Charity Archives - Page 11 of 13

London Drugs is excited to partner with the Rick Hansen Foundation during its 25th Anniversary Relay across Canada!

Twenty-five years ago Rick Hansen wheeled through 34 countries to complete the Man In Motion World Tour. Since then, he and his team have been working tirelessly to raise awareness and funds for the Rick Hansen Foundation, which supports spinal cord injury research and helps build accessible communities for all. Now, to commemorate the original Tour and celebrate the accomplishments of Canadians who are making a difference in their communities, the Rick Hansen Foundation is re-tracing the Canadian portion of Rick’s original journey.

The Foundation supports the two big dreams of Rick’s original Tour – the search for a cure for paralysis after spinal cord injury, and building accessible and inclusive communities.

Rick Hansen and London Drugs in Calgary

Come out and support London Drugs Calgary employee and community volunteer Sean Lundy, who has been selected as a Medal-Bearer for the Rick Hansen 25^th Anniversary Relay! Sean will be bearing the Relay’s medal down MacLeod Trail, making a brief stop at the Heritage Plaza London Drugs location this Sunday, February 26^th at 10:50am.

The Relay features 7,000 Medal-Bearers who have made a difference in the lives of others. Sean has been a difference maker in the Calgary community for a number of years. He volunteers at the Calgary Distress Center, a non-profit social agency that delivers 24-hour support and counselling to those in crisis. He is now a Leadership Volunteer, helping to train others to operate distress lines such as 403-266-HELP and 1-800-SUICIDE.

Beyond his important work with the community, he is also finds ways to make life a little easier for his sister who has been diagnosed Lupus, a serious long-term autoimmune disorder. He helped her to raise funds for the 2011 Lupus Run / Walk. He also participates in a variety of other fundraising walks/runs throughout the city.

How YOU can help!

Make a donation to the Rick Hansen Foundation at your local London Drugs as the relay comes through your community. For relay dates, check out: www.rickhansenrelay.com. In return you’ll receive a Rick Hansen 25^th Anniversary commemorative pin.
Purchase Rick Hansen’s Man in Motion book and 25^th Anniversary medallions at any London Drugs

Visit rickhansen.com for more information.

Get in the Pink—Pink Shirt Day Feb. 29!

Five years ago, two grade twelve boys from Nova Scotia stood up for a younger boy who was being bullied for wearing the colour pink. They encouraged their schoolmates to wear pink and send a message against bullying. CKNW heard of the story and started running editorial dedicated to anti-bullying. Over time, this became a movement. Its goal is to discourage bullying by encouraging the wearing of the colour pink, and today we all know it as Pink Shirt Day.

2012 is the fifth year for Pink Shirt Day (PinkShirtDay.ca), which will be held on Wednesday, February 29. This is London Drugs’ fourth year of participation, and all locations will be selling pink shirts and buttons to raise awareness and funds for anti-bullying programs supported by the Boys and Girls Clubs of South Coast B.C. as well as the CKNW Orphan’s Fund.

Shirts are available at all
London Drugs locations

Last year, net proceeds of shirt sales at London Drugs totalled $75,000. This year we want to contribute even more, and hope to spread the word even farther that “Bullying stops here.”

Some facts about bullying:

Bullying happens to someone in Canada every 7 minutes on the playground (bullying.org)
50% of Canadian school children report being bullied and 45% of children surveyed do not feel safe when they go to school (Bullying Study, University of Guelph)
Bullying can affect all ages—35% of workers have experienced worplace bullying first hand
Children who are bullied are at risk for imparied social development, mental and physical illnesses, suicide and school absenteeism

So dig out your pink shirts, pants or socks and have them ready for February 29th. Or visit a London Drugs store for the official Pink Shirt Day t-shirts or buttons. We’ll be rallying on our Facebook Page (www.facebook.com/LondonDrugs) and on Twitter (www.twitter.com/LondonDrugs) so follow us there for more information.

