Our District 7 initiative was started in 2022 when our Foundation's Board of Directors announced that they would empower employees from our family company to get involved in philanthropy. At a holiday party to remember, we came up with an epic challenge and opportunity.

We randomly divided our staff into 8 unique teams, each with the responsibility of donating $5,000 to a charity of their choice. The opportunity was very exciting, but the challenge (and responsibility) got very real.

Rules of Engagement:

• Each team had to come up with a super cool team name.
• Each team had to choose (democratically) a recipient charity for their donation of $5,000.
• Each team had to complete a preliminary financial audit on their charity to prove its need and effectiveness.
• Each team had to hand-deliver the cheque to the charity (the giant fun one + the real deal).
• Each team had to volunteer a total of at least 25 hours (combined) to their selected charity.
• Each team had to collect media (pictures, videos, vlogs) and create a short video that highlights their journey and charity.
• Once done, teams had to present their video to our foundation's Lead Philanthropist for scoring.

Our thinking behind District 7 is to not only create a culture of generosity within our workforce but also empower individuals to develop an acute awareness of the various causes and countless needs, services, and opportunities that are present within our community and beyond.

Check out the highlights from this year's (2022) District 7 challenge!