As John D. Rockefeller Jr. said: “Think of giving not as a duty, but as a privilege.”

In 2022, we were privileged to be able to sponsor a handful of events and donate to several organizations that are close to our hearts and do an amazing job at taking care of our community.

Brigadoon Village offers a variety of camps for children living with health conditions and other life challenges – giving extraordinary kids a chance to be ordinary. We jumped at the chance to sponsor Brigadoon this year for their partnership with the Halifax Wanderers FC. Brigadoon Village Corner was the place to be at the games!

L’Arche Halifax is a community committed to be an active presence in support of persons with disabilities in the greater Halifax area. We were fortunate to sponsor and participate in the David Banks Memorial Golf Tournament this year in support of L’Arche and in memory of a dear colleague. It was a beautiful, if windy, day at Hartlen Point Golf Club.

We Are Young (WAY) is a registered charity, founded in Halifax, that honours our elders and strives to bring happiness by helping them fulfill their unexplored dreams and wishes, big or small. Our branch sponsored the tournament and participated in a fun-filled, sunny day of golf at the beautiful Links at Brunello.

After a 2-year hiatus, the Hydrostone Haul was back this year in support of the North End Opportunities Fund which provides young people in the North End of Halifax with opportunities to participate in programs that they otherwise would be unable to take part in. We were excited to be able to sponsor this great event.

We got to enjoy some delicious burgers this year when we sponsored The Coast’s 10th Anniversary Burger Bash, a city-wide fundraiser for Feed NS.

We were happy to be the leading sponsor of the annual Hydrostone Tree Lighting, presented by Veith House! Veith House is an inclusive neighbourhood hub where everyone is welcome with the aim to build and strengthen community, reduce poverty and address food insecurity. In addition to a monetary sponsorship of the event, our advisors, assistants, and branch staff volunteered their time to help set up the park for the event and hand out cookies, hot drinks, and raffle tickets while Santa made his rounds.

The Street Connection is a mobile soup kitchen that operates in four low-income areas of HRM.  Operating on a regular schedule, volunteers on the bus distribute free food and bread to an average of three hundred men, women, and children each week. We are so grateful for the work they do and that we can support them year after year.

Every year, we choose a local charity to support with our Christmas Raffle. Leading up to our Christmas Party, staff can purchase tickets to win a great prize. This year, 50% of the proceeds went to Ward 5 Neighborhood Centre. Ward 5 is a non-profit organization, located on Russell Street in Halifax, providing community programs for over 30 years. In an average year, the Centre prepares and serves more than 18,000 hot meals to children and seniors. The other 50% raised went to Greener Village Food Bank in Fredericton, N.B. Greener Village provides food, clothing and developmental opportunities to people in Fredericton.

 In 2022 our staff also held a Stocking Stuffer Drive for Phoenix Centre for Youth and a food drive for Feed NS. Our teams outdid themselves with generosity this year, donating several bags of items to Phoenix House and 128 kg of food to Feed NS.

We also want to shoutout our amazing clients who donated 458 kg of food to Feed NS at our Holiday Client Appreciation Event!

Beyond the support we have given as a branch to these worthy causes, our advisors and staff personally support many other fantastic organizations including sports and music sponsorships, theatre, youth programs, and more. We are extremely proud of our team and their efforts to give back.

Thank you to the wonderful organizations we mentioned above for all you do to make the community a better place and we can’t wait to see what 2023 brings!