to sit on the sidelines because they can’t afford to play and don’t have the required equipment. Luckily there is a charity that also feels all kids should be able to play. The money we collect today would help kids in Calgary play the sports they love.
  3. Joy Socks – Emma Espetveidt
    Emma was inspired at our last event by Brooklyn who spoke about JoySocks, so Emma went home and asked everyone invited to her birthday party to bring a pair of fun, colourful pair of socks with them so she could donate them to JoySocks. Emma came to the 100 Kids event with her bagful of socks and gave a very heartwarming speech about her new love of the charity JoySocks! After the event, Emma actually became a junior ambassador for this charity!!

While the kids cast their votes it was time to reward some of the members in attendance with door prizes for (3) Menchies cards, (2) Laser City Passes as well as a $50 Boston Pizza card!! We are so GRATEFUL to all our member parents for their generous donations, THANK YOU!

The votes were tallied and the money was counted, our winner of the group donation in the amount of $500 (however the pot grew that very night to over $600) was The Sheldon Kennedy Child Advocacy Centre! Once the Centre heard of the amazing presentation give and the kids’ generosity two of their Board Members stepped up and each of them will match the dollars we raise, which means our donation will be TRIPLED!!! If you would like to contribute and make this donation GROW we would love your support!

You can:
E-transfer money to my email: danielle.donovan@me.com or
Drop-off your donation at: 135 Valley Brook Crt NW Calgary, AB T3B 5S3

Don’t forget to catch us on Social Media….you can find us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram!

Our next event will be held on Wednesday, December 6 at the Valley Ridge Golf Course. Registration will be from 6:00- 6:30pm and Event from 6:30 – 7:30pm. The Restaurant, Mulligans, at the VR Golf Course will have a special running that evening if you would like to grab some dinner their beforehand! The special is ……. and the food there is amazing!

Thank you for believing in what we are doing! Please share the word, the more the merrier and the greater the local impact made! 100 Kids Who Care Calgary

100 Kids Who Care Calgary

March 2, 2017 – Event Recap

This was our first event for 2017 and we were blessed to have Silver Springs Golf & Country Club to host our event. They were kind enough to provide a beverage station for all ages including water, pop, coffee and tea and it was enjoyed by all.

We had a special guest this evening from the Ronald McDonald House, Morgan Scott, who thanked the kids for their generous donation from our last event. She explained to the kids how it truly is a house just like theirs but on a bigger scale so that the families that stay there feel like they are at home. Our donation was a huge help in covering the costs to run the house so that the families that stay there only have to pay approx $12/night compared to $180+/night. We opened it up to questions and had one that sure made us all giggle. A young boy asked her if she knew how dirt bikes were made? Morgan took it in stride and gave him an answer he was happy with even though it wouldn’t be considered her specialty! LOL

The following charities were nominated before the event:

Joy SocksTom Baker Cancer CentreFur-ever HomesOpening Gaits Therapeutic Horse RidingCalgary Flames FoundationAlberta Children’s Hospital FoundationCalgary Food Bank

*Remember that if your charity didn’t win the vote you are still able to nominate them again at the next meeting. And more than one child can nominate the same charity. (that just means more chances for that charity to be chosen)

The three chosen charities for the evening were:

1. Calgary Flames Foundation – Jacob Bunes

Jacob did a great job explaining that the Flames Foundation is committed to supporting education, health and wellness, and amateur and grassroots sports. They have a lot of initiatives but Jacob decided to focus on some of the smaller ones like their reading programs that encourage and motivate kids to read as well as the Even Strength program that helps kids and families who can’t afford the cost of hockey registration. This helps all kids get to play the sports they love.

2. Fur-ever Homes – Hadley & Emerson Sylvestre

Hadley & Emerson are sisters and Emerson has actually spoke about this charity before at one of our previous events. Their mom volunteers for the charity and they have also been a foster home for a few of the dogs. Fur-ever Homes believes that every dog deserves a second chance and they rescue local dogs as well as those from Mexico and LA.

We actually only had 2 charities initially as sickness and last minute commitments led to the other nominating members not being able to attend. So we decided to do something we’ve never done before and opened it up to all that were at the event and asked if anyone would be willing to come up and speak about their favourite charity. There was a bit of hesitation by all but then one very courageous 7 year old boy, Jack, decided he would get up and speak. We were so proud of Jack as it was his very first event as a brand new member!