Retailer steps in to play Santa

London Drugs Toy Tour brightens up lives of families experiencing tough times

When the school bells ring today signalling the start of Christmas holidays, it will be a joyful time for many kids.

Not so for students who are going home to places where there is not enough food to stretch through the holidays, let alone money for extras like a visit from Santa.

This week, London Drugs stepped in to play Santa for some of these kids, loading up a little convoy of vans and trucks to drop off toys for children who otherwise would have little cheer at Christmas.

“That week before Christmas is a tough one,” Margaret Jorgensen, principal at Strathcona elementary in Vancouver, told representatives from London Drugs who arrived at her school with huge bags of toys.

It was a refrain echoed by educators from Surrey to North Vancouver as the convoy stopped by schools that have shared their stories and their students’ needs with The Vancouver Sun Children’s Fund Adopt-a-School program.

“In the past, teachers have just noticed need in their classes and referred families,” said Carol Davison, principal at Surrey’s Forsyth Road elementary school. “This year we decided to send out a form because we were afraid we were missing people who could use the help and we were just overwhelmed by the stories.

“We’ve got a single mother with seven children; she’s a refugee and she’s unemployed. How is she going to provide Christmas for them?

“There are people who do seasonal work, dads who have been laid off … people who are on disability, grandparents raising grandchildren. We don’t recognize sometimes that they really could use the help, so it’s great that the community is stepping up and being able to provide all this.”

While the Christmas season invariably stirs people to give, this year some of the educators on the London Drugs toy tour noted donations are down.

“It is getting tougher all over,” said Davison.

And the needs are year-round. Some of them are not so obvious – like the children who slip off their shoes to sit down and listen to stories at carpet time and it is only then their teachers realize they have walked to school in freezing temperatures with no socks.

Mary Higgins, merchandise manager at London Drugs, has been dropping off toys for needy children every year for the past 25 years. But this week marked the first time she has come face to face with the children she is helping and heard their stories that go far beyond simply needing a present for Christmas.

“This has been eye-opening for me,” said Higgins. “We have to protect these children.

“These children are the generations of our future.”

One of the stops was at CABE, Coquitlam Alternative Basic Education, where volunteers, including well-known Vancouver blogger Miss 604 – Rebecca Bollwitt – handed out toys for babies of teen moms in the program that is geared to vulnerable students.

“We appreciate everything that we get,” Vanessa Ellingson, mom and sole breadwinner for threeyear-old Pablo and seven-month-old Marley said.”Everything that we get is something that we don’t have to buy.

“It puts more food on our tables.”

The Vancouver Sun Children’s Fund has pledged to match dollar-for-dollar donations made to Adopt-a-School, up to $100,000.

SIX WAYS TO DONATE
1. MAIL: Complete the donation form and mail it to: The Vancouver Sun Children’s Fund Society, Suite 1 – 200 Granville St., Vancouver, B.C. V6C 3N3. We accept Visa, MasterCard or a cheque or money order payable to The Vancouver Sun Children’s Fund Society.

2. PHONE: To pay by credit card, call 604-605-2426.

3. ONLINE: To donate online using Visa or MasterCard, go to www.vansunkidsfund.ca and click on the donate button.

4. TEXT YOUR DONATION: Text SUNKIDS to 20222 to donate $5. Your donation, which will appear on your cellphone bill, will go to the Children’s Fund Adopt-a-School project.

5. FACEBOOK: For every “Like” on the Children’s Fund Facebook page at www.facebook.com/ vansunkidsfund, Telus is donating $1 to Adopt-a-School. Reader Ken Mellquist has also pledged to match Telus’s contribution. The fund matches every $1, so every “like” sends $4 to help B.C. kids in need.

6. NEW ITEMS: Our Adopt-a-School project not only collects money, it is a conduit so readers can donate goods such as coats, shoes and gloves directly to schools and students who need them most. For information on how to donate, email adoptaschool@vancouversun.com.

