Haiti ~ Faith, Hope & Charity

Montreal has a very large Haitian community because of our common language (French) and relatively close proximity to Haiti. Over the years our government has encouraged Haitians to immigrate here and they form an important part of our rich cultural mosaic.

There are almost thirty Haitians working at Rideau and each one has family members in Haiti that have been touched by the tragedy that occurred on January 12th and which continues to unfold every day.

One young girl who recently joined Rideau had seven siblings on the island when the earthquake occurred. Her brother was trapped for three days in a church that had collapsed. Another employee’s mother was missing. It is stories like these along with images coming out of Haiti that are almost too difficult to watch which make us realize there is little we can do to relieve the suffering other than donating money for food, water, clothing and medicine.

Rideau has tried to help out in practical ways. We had a meeting with our Haitian colleagues and told them our fund raising efforts would immediately focus on providing monetary assistance to a charity of their choice. They unanimously chose the Red Cross. We also told them that we could provide individual psychological counseling through our employee assistance program. We also provided them a room and phone lines to try and communicate with their family members. Finally, we told them they should feel free to approach us if they needed emergency financial assistance for their family members in Haiti.

I am so proud of my company. The other day, Rideau’s fund raising committee organized a lunch with proceeds going to the Red Cross. Forty-seven people donated various dishes and raised over $6,000 for the Red Cross Haitian Relief Fund, which is actually resulting in a grand total of $12,000 – our Federal Government has promised to match contributions from citizens and businesses who have donated to eligible organizations in support of humanitarian, recovery and reconstruction efforts in Haiti.

And our efforts will continue.

It is times like these that make faith, hope and charity so important.

Please click below if you would like to donate:
US
CANADA.

Head to Head with Cancer

My Mom Phyllis, was first diagnosed with cancer in late November 1996.

She was in Florida at the time and even though she was fully insured, her long time Florida doctor recommended that she return to Canada so our family could help support her and my Dad through her coming battles. Mom was operated on two weeks later and had several really rough months but she survived her ordeal.

Sadly, the cancer returned early 2000. This time she was not so lucky. She died on October 27th in a small hospital north of Montreal surrounded by my Dad, sister, two brothers, another long time family friend and me. Her passing brought our family, which was already close, even closer together. Every year at this time we get together, raise a glass and tell Silly Philly stories.

Four years ago, on the fifth anniversary of her passing, we decided to participate in the local Shave to Save campaign that raised funds for Cancer. Our employees, suppliers and clients raised over $11,000 for this great cause and my best friend Cam Ferguson, my brother Stephen as well as my two sons Jonathan and Jordan along with me shaved our heads for the cause.

We decided to do it again this year. Again on the anniversary of my Mom’s passing. The only difference being we opened it up to all our employees. Yesterday afternoon, almost 20 of us participated in our very own event: Head to Head with Cancer.

More importantly… we have raised over $35,000!


(Click here for more pictures of the event)

I want to thank all fellow shavees for participating in this event. I want to thank all my Rideau employees, suppliers, clients and friends who contributed to the event. I also want to thank my good friend and hockey legend Jean Béliveau for coming out and supporting all of us. Jean battled cancer the same time as my Mom so his participation was especially welcome.

Together we can all beat this terrible disease that has taken away so many of our loved ones.