3. Made by Momma – Jack Palaschuk

Jack and his family are some of the helping hands of this organization that helps provide essentials and support to mothers with young children who are facing tough times. It is all volunteer run, last year 735 families were helped and the need continues to grow. Made by Momma takes stress away from moms during tough times. They provide baby essentials (diapers, wipes, formula, clothes, cribs, carseats etc.) as well as meals and just general help around the house to those families that need it.

The kid members casted their votes and while the votes were being counted we did the door prize draws. The time around we had 3 – $15 Indigo Gift Cards. We love being able to reward some of the members that attend the events and they all thoroughly enjoy winning.

This was our closet vote to date where each charity was only separated by one vote!!! The winner of the group donation was Calgary Flames Foundation.

We were able to collect a $300 donation at the actual event but we are really hoping that our registered members will help us to GROW this donation. We would love for your to show your support by e-transfering money to the email danielle.donovan@me.com or mailing your donation to 182 Crestmont Dr SW Calgary, AB T3B 0A1 or arranging a time with me to collect your donation.

We are hoping to have our next event in May….I am just in the process of trying to find a venue that will donate their space. If any of you have connections or thoughts on where we can host an event we would gladly accept the recommendations as we don’t want to wear out our welcome anywhere 🙂

Please be sure to “like” our Facebook Page as we update events on there as well as share photos from the event.

Thank you for believing in what we are doing!

100 Kids Who Care Calgary

December 7, 2016 Event Recap

Our final event for 2016 was held back at the Valley Ridge Golf Course. We were so fortunate to have them host our first and last event of 2016. A special guest, Farley the Fox, the mascot of the Calgary Hitmen joined us for the event. He received a lot of love from our kid members and stayed for the whole event.

We were so blessed to have Tanya Koshowski from Brown Bagging for Calgary’s Kids join us. Tanya’s message was very personalized as she interacted with the kids, asking them questions and helping them to understand what an impact they made on hungry kids in Calgary. Every $1 raised actually provides 1 lunch for a hungry kid in our city, so 100 Kids Who Care Calgary was able to feed 1,225 kids, WOW! Thank you so much to Tanya for coming to share with us!

The following charities were nominated before the event:

Calgary Flames Foundation ~ Fur-ever Homes ~ Children’s Wish Foundation ~ The Magic of Christmas ~ Highbanks Society ~ Ronald McDonald House ~ Opening Gaits Therapeutic Horse Riding ~ Joy Socks ~ NorthernStar Mothers Milk Bank

**Remember that if your charity didn’t win the vote you are still able to nominate them again at the next meeting. And more than one child can nominate the same charity. (that just means more chances for that charity to be chosen)

The three chosen charities for the evening were:

  1. Children’s Wish Foundation – Leah & Jemma Barnard spoke. Leah is 9 years old and Jemma is 8 years old. Thank you for being so brave to come up and share with us, its not easy to be called on first, especially when it was your very first meeting! Children’s Wish Foundation has been making wishes happen for 30 years for children between the ages of 3-17 that have been diagnosed with a life-threatening illness. They have never had to say “no” to a wish and the wishes range from family vacations to meeting princesses, favourite musicians and super-heros!
  2. Ronald McDonald House – Zach Donovan spoke. Zach is 9 years old and after attending all previous meetings he got up the courage to nominate a charity and speak. Ronald McDonald House helps provide a home to out of town families that have a sick child being cared for by the Alberta Children’s Hospital. The average stay for a family is 50 nights and one family had to stay 621 nights.
  3. Opening Gaits Therapeutic Horse Riding – Sloane & Felix Powers spoke. Sloane is 9 years old and Felix is & years old. It was great to see Sloane speak and have her brother up there with her for support. That is what this group of kids is all about. Opening Gaits’ mission is to provide children and adults with disabilities the opportunity to experience all the physical, social, and emotional benefits of riding on and spending time with a horse. This charity and their horses make a huge impact in the lives of their riders from providing them confidence and happiness to helping them gain physical strength.

