Molson in the Community

About a week ago, I joined the National Mentoring Program (NMP) for lunch in Toronto to celebrate and recognize the wonderful work of the students and mentors this year — kind of like a NMP graduation.

I’ve written about this program a few times over the last year, and am happy to be writing again to congratulate the Queen’s University students, their Molson Mentors and the organizations they worked with. Kevin Boyce, CEO and President of Molson, joined us as well and had a chance to hear about the great things the student/Molson teams accomplished.

The latest Molson vlog:

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Kevin Boyce, Mary Donohue (founder of the NMP) and Scott Ewart

Kevin having lunch with the students

More photos of the students on flickr:

The second annual WaknRoll for Variety Village in Toronto was held Sunday September 21st. My family and I were proud to have the opportunity to join with about 400 folks who decided to participate in the 5K or 1K jaunt. We chose the 5K and had a wonderful walk through the neighbourhood surrounding Variety Village in Toronto. (Danforth and Birchmount).

The official master of ceremonies for the day was Tom Brown of CTV who got the crowd rolling with great rousing cheers of joy and celebration. Nice work Tom…great that you and CTV could be there to support this terrific event.

The morning held a special treat for those gathered with recently returning Paralympians from Beijing donning their silver medals in basketball. Adam Lancia and Abdi Dini Fatah were on hand to mix and mingle with the crowd. We salute them for their oustanding achievement.

Along the route neighbourhood supporters cheered the walkers, rollers, police escort, staff participants, families and friends of Variety and a special honour guard of motorcylce enthusiasts. Along Natal Avenue we were treated to fresh slices of oranges to keep us nourished along the route.

Our family is delighted to report that through friends, family, business associates and acquaintances that we were proud to exceed our $10,000 target and at last tally we were able to raise just over $12,000.  I’m posting this here because a number of colleagues at Molson stepped up with support and Molson matches employees charitable giving up to $5000 when an employee supports a non profit. So, to the Molson employees that supported us…a big thanks…and to the Molson Donation Fund…a double big thanks.  Cheers everyone and thanks for supporting Variety Village. If you’re interested in participating next year check in with Variety.

On August 12th, 2008 AboutFace held their annual golf tournament at Club Link’s Glencairn Golf Club and raised over $45,000 for Camp Trailblazers. This was my first exposure to this wonderful non profit group dedicated to making a real difference for young and old alike. Special thanks to Bruce Walker at Vincor for inviting Molson to get involved. Molson provided some golf balls for each foursome and entered a team to celebrate the great work conducted by About Face. Congratulations to the organizors and all who participated. Cheers.

The National Mentoring Program participants attended a very imformative luncheon at the Toronto Board of Trade at First Canadian Place on Friday February 8th. Paul Godfrey, President and CEO of the Toronto Blue Jays and Rogers Centre was the guest speaker. In this photo Paul Godfrey is joined by Amir Remtulla of Molson, Director of Government and Public Affairs – along with Queen’s University Student Bangsil Cho who has chosen a project with Volunteer Canada.

Paul Godfrey reflected on many of his pursuits in life ranging from City Alderman, Chairman of Metropolitan Toronto, Publisher and CEO of the Toronto Sun and most recently the Toronto Blue Jays and Rogers Centre. He also referred to the importance of networking and being open to listening and learning through life. The Queen’s University Students, who are all enrolled in the Corporate Social Responsbility Certification program,  and their Molson Mentors attending engaged in dialogue with Paul Godfrey over lunch where they inquired about insights that he could provide in pursuing their goals and engaging in charitable work in the community. Paul spoke of his personal commitment to contribute a day a week to charity. He reflected upon the tremendous efforts that he and his wife Gina have accomplished through the Herbie Fund in association with Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto.

The students and their mentors are embarking upon a program that will result in meeting a challenge that has been brought to them by a chosen non profit/charitable organization. The Queen’s Students and their Molson Mentors will work on solutions for the non-profit organizations which will involve in a summer job for the students, funded by Molson, whereby the students will put their learning into action to assist the chosen non-profit organizations.

The National Mentoring Program has been designed by Mary Donohue, The Donohue Group. As a founding partner of the project, Molson is Proud to Play our Part in supporting the inaugural mentoring project from its concept stages through the summer of ‘08. Stay tuned for more features of the individual projects that are being undertaken by the National Mentoring Project.

Employees of Molson took to the streets of Toronto on Toque Tuesday. We were enthusiastically led by our President and CEO Kevin Boyce, who was selling toques at Toronto City Hall and around Nathan Phillips square with his team. Kevin’s first sale took place 720 am to Anita in front of City Hall in Toronto.

The Toque Tuesday tally is in and the results are phenomenal ! Our goal for Toque Tuesday was to raise $50,000.00. The total tally of funds raised for Raising the Roof’s Toque Tuesday as a result of the Molson Volunteer initiative is $90,557.26. This number is built on the successful efforts of the volunteers selling toques that raised $54,557,26 (exceeded target of $50,000), Molson purchased toques for volunteers $11,000.00, an employee donation of winnings from off track event on Monday night of $4,000.00, Molson Matched employees’ donation $4,000.00, Heineken Partner Brand donation of $10,000.00, The Keg Restaurant donation of $5000.00, Molson Quebec employee’s jersey purchase of $500.00, Molson matched employee’s jersey donation $500.00 and $1000.00 in follow up sales on Wednesday, We are still getting requests from employees and the public on where and how to buy toques. You can go to the Raising the Roof site to purchase on line. Hats off or should I say Toques off to a successful Volunteer event. Molson and our employees…Proud to Play our Part !