Ride for Dad

So just like when I go to conference and come back and share our great alliance with Pencil for Kids and tell you about what amazing give back program we have supported while away I am going to tell you about a charity that my family and I support locally. I started helping the Nation Valley ATV Club with there Ride for Dad event several years ago. Last year my oldest daughter joined me. This year the two oldest spent the day with me and Friday night the three girls helped with set up. It is great helping out with something in our community. Many local survivors come out and help also so they get to know who it is they are actually helping them. One of the survivors is actually a former Scout leader's father. I believe this year was the sixth time the ATV club held an event supporting ride for dad. They have raised lots of money over the years with 2 of the members having diamond status in the amount if money they have each raised which is both over $10,000.

 Dinner after the ride

 Dinner after the ride

me during the day

The mission of the Telus Ride for Dad is to raise funds to save men's lives by supporting prostate cancer research and raising public awareness of the disease. Our goal is for men to continue to be there for their families and friends for years to come. The parade of vehicles grabs the attention of the masses and the media on ride day, the research helps find hope for the future and the awareness has the potential of saving men’s lives today.We raise funds through large scale one-day motorcycle, snowmobile, watercraft and ATV ride events and through ongoing public fundraising throughout the year. TELUS Ride For Dad events take place in multiple cities from coast to coast all across Canada.
Ride for dad has raised 33 million dollars since they started in 2000. They had three ATV rides this year, 3 Snowmobile rides and they have 28 motorcycle rides scheduled for May and June.
This past June the 1st Ottawa held their Motorcycle Ride for Dad and it was a Poker run. They had five stops throughout the day. Got to pick a card and every stop and try and make the best poker hand possible. The first stop was the start, second stop was Morewood, Third stop the Ingleside Masonic centre, Fourth stop the point in Iroquois and fifth and final stop was the arena in Winchester. While I did have an opportunity to have a vendor table set up in Winchester at the last stop. My Family and I decided to volunteer at the Ingleside Masonic Center.
I was there along with my husband, youngest daughter Katherine and son Daniel. Victoria was in Maine for the weekend and Elizabeth was at the Scout's end of the year camp. We had coffee and treats set up. However we were working the card tables. Were each rider got to pull a card and you added it to their hand.
I love exposing my children to giving back and supporting good causes. The girls already do this with rainbow but it is great when we can do it on our own also.

If you want to donate to this great cause or find out more please go their website  http://www.ridefordad.ca/

Where you can find me:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/stephaniethetravelagentnextdoor

Website: http://www.exclusivetoyoutravel.ca

Email: slough@exclusivetoyoutravel.ca

TICO 50021282

55 York Street, Suite 1003

Toronto, On M5J 1R7
Office Phone 416-367-8264 ext 2625
Direct Phone 613-543-3006

Please keep in mind that while my head office is in Toronto. I am a home based travel agent and I live in South Dundas and I can service clients anywhere in Canada. But, I meet with clients in the SD&G area

La Casa Clu

La Casa Clu wow where to start.Yet another organization giving back to the underprivileged. Last year when we went to conference in Punt Cana we were given an opportunity to give back to a local school in need of help for a half a morning on our free day. We were also asked once again to that this year.
La Casa Clu is the organization that we became involved with. Before we headed out we were greeted at our hotel by Jessica Zepeda a psychologist who helped found this organization so she could tell us about what it is that they do and what it is she was looking for from us. Here is a recap from one of their donation pages

Jessica Zepeda 

La Casa Clü is a community center that works everyday with the children of San Ignacio, Nayarit, Mexico; a town where the violence levels are very high and the education, health, nutrition and infrastructure levels are very low. We are a band, a team, a club that dedicates everyday to learning and developing through play and personalised attention.Donate and support our workshops and daily activities so we can keep being part of the story of the children of San Ignacio. With your donation we will pay for salaries, buy material and maintain our land in good shape so we can keep dreaming, creating, and playing with our children.

Here is a link to an amazing video we got to watch https://youtu.be/T7Y5IDdmyBE

We then were taken over in shuttles to the property where we were given the opportunity to help with painting, gardening and playing with the kids. I have shared a few pictures of this morning on my Instagram and Business Facebook page but it is so much easier to share the bulk of them here. The work they do with these children is so inspiring as well as helping the families. We were told that they had received a generous donation from a benefactor in the Fall that has allowed them to purchase the land that they had been renting and is now allowing them to move forward with structures and buildings and providing the children with amazing experiences. 

