MONTREAL, July 12, 2016 /CNW Telbec/ - The Air Canada Foundation's fifth annual golf tournament netted $1,000,000 in support of organizations focused on health and well-being of children in Canada.  The tournament was held Monday, July 11 at the Saint Raphaël Golf Club, Québec, and featured more than 300 golfers from across North America. It included a full day of golf followed by a cocktail-style dinner, silent and live auctions of items donated by tournament partners and Air Canada Foundation supporters.

AIMIA returned as Presenting Partner of this year's event which was supported by more than 100 Canadian, American and international corporations and organizations.

This year's Patron of Honours are:

To view other supporters, please visit: www.aircanada.com/foundation.

"We thank Air Canada's generous partners and friends for ensuring the outstanding success of the Air Canada Foundation's fifth annual signature fundraising event," said Priscille LeBlanc, Chair of the Air Canada Foundation. "We also thank the team of Air Canada employee volunteers who worked tirelessly to help organize and facilitate the sell-out event thereby allowing the majority of funds raised to be directly reinvested towards the health and wellbeing of children.  For a third consecutive year the Air Canada Foundation Golf Tournament has raised over a million dollars and on behalf of all the people whose lives are touched by the Foundation, I thank our loyal sponsors, participants and volunteers for their on-going generosity and support."

To mark the fifth annual golf tournament as well our longstanding partnership of over two decades with the Children's Miracle Network and its 14 Canadian pediatric hospitals, the Air Canada Foundation made a significant donation of $700,000.  This grant will enable each hospital to address its own most urgent needs. Two of their ambassadors, Laura and Hodan, both treated at their local hospitals, played an important role during the day by manning the highly coveted lemonade stand, enticing golfers with refreshments while raising funds for the Foundation: www.aircanada.com/foundation.

Also to celebrate this special occasion, a video was featured during the event showcasing the Air Canada Foundation's signature program, the Hospital Transportation Program. The Program provides Aeroplan Miles to pediatric hospital across Canada, giving children and their parents access to advanced medical treatments not available in their community.  The new video, now live on aircanada.com, will be featured on board Air Canada flights as of August 1, 2016.

As a registered not-for-profit organization, the Air Canada Foundation's mission is to grant children's wishes, alleviate child poverty and help connect sick children to the medical care they need.

In 2015, the Air Canada Foundation granted over $4.7M in support of Canadian registered charities. Funds are donated to programs or projects submitted by eligible registered charitable organizations that meet the Air Canada Foundation selection criteria. Information is available at www.aircanada.com/foundation. Some of the recipients were:

Financial Grants

• Breakfast Clubs of Canada to support existing school breakfast programs in aboriginal communities and finance the cost of equipment and training for new programs.
• 14 Canadian pediatric hospitals, members of the Children's Miracle Network to assist with their most urgent funding needs.
• Dreams Take Flight Canada, a charitable organization founded and driven by Air Canada employees and retirees who enable thousands of children with physically, mentally or socially challenged backgrounds from across Canada to experience an all-expense paid day at Disney.
• Shriners Hospital Canada, as part of a five-year commitment to the Young Patient Lounge area of Montreal's new hospital.
• ErinOakKids, the largest children's treatment centre in Ontario, serving more than 15,000 children and youth annually who have physical and developmental disabilities, autism, communication disorders, blindness/low vision and hearing loss. Funds granted enabled the purchase of a new portable ultrasound unit.
• Pathways to Education's The Pathways Air Canada Foundation Scholarship Fund, which is a three-year commitment towards the creation of a scholarship fund called to help youth from low-income communities graduate from high school and successfully transition into post-secondary education and training.
• Beyond Borders ECPAT's program, which helps to free children from sexual abuse and exploitation.

In-Kind Support

• Aircraft for eight Dreams Take Flight trips from across Canada to Disney
• Support to over 350 charitable organizations with the gift of travel for hundreds of fundraising events
• Partnership with the RCMP Child Recovery Program to ensure the safe return of missing children
• Air Canada Foundation Hospital Transportation Program which donated over 10 million Aeroplan Miles to pediatric hospitals across Canada enabling children to access medical care not available in their own communities
• A Volunteer Involvement Program for employees which awarded support to 85 charitable organizations in which Air Canada employees volunteer in their own community, including:
  • Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Society of Canada [Société Canadienne de la Sclérose Latérale Amyotrophique], Ontario
  • Canadian Angelman Syndrome Society, Alberta
  • A Loving Spoonful Meals Society, British Columbia
  • Foundation Children's Smile & Juy, Quebec [Fondation Joie et Sourires d'Enfants, Québec]
  • Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation, Ontario
  • Families of Spinal Muscular Atrophy Canada Society, British Columbia
  • Looking Glass Foundation for Eating Disorders, British Columbia
  • Reach for the Rainbow Ontario, Ontario
  • Canadian Hard of Hearing Association Vancouver Branch, British Columbia
  • Fondation Tel-Jeunes, Québec
  • Variety Village, Ontario
  • Fondation du Grand Défi Pierre Lavoie, Québec
  • Manitoba Riding for the Disabled Association Inc., Manitoba
  • Newfoundland and Labrador Down Syndrome Society Incorporated, Newfoundland and Labrador

About the Air Canada Foundation
The Air Canada Foundation, a not-for-profit organization focused on the health and well-being of children and youth, was launched in 2012. It offers both financial and in-kind support, through travel assistance, to Canadian registered charities.  Core programs include the Hospital Transportation Program which donates Aeroplan Miles to pediatric hospitals across Canada enabling children to access medical care unavailable locally and the Volunteer Involvement Program which recognizes the involvement of employees in their local community by providing airline tickets to the registered charities in support of their fundraising initiatives.  The Foundation in collaboration with the airline also engages directly in fundraising activities such as the Every Bit Counts program which encourages customers to donate loose change of all denominations onboard flights or through airport collection containers. The Foundation also offers continued support to major health-related causes that benefit Canadians and is an active participant in international humanitarian relief activity as the need arises.  For more information about the Air Canada Foundation, please visit www.aircanada.com/foundation or the 2015 Corporate Sustainability Report, Citizens of the World, online at www.aircanada.com/csr.

SOURCE Air Canada

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