Charity Pop Quiz starts on April 16, and you’re eager and ready to earn points for your favourite charity. But there are only 10 questions, which means you can only earn 10 points during the Quiz. If you want to help your favourite charity receive even more points by spreading the word about the Quiz, here are some suggestions.
Tell People about the Quiz
The first way is the easiest and probably the most effective. Tell your family, friends and coworkers about Charity Pop Quiz and ask them to help you support your favourite Winnipeg charity by playing every day. If you tell 10 people, and they play every day, you could help your favourite charity earn 100 additional points!
Email Your Friends
Send an email to tell your friends and family about Charity Pop Quiz and ask them to help you support your favourite Winnipeg charity. Put a link (http://on.fb.me/CharityPopQuiz) to the Quiz in the email to make it easy for them to play along.
Share the Quiz on Facebook There will be a handy share button right on the Quiz Page that will make it easy for you to post about the Quiz on your Facebook Profile. You’ll be given the opportunity to comment before you share and you could use the opportunity to let your friends know what the daily answer is, or ask them to help you support your favourite charity.
Send a Tweet If you’re on Twitter, a tweet is an easy way to let your network know about Charity Pop Quiz. Use the hashtag #CharityPopQuiz if you want your tweet to be grouped with others about the Quiz. If you know the answer to the daily trivia question, go ahead and tweet it. We won’t give hints at The Winnipeg Foundation, but that doesn’t mean you can’t. Only correct answers earn points so your favourite charity will benefit if you help your friends and family answer correctly.
Tell Your Favourite Charity You’re Playing on Its Behalf
The charity you’re earning points for through Charity Pop Quiz would no doubt love to hear about the work you’re doing to help them. You’ll encourage them by sharing your support and perhaps they can give you some ideas to promote the Quiz even more.
When teen singer/actress Selena Gomez visited Winnipeg, which charity did she adopt a pet from? Was it: D’Arcy’s A.R.C., The Winnipeg Humane Society or Winnipeg Pet Rescue?
Right now it’s just practice, but starting on April 16, 2012, your answer will earn points—and perhaps even a $910 award—for your favourite registered Winnipeg charity through Charity Pop Quiz.
The Quiz is intended to help us celebrate our 91st anniversary and help Winnipeg charities share some fun, quirky and little-known facts about themselves.
To play Charity Pop Quiz, visit The Winnipeg Foundation’s Facebook Page April 16 – 25, 2012 and click on the Quiz icon. We’ll post a new trivia question every day – 10 questions total. Every time you answer a trivia question correctly, you earn a point for your favourite registered Winnipeg charity.
The five charities with the most points at midnight April 25, 2012 will each receive $910. All the remaining charities that received at least one point during the Quiz will be entered into a draw (one entry per organization) for five additional $910 awards.
Even though the game is on our Facebook Page, you don’t need a Facebook account to play. However, if you do have a Facebook account, Like our Facebook Page to be among the first to hear updates and news about the Quiz.
As for the Winnipeg charity Selena Gomez adopted a pet from, it was D’Arcy’s A.R.C., though all the options would have been great places to adopt a pet. Last year, groups of high school students directed $1,000 grants to each of the three charities listed above after researching their work through our Youth in Philanthropy program.
Good luck as you play, and we hope everyone will learn something about the charities that serve our city.
The Winnipeg Foundation’s Grants Committee recently approved approximately $1.4 million in grants to more than 90 local charities. Each week this month we’ll highlight a new grant to support a Winnipeg project that you may not have heard about before.
When asked if there was anything others could do to help him in his role as the Volunteer Coordinator, Rick Caslake, Program Manager at the North Point Douglas Seniors Association, asked if anyone knew where he could find a 30-hour day.
Caslake was hired in May 2011 as a dedicated volunteer coordinator to recruit, and train senior volunteers to assist with community outreach at the Barber House 55+ Active Living Centre. The Seniors Association runs many programs out of Barber House, including Food-On-Wheels, coffee drop-ins, Aboriginal art classes, sewing and quilting time, movie nights, Brunch & Learns, an elder abuse research project, outdoor physical activities and more.
“We typically serve coffee, tea, juice, fruit and muffins. And, we usually solve all the world’s problems by mid-Wednesday, each week,” Caslake joked about the coffee drop-ins.
A piece of art made in the Aboriginal art class – more of a chance to socialize while creating art and share art supplies than an actual class, according to Caslake
Caslake related a story about a senior who takes part in the programs: “[He] was basically a shut-in as far as having a place to go every day. As soon as Barber House opened, he started coming over – and, if he couldn’t make it, he’d phone me, so I “wouldn’t worry”,” Caslake said.
Through their elder abuse research project, the Seniors Association provides a safe and confidential place to talk about abuse issues and possible solutions. Caslake explained they had recently intervened with one senior’s landlord to have her furnace repaired – the heat was off and the temperature in her home was below freezing.
Caslake was also recently involved in launching the S.W.E.E.P. program. S.W.E.E.P. or Seniors Waste Elimination Encouragement Program, adds a recycling component to the existing Food-On-Wheels program. Volunteer seniors fill reusable bins with food, and deliver them to recipient seniors in the community. The bins double as recycling containers for the recipients, who are often challenged by the physical effort needed to carry their recycling to the curb. The following week, when the volunteers make their next food delivery, they will pick up the bin (now full of recycling), sort through it, and properly dispose of its contents.
A volunteer helps pack the food that will be delivered to seniors in the community.
All joking aside, Caslake identified a number of areas others could help if they chose.
“Food is important – it’s the primary basic human need. When people don’t have enough of the right kinds of food to eat, their health suffers, and other social ills soon follow – isolation, fear, loneliness. We’re always on the lookout for fresh fruits and vegetables,” he said.