We provided them with backpacks full of school supplies, gently used clothing or new clothing and non perishable food. These items will be used as rewards and to meet the needs of the kids away from the club. Children who behave well are taken on field trips things they never would get to enjoy with their families.

Now I will share with you some pictures of the kids and families. They were so happy to have us there helping they made us food and treated us so well and thanked us for what we brought to them. 

 Bamboo trees we were going to help plant

Set up to paint rocks to help protecting the new planting

 Kids at play

 many people were taking picture with the eagle wings. This one caught me at this little guys daddy was holding him up his parents were maybe sixteen if they were lucky

 A TTAND logo rock and some Canada Maple Leafs. Great talent among us

 little cutie enjoying some of the food

 kids and volunteers getting ready to play game 

some music and showing off some of the dancing/fighting they have learned

I know another fine group to give too they also welcome volunteers if you are going to be in the Nayarit area of Mexico, Here is their facebook page https://www.facebook.com/lacasaclu/

Where you can find me:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/stephaniethetravelagentnextdoor

Website: http://www.exclusivetoyoutravel.ca

Email: slough@exclusivetoyoutravel.com

TICO 500212282

55 York Street, Suite 1003

Toronto, On M5J 1R7

Please keep in mind that while my head office is in Toronto. I am a home based travel agent and I live in South Dundas and I can service clients anywhere in Canada. But, I meet with clients in the SD&G area

Pencils for Kids

The Travel Agent Next door has been supporting Pencils for kids as our charity of choice for the last five years. I have worked for Exclusive to you travel for the last four years which falls under the umbrella of the Travel Agent Next Door. The last three years I have had the privilege of being able to attend our Annual Conference.
Conferences are a great time to connect with fellow travel agents, head office support staff, suppliers and learning new things. At my first conference I had the pleasure to hear Robin Mednick speak. Robin is one of the founders of Pencils for kids and the story she tells of the people of Niger, West Africa is one that is compelling and sadly all too familiar when it comes to third world countries.

Robin Mednick (Photo courtesy of Dan Galbraith)

 This year Robin only briefly touched on the story as many of us have heard it before but she brought her Ophthalmologist husband with her to share his story. He went to Libore with Robin and wanted to help the people of Libore as well. He was able to get into contact with Orbis, a revolutionary mobile eye hospital housed on a jet airplane. For two weeks in 2010, a team of doctors (which he was included in), nurses and health care workers trained local ophthalmologists and nurses with new techniques, provided educational outreach, and operated on patients on board the airplane hospital. Close to 400 people were screened during the Libore outreach program, with a quarter receiving follow up treatment. He went on to tell us about a young lady who they could not help her cataracts were too far gone and she was now blind and there was nothing he could do.  Where we can get our eyes checked yearly until 18 for free and the cost of regular check ups after that is not debilitating it is heart wrenching to hear stories like this.

 Ed Mednick (photo courtesy of Dan Galbraith)

Orbis Plane (photo courtesy of Dan Galbraith)

We are given an opportunity to donate to this fine cause and in return we are entered to win prizes that our suppliers have donated. I suppliers have even gone out of their way to donate some really big prizes that were actually put up for silent auction where our colleagues both at conference and at home could bid on. This year our team raised over $30,000 in one week bringing our five year total to over $60,000. The money this year for Pencil for kids is being put towards sewing machines, chairs and computers. Now when we say sewing machine's we are talking about the manual one's not your fancy electric models. These machines help the women of Libore earn a living for their families.
It is so hard when everyone is looking at us to help out with some great cause. But think of how lucky we truly are even if celery is pricing out at $5.00 for a bunch. Our government provide us with child tax benefits to supplement our income. Ontario works helps out if you having trouble finding work. Our food banks help make sure there is food in our bellies if we can not. Many of our schools have breakfast programs. And yes we are asked to donate to these causes as well. But these people in Libore did not even have the means to support themselves. They are faced with a cyclical drought that often lead to death by starvation. Pencils for kids has provided them with a school, they have taught them new agriculture skills and helped them learn to deal with their weather problems. They have provided them with sewing equipment and skills to sell what they make and support themselves.
This is not a constant hand out to keep them feed, rather they have been supported and given the skills to take care of themselves, and the women and children of Libore have stepped up to the challenge.
So I am asking for you to please take a moment and consider Pencil for kids as a great cause to support and I am providing you with the link to their web page. http://pencilsforkids.com/
I am also providing you with the link for Orbis as they help all over the world so if you feel like helping them out as well here you go https://orbiscan.akaraisin.com/Common/Event/Home.aspx?seid=15267&mid=8

Below is a picture of our founder Flemming Friisdahl presenting Robin with a huge pencil award (made from recycled chopsticks from a company in BC). You can tell just how humble of a lady Robin is and how much she appreciates what we have done for her cause. Once again this photo has been shared courtesy of Dan Galbraith who incidentally is the photographer who made that phone call to Robin all those years ago after going to Libore with a a group of athletes and seeing 30 kids sharing one pencil.