‘LIKE’ US ON FACEBOOK AND $4 WILL BE DONATED TO NEEDY B.C. KIDS

We hit 5,000 “likes” on Facebook. com/VanSunKidsFund on Dec. 9, a goal set when Telus offered to donate $1 to Adopt-a-School for every like up to $5,000. The Vancouver Sun Children’s Fund board and West Vancouver reader Ken Mellquist each matched Telus’s contribution. When the total hit $20,000, Telus stepped up to offer $1 per like, up to another $5,000. If we hit 10,000 likes by Christmas, the $20,000 raised will jump to $30,000.

“Like” dollars raised as of Thursday 4 p.m.: $23,632

gshaw@vancouversun.com

London Drugs donates money to thank Police after Stanley Cup Riot

The VPD’s mounted squad took action during the 2011 Stanley Cup riot.

Photograph by: Dan Toulgoet, Vancouver Courier

The Vancouver Police Department will soon add two new horses to its mounted squad and one will be named after… a major retail chain known for its electronic goods?

London Drugs has donated $7,000 to the Vancouver Police Foundation with the understanding the money be distributed to the VPD’s mounted squad.

In honour of the donation, which will also be used to buy a power washer for the squad’s barn at Stanley Park, the VPD decided it will name one of the horses “London.”

But before the public thinks the VPD is embarking on a marketing drive to name its police service animals after corporate donors, Const. Lindsey Houghton, a VPD media relations officer, said that’s not the case.
“There was no expectation of us naming the horse after the company, the president or anything like that,” Houghton told the Courier. “The mounted squad thought the name London was actually a pretty good name for a horse.”

The $7,000 from London Drugs came from a fundraising campaign the retail chain launched after the June 15 Stanley Cup riot to thank police for their efforts that night and support the Vancouver Police Foundation. The campaign involved the sale of “I love Vancouver” T-shirts and donations from the public.

The London Drugs store at Granville and Georgia was ransacked and looted during the riot, causing $650,000 in damage. Employees were forced to hide in a reinforced steel room in the store.
“I will always be grateful that the police were able to save our staff,” said Wynne Powell, the CEO of London Drugs. “They took some time to respond because of the terrible night that they were dealing with. But when they came, they came in force and they got our people out safely.”

Powell said the money was given to the mounted squad after a discussion with the Vancouver Police Foundation on how best to use the money.

“They brought up the horse idea and that was very comfortable with us because the horses were one of the assets that were extremely helpful at protecting people during the riot,” he said.

The VPD recently purchased “London” but Houghton didn’t immediately know the cost. The VPD also purchased London’s brother, who has yet to be given a name. Both horses are undergoing training and expected to be on the job in January.

So what’s Powell think about the VPD naming one of the horses London?

“It’s fantastic,” he said, echoing Houghton’s comments there was no expectation the horse be named after the company. “I’m just delighted they’re doing that. That will be a horse that will remind everybody about their generosity.”

Private donations to the VPD and its foundation are not new.

In the past year, the VPD accepted $30,000 from private citizen Tony Elwood to be used for the department’s diversity and aboriginal policing section.

The Aboriginal Community Center Employment Services Society also donated $20,000 to pay for the wages of three aboriginal people involved in the VPD’s aboriginal cadet program.

The VPD accepted eight tactical vests worth a total of $20,000 from ArmorWorks Canada Limited and the Vancouver Police Foundation raised $72,000 toward the construction of a “Memorial Wall” for fallen officers at the Graveley Street police station

London Drugs invites customers to help homeless families get Inn from the Cold

The Littlest Things Make a Big Difference

This holiday season all eight Calgary London Drugs store locations will be accepting at-till donations to support Inn from the Cold’s Littlest Things campaign. The campaign aims to create a brighter future for homeless families in Calgary communities by providing basic necessities; the littlest things that make a big difference and help create a brighter future.

“We feel proud to unite with our customers to work together to end homelessness,” says Pat Tonner, Manager at London Drugs’ Brentwood location in Calgary. “In partnership with Inn from the Cold we can make a big difference and actively support those struggling in our communities.”

