Today was the Easter Seals Drop Zone training at Edmonton’s Vertically Inclined Rock Climbing Gym. I’ve been there a few times before as Lindsay and I took a 10 week training called ASPIRE. It’s a great course and the gym is an amazing gym. Takes you from a non-climber to someone that can lead climb. Pretty sweet.
Anyway I was there for training and had a great time. Met some new people who are excited to challenge themselves but raise more awareness for this great cause. What was kinda cool to be honest was when they were talking about the sponsors for this event and they mentioned Amway Global was the National Supporting Sponsor. When I checked in they asked how I heard about The Drop Zone and I said through Amway Global and they said oh really. Told them I was an IBO and they were a bit taken back. LOL Funny how people react sometimes. Amway Global is getting their name out a bit more now since they did have a lull. It’s great to see a company give back to great causes. I don’t see the company I work for’s name on there! 
Something I realized today was by raising money for this great charity is that I am sorta living one of my goals of building this business. We have a goal to give a lot more money to charities we support. I can tell you in the last 10 years of working I hardly donate because why? I cannot afford to. It’s also what I’m seeing a lot of when I ask for donations. People avoid it like the plague. Not that I want to pressure people into making donations but the fact of the matter is people cannot afford to donate or they donate only to one charity a year and that’s it. To be honest that’s pathetic, a should be giving back WAY more then we are. ESPECIALLY if we draw off those charities. One of my goals like I said was to donate more money to charities and we will be able to do that through what we are creating. I’m pumped to be to do that in the not to distant future. So raising more money for Easter Seals has been pretty awesome as we are around the $900 mark. Still working hard to get that $1500 so I can complete the Drop Zone so if you’re able to donate that would be awesome!
September 7th, I’ll be rappelling!
http://my.e2rm.com/personalPage.aspx?SID=2692229
We don’t have this opportunity in the States. This is one of the few times I wish I were a Canadian IBO.
I guess us rappelling the Sears Tower would a little too much for Easter Seals and Amway to handle.
haha yeah that would be insane to do the Sears Tower!
hehe you could always donate
http://my.e2rm.com/personalPage.aspx?SID=2692229
Shaun you rock! Thanks for the more informative plug
I didn’t want to highjack your blog. You’ve always been so good to us. xoxox
Autism Speaks is a fantastic place to channel your money, they send out a really comprehensive guide of what to do next after getting a diagnosis, along with a dictionary of what treatments are available and what they are, and they send it for free. http://www.autismspeaks.ca/autism-speaks-canada
If you want to send your money to an organization that directly works with our family, Autism Services in Saskatoon is the place. It’s gov’t subsidized, but funding is low so they supplement with personal donations, it’s our charity of choice. http://www.autismservices.ca/
The Autism Canada Foundation is great too.
Thanks a million, million!
Thanks Erron, I was hoping there was one local to you guys, rather donate directly then to the larger group as those funds usually get spread around. That’s what’s great about the Easter Seals one as all money raised here stays here.
You are most welcome to hijack anytime
Congrats on getting Lindsey free from her job! You are next my friend. The repelling looks fun
Don’t stop half way!
You are generous Shaun. I love Easter seals because they help such a wide range of kids in as many ways. We give to two charities, because their causes have affected our family personally. When we have the means to give more we will give more to them mostly, not spread it around. It’s our failimy’s commitment to to those organizations. Your comment that we should be giving back especially if we draw off a charity feels a bit like something someone who’s never had to draw off a charity would say. (Correct me if I’m wrong if you’d like). For instance in the case of Easter seals a large portion of their help goes to kids with disabilities. While we live in Canada where basic medical cost are covered you be surprised at what isn’t considered basic, if you have a mildly handicap kid you’re paying out of pocket a lot, and if you have a severely handicap kid you’re using up a an even bigger chunk of your paycheck, and using a charitable organization may be the only way to provide your kid with services they need, or deserve, or extras that contribute to quality of life. Charities aren’t supposed to be a pay service, it’s about those with more giving to those with less unconditionally.
Your commitment to raising money for Easter Seals is commendable (So great, really). I’ve seen you grow so much recently, I’m proud of you! I’d love to help in a small way so I’ll go check out how. Keep on it your doing a great job I hope you get to drop off a side of a building
And now for my shameless plug, when considering charities please consider Autism. In Saskatchewan no therapies are covered not even basic ones like Speech, Occupational or Physical Therapy. Families need to pay for this completely out of pocket, we pay near 10k a year to send Elijah to his therapies.
Thanks for the donation Erron I appreciate it. You are right we’ve never had to draw from this charity or any charity for that matter however reading blog entries like your last one http://erron.wordpress.com/2010/08/29/in-reply/ really hammer home the importance to give while you can so that in the case you ever do need to draw from them you can. I think all charities have great causes but the ones that help out kids in any way (there are a lot of different children’s charities) are the ones for me at this time deserve my cash.
There is no shame in plugging another charity at all and I will for sure donate to the Autism charity. I love supporting charities that have an affect on friends and family. It was/is the same for Mandi with the Crohns & Colitis Foundation.
For those who are unaware of Autism, I would highly check out Erron’s blog as they have an amazing son named Elijah that has Autism. Check out the Autism Canada Foundation. As I said I will for sure donate to this charity and put it on the list of charities we need to give back to.
Thanks for the Donation Kyle and Erron!