After the three speakers were done the kid members took out their voting ballots to make their decision. While we tallied up the votes we did a draw for door prizes for the kids…this time we had cineplex gift cards and a special North Pole Ninja book with missions.

The winner of the group donation was Ronald McDonald House and we were able to give them $570, but it didn’t stop there! When we went to give the donation we were told that Shaw Communications actually matches all youth donations to the Ronald McDonald House!! So our impact ended up being $1140!!! We love special surprises like that!

100 Kids Who Care Calgary has made a HUGE impact to our community in 2016. We were actually able to give $4,315 to 4 different local charities. Thank you for believing in what we are doing and for making our first year an amazing success. Our plan is to continue to grow our impact in 2017!

THANK YOU to our official sponsors…Calgary’s Child Magazine as well as Redline Real Estate Group and MortgageLine. These sponsorships are the key to our success!

Mark your calendars for our next event Thursday, March 2 at Silver Springs Golf & Country Club, we hope to see you all there!

October 12 Meeting Recap

Our 3rd event was held at Elbow Springs Golf Club and it was another beautiful venue! We kicked off the evening with some music and dancing during registration. Thanks Jesse Hare from Truline Productions, the kids loved grooving to the music! We loved the extra smiles the music brought out.

We were fortunate to have Heidi Smethurst join us from Heart Beats Society. Heidi sent out a heartfelt thank you to all the kid members for their donation of $800 the last time we met! She explained that there are approximately 130 families each year that have to travel to Edmonton for their cardiac surgeries at the Stollery Hospital. This is costly for families as the average stay is about 2 weeks. Heart Beats uses the donation money to provide financial assistance for these families in the form of gas and grocery gift cards. Thanks to Heidi for coming to share with us.

We wanted to share with the kids how much of a difference they are actually making! When we started this group in early 2016 there were only 5 kids chapters throughout Canada and there are now 17, WOW! If you make the assumptions that they are all at full membership (100 kids) and that they meet 4x per year each member giving $10. With 17 chapters, following those assumptions, the impact for each quarter is $17,000 (17 chapters x 100 kids x $10), and each year $68,000 ($17,000 x 4 meetings). That is the potential IMPACT of the kids’ chapters in Canada right now. This proves our motto that “We’re Strongest Together,” which we were able to proudly display on our new 100 Kids Banner that Shannon Hewlko designed for us!

The following charities were nominated before the event:

High Banks Society – Joy Socks – Ronald McDonald House – NorthernStar Mothers Milk Bank – Fur-ever Homes – Opening Gaits Therapeutic Horse Riding – Brown Bagging for Calgary’s Kids – Canadian Legacy Project – Calgary Seniors Resource Society

**Remember that if your charity didn’t win the vote you are still able to nominate them again at the next meeting. And more than one child can nominate the same charity. (that just means more chances for that charity to be chosen)

The three chosen charities for the evening were:

1. Fur-ever Homes Rescue – Emerson Sylvestre spoke for this charity

Emerson is 9 years old and it was evident that she is passionate about animals and specifically dogs. Fur-ever Homes believes that every dog deserves a second chance and they rescue local dogs as well as those from Mexico and LA. They are always looking for foster homes to love these dogs until they are adoptable and Emerson has been a foster home to many of these dogs and loves it.

2. Brown Bagging for Calgary’s Kids – Tristan Donovan spoke for this charity

Tristan is 7 years old and he spoke from the heart about Brown Bagging for Calgary’s Kids. He shared with us that he couldn’t imagine having to go to school without a lunch and felt sad knowing that some kids in Calgary do. He asked the kids to join him in making a difference by choosing BB4CK’s so that they can help them reach their goal of NO hungry kids in Calgary. They currently provide over 3000 lunches everyday to kids in this city.

3. Calgary Seniors Resource Society – Kian Fallis spoke for this charity

Kian is 10 ears old and  currently volunteers with the Calgary Seniors Resource Society. Their goal is to support seniors so they can stay in their homes as long as possible and feel like valued members of society. They help them to deal with the loneliness a lot of them face when they have no family around. Adopt a Grandparent is one of their programs where you can bring some joy into the Seniors’ lives by spending some time with them, sending them letters/cards, and helping them do things around their house.