From December 1st to December 31st London Drugs customers can make donations as small as $2 at any checkout. The timing of the campaign coincides with the dramatic increase in the number of families seeking help from Inn from the Cold.

One hundred percent of the donations collected will go towards Inn from the Cold’s programs and supports that help families rebuild their lives.

Celebrating 25 years of support and $400,000 raised from the Hall of Flame Fire Fighter calendars

On November 29, London Drugs and the Vancouver Fire Fighters charitable society were welcomed on a tour and presentation of the VGH Burn Unit in Vancouver.

We were asked to visit the Burn Unit in recognition of London Drugs and the fire fighters 25-year support of the physical building of the unit and the ongoing commitment to advancing patient care. During the presentation, Lois Budd, patient services manager (and patient-care advocate extraordinaire) together with Dr. Jim Boyle, medical director (and great humorist) explained how through the 25-year sale of the Hall of Flame calendars at London Drugs, much needed specialized equipment and materials have been able to be purchased.

Rob Felix, London Drugs executive and general manager, general merchandise, was presented with a special plaque thanking London Drugs for the approximately $400,000 that has been raised for the Burn Unit over the past 25 years.

For Rob, the presentation and tour were humbling. Being inside the Burn Unit together with a group of fire fighters and being able to see patients who this group rescues and brings to the Burn Unit unfortunately all-to-often, brought the importance of London Drugs support, full circle.

VGH’s Burn Unit treats the very sick. Patients include victims of devastating vehicle accidents to children scalded with extremely hot water to cooking accidents, structural fires and many more unfortunate burn inflictions. You never want to be here or have someone you love be here. That is clear. But, this facility is so important and so necessary for British Columbians. They have done an amazing job at advancing the care of patients here including 24-hour visitation for families. In a hospital ward with such devastation, they have tried their best to make it as liveable as possible.

This year, through the sale of the Vancouver Fire Fighters Hall of Flame calendars at London Drugs, the Burn Unit was able to purchase a vital new piece of equipment: the Meek Mesher. The Meek Mesher is a special skin grafting machine that just arrived November 28, from Finland.

Seeing the Meek Mesher first-hand and learning about how it will benefit burn victims reminded all of us on the tour just how important it is to continue to support the fire fighters charitable society and the BC Burn Fund. This specialized equipment and care would not be possible without outside support and donations.
One of the patients currently in the Burn Unit lost his home to a fire including all of his money that was stored in his sofa. There are many more stories and patients this hospital and unit sees every hour, every day, and it is heart wrenching.

So thank you to all of the London Drugs customers who support the VGH Burn Unit with your purchase of the Hall of Flame calendars each year. We saw and heard first-hand, how important it is for our continued support.

London Drugs and Five Hole for Food a Good Fit

Credit: Vanessa Ng

Local shopping giant London Drugs has joined with grassroots charity initiative Five Hole for Food (FHFF) in doing something it knows best – redefining communities, through grit and good intentions.

London Drugs is excited to partner with the Rick Hansen Foundation during its 25th Anniversary Relay across Canada!

Rick Hansen and London Drugs in Calgary

How YOU can help!

Get in the Pink—Pink Shirt Day Feb. 29!

Retailer steps in to play Santa

London Drugs donates money to thank Police after Stanley Cup Riot

London Drugs invites customers to help homeless families get Inn from the Cold

Celebrating 25 years of support and $400,000 raised from the Hall of Flame Fire Fighter calendars

London Drugs and Five Hole for Food a Good Fit

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London Drugs is excited to partner with the Rick Hansen Foundation during its 25th Anniversary Relay across Canada!

Rick Hansen and London Drugs in Calgary

How YOU can help!

Get in the Pink—Pink Shirt Day Feb. 29!

Retailer steps in to play Santa

London Drugs donates money to thank Police after Stanley Cup Riot

London Drugs invites customers to help homeless families get Inn from the Cold

Celebrating 25 years of support and $400,000 raised from the Hall of Flame Fire Fighter calendars

London Drugs and Five Hole for Food a Good Fit

Archive

Categories

Pages

Newsletter

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