Caslake also expressed a need for seeds for their gardening program, a chipper or shredder for processing leaves, branches and compost and a passenger van to drive seniors to appointments, the grocery store, and to pick up and deliver food hampers.
The Winnipeg Foundation made two $15,000 grants, one in 2010 and one in 2012, to support the Volunteer Coordinator position—which Caslake currently holds—at the North Point Douglas Seniors Association. The recent grants were drawn from two endowment funds generously established at The Winnipeg Foundation to support programs for seniors.
Janice Lofendale and her siblings, Val and Don are the founders of the Martha and Len Lofendale Memorial Fund at The Winnipeg Foundation which generates bursaries for students at Elmwood High School. The siblings set up the fund in memory of their parents who loved living in Elmwood and were always willing to help those in need.
Can you tell me a little about your parents, and why you decided to set up a bursary fund in their memory?
Martha and Len Lofendale
Our parents lived most of their married life in Elmwood. They believed, and instilled in theirchildren, that you should help your neighbour and your fellow man. They also believed that education was very important and should be available to everyone.
Our Dad passed away in 1987 and our Mum in 2008. We felt it would be a nice tribute to their memory to help people continue their education through a bursary.
We decided to set up the bursary in our parents’ name because they would have been pleased to know they were continuing to help others. It was my sister’s idea, in part to keep their memory and spirit alive, and in part to help ease their loss—which it has.
It makes a sad event a little happier to know that through our parents’ memory we are able to help someone further their education.
We are hoping the next generation of our family, Devin and Matthew, will be interested in presenting the award in their grandparents’ name in the years to come.
How did you choose the criteria for the award?
My sister, brother and I want to help someone who needs financial assistance. Marks are not our top priority as there are a number of awards at the school to reward those with top marks. We take applicant’s charity work into consideration, since this was a big part of who our parents were. We also want the recipient to continue their studies in Manitoba, preferably in Winnipeg. Our parents loved Winnipeg and Manitoba.
Have you had the opportunity to meet any of the recipients of your bursary?
I have met the recipients at the graduation ceremony where I presented the bursary. Plus I have read their applications describing their schooling and plans for the future. It has been rewarding to see that the students we selected didn’t necessarily receive other awards, so we know our bursary was valuable to them.
What would you tell others considering setting up a bursary fund?
The knowledge and expertise of The Winnipeg Foundation has assisted us greatly and simplified the process of setting up a bursary in our parents’ name. If you want to remember a loved one, this is an excellent way to do so.
You keep the loved one’s name alive, and you can be involved in selecting the recipient. You also are helping someone through your loved one’s name in a very meaningful way.
We recently interviewed Nick Tanchuk about his role in founding the Dr. Brian M. Keenan Fund at The Winnipeg Foundation. Nick is a full time Grade 6 teacher at Victoria Albert School in downtown Winnipeg. He is currently completing his honours thesis in Philosophy at the University of Winnipeg.
Who was involved in setting up the Dr. Brian M. Keenan Prize and why did they do it?
The Dr. Brian M. Keenan Prize was Neil Shah’s idea. When he made the mistake of expressing it over breakfast at the Garwood Grill, Dylan Procter, Aaron Russin, Carly Scramstad and I pounced. Collectively we shared an interest, spurred by Dr. Keenan, in the possibility that philosophical thought could improve public life.
The prize became a catalyst for this shared commitment, a way to critically engage with a broader Canadian political discourse and to honour the unorthodox teacher who inspired this concern in each of us.
From Left to right: Carly Scramstad, Dylan Procter, Aaron Russin, Neil Shah, Nick Tanchuk and Brian Keenan
What was it like choosing the first scholarship recipient and how did he or she react?
In the first year of the prize we were pleased to receive 42 papers from 16 schools across Canada. In the second year we received 51 papers, again from PEI to Victoria.
Each board member is responsible for advancing her or his top three selections from an allotted portion of the anonymous stack. Collectively we read all of the ‘long-list’ papers and then argued until we agreed which five should go to Dr. Keenan as the official short list
Our first prize winner, Michael Anthony of the University of Victoria, was excited to be a part of an independent award created by students to support other students. Michael discussed his paper Immanent Humanity: Re-evaluating individual responsibility, liability, and immunity in times of war with Dr. Keenan upon receipt of the award and enjoyed fielding questions from our former teacher. Michael has since used the funds from the award to support his pursuit of graduate studies at the University of Victoria.
As a board member and part funder of the prize, it was deeply satisfying to know that a fellow student would receive support from the Dr. Brian M. Keenan Prize to continue his studies regarding issues of importance.
What are the criteria for the prize and how can students apply?
I understand you are accepting donations to grow this scholarship fund, how can people help?
Currently each board member supports the amount awarded in the prize by chipping in a fifth of the $1250 total. We are currently building an endowment fund to support the award in perpetuity and potentially grow the award itself. Contributions to the Dr. Brian M. Keenan Fund through The Winnipeg Foundation are welcomed.
The Winnipeg Foundation
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ph: (204) 944-9474 | fx: (204) 942-2987
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How To Find Us
Janice Lofendale and her siblings, Val and Don are the founders of the Martha and Len Lofendale Memorial Fund at The Winnipeg Foundation which generates bursaries for students at Elmwood High School. The siblings set up the fund in memory of their parents who loved living in Elmwood and were always willing to help those in need.
We recently interviewed Nick Tanchuk about his role in founding the Dr. Brian M. Keenan Fund at The Winnipeg Foundation. Nick is a full time Grade 6 teacher at Victoria Albert School in downtown Winnipeg. He is currently completing his honours thesis in Philosophy at the University of Winnipeg.