After the three speakers the kids took out their voting ballots to make their decision. There is something truly special about watching the kids grab their own voting ballots and crayons and proudly making their choice on which charity should win the group donation. While we tallied up the votes we did some door prizes for the kids…this time we had 6 – $10 Subway gift cards. We love to see the excitement when a child wins a prize, they are always so thankful!

Just before we announced the winner we had a special SURPRISE to share with the kids…a great group of Rodan + Fields entrepreneurs that Danielle works with decided they wanted to give back and they chose to support 100 Kids Who Care Calgary! At their last event the ladies were able to raise $800 to give to the kid members for their charity of choice at the next meeting. This announcement definitely created some excitement and wide eyes in the crowd! The votes were tallied and the winning charity was Brown Bagging for Calgary’s Kids, thanks Tristan for your nomination. The kids raised $405 themselves that evening which will be added to the extra $800 donation, making the current total $1205! If any of you would still like to contribute please send us an email at info@100kidscalgary.com and we will make arrangements for that.

Every little bit helps and it is your donations that truly make the difference. We so appreciate the donations from all members including those that couldn’t be there with us but sent money with family or friends.

THANK YOU to our official sponsors…Calgary’s Child Magazine as well as Redline Real Estate Group and MortgageLine. These sponsorships are the key to our success!

Mark your calendars for our next event Wednesday, December 7 at Valley Ridge Golf Course, we hope to see you all there! Stay tuned to here what FUN we have planned for this event.

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May 26 Meeting Recap

It was so great to see familiar faces at our second event and of course some new ones as well. We only had about 50 kids at this event, however it was amazing to see how many kids sent their $10 with family and/or friends even though they couldn’t attend. We were so fortunate to have Telus Spark’s Inspiration Stage as our venue. We had a few special guests at this event, including Rae Fehr from the Calgary Humane Society, Janica Fisher & Marnie Worbets from BeHiP (Humanity in Practice), and Tyler Middleton from Calgary’s radio station X92.9.

Rae thanked the kids very much for their generous donation. He talked to the kids about the Calgary Humane Society and all the work that they do as well as where funds raised would be used within their organization.

Janica and Marnie shared what HIP is all about. They connect people to causes and allow all ages the opportunity to make a difference. And that is exactly what 100 Kids Who Care Calgary did! We are thrilled to say that as a group we collected 105 books at our event that went to support Calgary Reads and provided books to those families in Calgary that don’t have many in their homes.

Tyler Middleton spoke to all the kids just before the charity presentations were to begin to give them some tips and tricks on public speaking and conquering the fear of standing in front of a crowd. Tyler’s tips were well received by the kids.

The following charities were nominated:

**Remember that if your charity didn’t win the vote you are still able to nominate them again at the next meeting. And more than one child can nominate the same charity. (that just means more chances for that charity to be chosen)

The three chosen charities for the evening were:

  1. Junior League of Calgary – Marigold Mioc spoke for this charity

Marigold is “Little Miss Calgary 2016” and she is involved in a lot of volunteering already at the age of 6. Marigold stood up in front of the crowd and did a great job sharing about her charity of choice. Junior League of Calgary is an organization of women committed to promoting voluntarism, developing the potential of women, and improving the community through the effective action and leadership of trained volunteers.

2. Heart Beats – Ashley Exall & Paige Hagel spoke together for this charity

Ashely (10yrs) and Paige (11yrs) took turns speaking about the charity and did a great job together. There speech was heartfelt and personal as Ashley’s sister was born with Congenital Heart Disease and her family benefited from the support of Heart Beats. (her sister is now 8 and doing great) Heart Beats offers information, resources and emotional support to families dealing with congenital heart disease. Every child with CHD has to travel to the Stollery Hospital in Edmonton for their cardiac surgery(s).

3. Brown Bagging for Calgary’s Kids – Ashley Segovia spoke for this charity

Ashley is 8 years old and she did a fantastic job representing her charity of choice. Ashely is a true ambassador for BB4CK and her goal is that no kid goes without a lunch. Brown Bagging for Calgary’s Kids supplies around 3000 lunches per school day to kids in our city who wouldn’t otherwise have a lunch to eat.

