We give back to our communities and support organizations who foster wellness initiatives for people in need. We do so by providing programming and fundraising through exercise activities. We support two main charities along with public schools through a number of annual initiatives. These include the World Health Games, Toupee for a day, Annual Golf classic and Summer Fitness Party, all in support of Wellspring Calgary. We also run our “Train the Trainer” toy drive in support of the Women’s Centres. We also provide our Mobile Fitness Unit programming to area public schools at no charge.

How did it start?

Our core values impact ourselves, our members and our community. As an organization we felt it was critical to give back to the communities that we do business in. We aligned with these groups as we felt they connected with our mission and values.

Objectives

We aim to raise over $40,000 annually for Wellspring Calgary. They are a non profit organization that provides programming for people and their caregivers who are going through cancer. They offer yoga, tai chi, cooking, art and brain fog classes to their participants in a non clinical setting. They rely on our fundraising to offer their programming.

The Women’s Centres offer women resources to build their lives back up after various roadblocks. Whether those road blocks relate to domestic abuse or addiction or anything else, they help women and their family’s get back on track. Our Train the Trainer toy drive donates enough toys so each client can give their kids a Christmas present each year. We also teach a weekly Zumba class at the Centre.

And finally, our Mobile Fitness Unit provides Group Fitness programming to our public schools at no charge. In a day of Physical Education cut backs, we aim to provide a dynamic, fun and sweaty class to kids to show them that fitness is fun.

Why is this project important?

Our mission is to enrich peoples lives by inspiring a healthy and active lifestyle. We believe that your life will be better if you are active. A number of people in our community will experience barriers to activity, and we believe that these programs will help more people experience the benefits of being active.

Project resources

Our World Health Games event will require about 20 volunteers and approximately 200 hours.
Our World Health Golf Tournament will require about 20 volunteers and approximately 400 hours.
Our Toupee for a day event will require about 10 volunteers and 100 hours.
Our Summer Fitness Party will require about 10 volunteers and 100 hours.
Our Train the Trainer event will require 200 volunteers and 200 hours.
Our Mobile Fitness Unit will require 6 staff and net over 500 hours per year.

Our costs will include wages for volunteers (they are mostly paid work hours) along with marketing collateral, social media and equipment rentals. Estimated total $50,000 per year in productivity and capital towards these initiatives.

Project results

We have raised $40,000 – $60,000 per year for Wellspring Calgary.
Donated 5 pick up trucks full of toys to the Women’s Centre.
And impacted over 30,000 students per year.