By Jack Brittle, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
On April 25, the Burlington-based charity Gift of Giving Back presented a cheque for $85,000 to their beneficiaries during an event held in the Burlington Centre mall.
The money was collected by the local youth girls’ hockey teams, the Burlington Eagles and the Oakville Rangers.
According to Jean Longfield, the founder of Gift of Giving Back, players from both teams would stand outside grocery stores with “tiptap” machines that passers-by could use to donate money with their debit or credit card.
Alternatively, people could also donate food items to the group, as part of their annual food drive. The food is then given to local organizations that distribute it to those who are food insecure.
The Gift of Giving set up a large stand next to the Shoppers Drug Mart in Burlington Centre, with their slogan “Help Kids Feed Kids” at the top of it and the large cheque leaning up against it at the bottom.
Longfield was the emcee for the event, while everyone else in attendance formed a circle around Longfield and the stand.
Both hockey teams and their respective team presidents were there, along with parents, and representatives from all the different organizations to which the money and food will be distributed.
After introducing the two team presidents and thanking Burlington Centre for sponsoring the event, Longfield spoke about the overarching purpose of the event and the organization itself.
“As proud as we are of our food and fundraising efforts for our beneficiaries, the Gift of Giving Back’s true purpose is to empower our young people to do work which benefits others with no expectation of reward,” Longfield said. “They also learn about the agencies that support those in need in our community. Today we are presenting a check to our beneficiaries for $85,000.”
She also mentioned that last year the group raised $937,142 in food and financial donations.
The Gift of Giving Back is entirely non-profit and is run by volunteers. Longfield thanked all the group’s board members along with the organization’s sponsors.
“In the age of social media and disconnection, you continually work to inspire our kids to act courageously and heroically, to be champions for the many others who are vulnerable, and to spread that compassion and kindness as they grow to be adults,” Longfield said. “When our kids see what we can all do as a community together, they can understand that they live in a very special community and that we can all dream big dreams.”
Longfield then invited representatives from each organization benefitting from the money to come up and speak. Among those groups in attendance were the Burlington Food Bank, The Salvation Army, the Halton Learning Foundation, The Kerr St. Mission, and Food for Life.
Tony O’Dell and Jessie Chiu from the Kerr St. Mission took the mic after Robin Bailey, the executive director of Burlington Food Bank, spoke to the crowd.
“There’s really nothing more inspiring to me personally to see young people get inspired and motivated to give,” O’Dell said.
Donna Slater and Melissa Bain, the director of programs and community partnerships and the director of operations at Food for Life, respectively, spoke about the commitment that the teams showed when raising the money and collecting food.
“The team captains of these hockey teams are incredible,” they said. “They really rally, they have meetings leading up to the drives just to learn how to execute this. So, I really want to thank the team captains.”
“We call our food bank on-site a ‘market,’ and we had just over 160 people come through today over a six-hour time period from Burlington and it keeps growing and growing. There’s a lot of need out there, so these food drives are so incredibly important for the community,” they continued.
Kaitlin McKenna, the special events coordinator at Halton Women’s Place, said the awareness that Gift of Giving Back has raised for Halton Women’s Place is huge.
“Players have been inspiring other youth,” McKenna said. “Over the last couple of years, I’ve gotten more and more high school students reaching out to Halton Women’s Place to do fundraisers and collections for us and I really think that it’s rooted here in the Gift of Giving Back.”
Marc Clare, CEO of the Halton Learning Foundation (HLF), spoke about the impact that the money will have on HLF.
“We know that poverty remains a powerful factor in whether a student succeeds in school, so we rely on the generosity of the community from partners like Gift of Giving Back,” Clare said. “I love that kids are helping kids. it’s such a powerful message, such a positive influence.”
Meghan Araujo, a Halton Catholic District School Board (HCDSB) teacher and member of the Halton Catholic Children’s Foundation, spoke about what this money will specifically help HCDSB students do.
“The money goes a long way to support our students, with everything from attending class trips to the basic necessities of life,” Araujo said. “And thank you to all the young people who are demonstrating great leadership and servitude in helping their neighbours. We really couldn’t do it without you.”
After the last speaker addressed the crowd, the group did a photo op with everyone in attendance while the team members held up the cheque for all to see.
Longfield spoke about what the group’s original goals were and how they go beyond just the money that is raised and the food that is donated.
“As parents with kids in hockey, we were always very aware that our kids were very privileged to grow up and play hockey in the city,” Longfield said. “And we wanted them to understand how fortunate they were and what it was really about. It wasn’t really about having a food drive at all, it was really about instilling in our kids the values that that we all want our kids to have.”
She said the group started by challenging the Burlington Eagles to bring in their coach’s weight in food and then eventually expanded the drives to take place in schools as well.
Longfield said that last year the Gift of Giving Back filled the gymnasium of St. Thomas Aquinas completely full of food.
She also said the organization is slowly getting back to where they were, in terms of fundraising, compared to the period before COVID hit.
Although the Burlington Eagles have been partners with the Gift of Giving Back since its inception, the Oakville Rangers only started collaborating with the group around five years ago, according to team president John Verdon.
Prior to that, they had run their own community fundraiser but were enticed by the Gift of Giving Back name and infrastructure to join with them and contribute to their fundraiser instead.
Verdon said that the food drive and fundraising campaign teaches the kids on his team about the reality of income inequality.
“I know that when we talk to them in the dressing room and let them know that there are hundreds and hundreds of kids in the local community, that they might even go to school with, that don’t have enough to eat at lunch or dinner, they’re shocked,” Verdon said.
“Both the awareness and then the empowerment that they can do something about it are key,” he explained.