After the 3 presentations the kids took our their voting ballots, it was another tough choice. Once the votes were tallied Heart Beats received the majority of the votes and they will be the recipients of the kid’s donation. Our kids were able to raise $800 in less than one hour!!

We were able to give out some door prizes again at the event, so thank you so much to the parents that made those donations possible. We would also like to send out a huge thank you to all of our volunteers that evening, we couldn’t do it without you.

Our next meeting will be held on Wednesday, October 12 at the Elbow Springs Golf Club.

If anyone would like to volunteer at the next event please send me an email: info@100kidscalgary.com

Thank you for believing in what we are doing!

Danielle & Michael Donovan

Co-founders 100 Kids Who Care Calgary

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March 2nd Meeting Recap

100 Kids CalgaryWednesday March 2, 2016

Our inaugural meeting couldn’t have gone any better. It exceeded all my expectations and it filled my heart with so much love and pride! We had approximately 90 kids present at the event and many more members who sent their money with friends or family, which was very impressive. The group of kids were amazing, very respectful and full of enthusiasm for what we are doing. The Valley Ridge Golf Course was a spectacular venue, Christopher Cool entertained the kids with his wonderful magic show and I Love Craft & Sweet provided delicious cupcake treats for all the tiny bellies in the room.

The following charities were nominated: Brown Bagging for Calgary’s Kids – Fur-ever Homes Rescue – Heart Beats Children’s Society – Ronald McDonald House – Calgary Humane Society – Highbanks Society – Feed the Hungry Calgary – Inn From the Cold – KidSport – Hearts & Hammers – Calgary Wildlife Rehabilitation Society

So what happened?

Charities

The 3 chosen charities for the evening were:

1. KidSport – Callie Cardiff spoke for this charity.

Callie, being one of our youngest members (5yrs) did a great job, we are all so proud of her for stepping up to the podium with her Mom and answering a few questions about her charity. KidSport believes that every child should have the opportunity to play organized sports and they make this happen through financial support as well as providing equipment etc.

2. Calgary Humane Society – Olivia Harbourne spoke for this charity.

Olivia is 12 years old and she came well prepared to the meeting. She spoke from the heart and shared her personal story of visiting the shelter and adopting a pet and what that meant to her. The Calgary Humane Society never say no and they never turn an animal away no matter what the circumstances are. Their mission is to help as many animals as possible and they feel that starts with educating people about being compassionate to animals.

3. Feed the Hungry Calgary – Simona Sedgwick spoke for this charity.

Simona is 7 years old and she was a little sweetheart who talked about feeding the homeless in our city. She told us that she always has a meal on the table and she wished everyone else had that as well. Feed the Hungry provides a sit down dinner each Sunday night for Calgary’s homeless and low income population at St. Mary’s Parish Hall.


After the 3 presentations the kids took out their voting ballots. We could see their excitement in getting to make an important choice on their own, they all felt proud of that voting ballot. It ended in a very close vote but the Calgary Humane Society received the most votes and they will receive the kids group donation. We are looking forward to going to the shelter with Olivia to present them with the big cheque and our group donation. We will have photos to share with you after the official presentation.

In less than 1 hour our great group of kids managed to raise $1,170 (we had a total of $1,110 at the event but have had a few more kids that couldn’t attend still want to make their donation). We will accept donations for 1 more week if there is anyone that still wants to contribute, please message me to make arrangements.

We were also fortunate enough to have a few door prizes and four lucky kids took home a $15 Chapters/Indigo card. We want to give a huge thank you to the volunteers who helped us make the event run smoothly.

I am hoping to have our next meeting date and location confirmed this week so stay tuned for further details. We are looking at the end of May/beginning of June and then we will take the summer off and reconvene in September.

I also promised that I would put together a wish list of the items that parents could help with:

  • donation to print the big novelty cheque
  • donation to print a stand up banner to have at meetings
  • door prize donations
  • donations of treats/snacks when the venue allows
  • someone to take photos/videos at the events
  • being a volunteer who can be called upon to help with registration, collecting/tallying the votes etc.

Thank you for believing in what we are doing!

 

Danielle & Michael Donovan

Co-founders 100 Kids Who Care Calgary

 

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