Where you can find me:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/stephaniethetravelagentnextdoor

Website: http://www.exclusivetoyoutravel.ca

Email: slough@exclusivetoyoutravel.com

TICO 500212282

55 York Street, Suite 1003

Toronto, On M5J 1R7

Please keep in mind that while my head office is in Toronto. I am a home based travel agent and I live in South Dundas and I can service clients anywhere in Canada. But, I meet with clients in the SD&G area

Pencil for Kids

The Travel Agent Next Door has a charity that we have been supporting since our first conference in 2016 when their President Robin Mednick was our keynote speaker. This charity helps the people of Niger in Africa. The charity is Pencil for Kids and we are happy supporters to this cause.
This charity was created in 2005 after Dan Galbraith happened to visit this city during common wealth games as he is a well know photographer. He was left unsettled after this visit and with the help of Robin and a great group of people the charity was born.
In 2007 they built their first school. There goal was to have sustainable programs in the community and income generating opportunities for women.  They have several programs. The farmers of the future program is the brainchild of Professor Dov Pasternak an agricultural scientist with fifty years experience in dry regions. The program is done in partnership with an American NGO, Eliminate Poverty Now. They have sewing programs and scholarships for girls.

 Robin photo courtesy of Dan Galbraith

Robin photo courtesy of Dan Galbraith

Robin is an awesome speaker and very passionate about this cause and so are the travel agents from the travel agent next door. Every year we raise donations at out conference. This year between donations made by agents and suppliers a match of $4000 from head office and online silent auction for three items donated by suppliers we managed to raise $19822.00 CAD for pencil for kids.

This an amazing amount and I feel honoured for the small contribution I was able to make last year and this year. If you would like to make a donation to this great cause please visit their website www.pencilforkids.com 

Where you can find me

Facebook: www.facebook.com/stephaniethetravelagennextdoor

Website: www.exclusivetoyoutravel.ca

Email: slough@exclusivetoyoutravel.com

TICO 50021282

55 York Street, Suite 803

Toronto, ON

M5J 1R7

Giving Back

The Travel Agent Next Door head office and agents along with Travelbrands and Am Resorts had the awesome experience of giving back to a school in La Romana, Dominican Republic. Many agents brought along with them backpacks filled with school supplies. On the Tuesday which was our free day many of us loaded on to buses for the drive to the school. The school is made up of 4 complexes and has 1800 students. Complex 1 is a preschool, Complex 2 is an elementary school and complex 3 and 4 are the high schools divided between boys and girls.
We were divided into two buses, one going to the boys school and one going to the girls school. We were further divided into four groups from there. One group painted the newly refinished basketball courts, a second group painted newly refinished benches and tables. The third group did crafts and the fourth group did board games.
The painting groups brought paint brushes with them. The craft groups brought craft supplies and the board game group brought board games. When we got to the school we were taken on a tour of the school

welcome to the school photo courtesy of Dan Galbraith

They are very dependent on teaching trades such as hotel, restaurant as they rely heavily on tourism revenue in the country. They also have health care as well.

 Sewing room

 health classroom

 computer lab

 Industrial Kitchen

Service classroom

Once the tour was done we broke up into groups. I met a bunch of girls my daughters ages and we played many rounds of Connect four and we got to know each other. Some girls had more English than others. Unfortunately my Spanish is not good at all.

photo courtesy of Dan Galbraith

After games we had a break and we more time to interact with the girls. They were very much like my daughters. They were teasing each other playing around and very excited to do selfies.

We then boarded a bus back to the boys school and the girls loaded into school buses. We then were treated to dancing and musical performances by some of the boys and girls. 

 photo courtesy of Dan Galbraith

 a group photo of agents and students photo courtesy of Dan Galbraith

A gift I received from one of the students

It was such a great time being able to give back. There is a waiting list to getting into the school. It costs $10 a month and some families have trouble paying that amount. The school website is www.fundacionmire.org

Where you can find me

Facebook: www.facebook.com/stephaniethetravelagentnextdoor

Website: www.exclusivetoyoutravel.ca

Email: slough@exclusivetoyoutravel.com

TICO 50021282

55 York Street Suite 803

Toronto, ON

M5J 1R7