November 2009 Newsletter“CELEBRATING 40 YEARS AT 100%”The Pinehurst ClubTM supports the Legacy Fund of Sleeping Children Around the World. For 40 years, SCAW has been distributing bedkits to needy children and every penny of bedkit donations during those 40 years has been spent on the children. Your support of The Pinehurst Club breakfast will allow SCAW to maintain its Core Value as “The 100% Charity”. 
WE’VE GOT ANOTHER REASON TO CELEBRATE!For Sleeping Children Around The World, 2009 was the year of the “One Millionth Bedkit”. In 1985, Murray Dryden (Founder of SCAW along with his wife, Margaret) had a dream for Sleeping Children in memory of Margaret: one million bedkits! Murray died in 2004 and SCAW’s volunteers took on Murray’s dream. In 2009, SCAW reached Murray’s goal making 2009 the “Year of the Millionth Bedkit”. SCAW now has another reason to celebrate because Murray and Margaret started distributing bedkits 40 years ago. 2010 will be SCAW’s 40th Birthday. Not too many people will be interested in birthday cake at 7:30 a.m. at the 2nd annual Pinehurst Club Breakfast but this will not stop us from celebrating 40 years of success as “The 100% Charity”! We’re “Keeping the Dream Alive!” 
WE’VE GOT THE FACTS!Our inaugural event for The Pinehurst Club was an event to remember in many ways. From a financial perspective, it met and exceeded our goals, Our goal was to clear $80,000 for the Legacy Fund of SCAW. With the support of our Breakfast Sponsor, TD COMMERCIAL BANKING, our other sponsors (AVW-TELAV, EVANS MARTIN LLP, THE BEALIGHT FOUNDATION, FRIENDS OF SCAW, and FLASH REPRODUCTIONS), and our donors of raffle prizes, we cleared $91,363. All of these proceeds have been turned over to SCAW’s Legacy Fund for investment in very conservative instruments. The interest from The Legacy Fund supports the operating expenses of SCAW. SCAW’s Legacy Fund was started by Murray and Margaret Dryden through their generous gift of three tree farms which were eventually sold for $3,000,000. The capital in the Legacy Fund as of Sept 30th was $3,218,000. When a supporter of The Pinehurst Club breakfast makes a payment to The Pinehurst Club, SCAW will send a charitable receipt for 80% of the amount provided. We are not allowed by CRA rules to provide a charitable receipt for 100% of the donation – we must subtract the cost of the breakfast ($30 for every $150 seat). Be assured that every penny of the net proceeds of The Pinehurst Club breakfast will be invested conservatively in the Legacy Fund so that it can continue to support the operating expenses of SCAW as we continue to grow the number of bedkits that are distributed. We’re “Keeping the Dream Alive!” WE’VE GOT THE SPEAKERS! The speakers for May 5th are all lined up and confirmed! Our Master of Ceremonies will again be NEIL AITCHISON. Neil moved our program along nicely last April and everyone present appreciated his humour and his wonderful rapport with the Pinehurst participants. Neil is a recipient of the Governor General’s Lifetime Achievement Award, as well as an officer of the Order of Canada, and an honourary sergeant major of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. He has assisted in raising millions of dollars for a number of charities. Even at 7:30 a.m. in the morning, Neil (a popular speaker, actor, former broadcast executive and radio personality) knows how to get people smiling and chuckling! DAVE DRYDEN, the Chair of the Board for Sleeping Children Around The World, will extend his welcome on behalf of SCAW and will present The Pinehurst Award to a very deserving individual. Dave is the son of SCAW’s founders, Murray and Margaret Dryden), and a retired ex-NHL goalie and school principal. Our
5 minute speaker is a man who runs Marathons and donates all the pledges
from his runs to Sleeping Children – GARY COMERFORD. Gary is an executive
with RGA Life Reinsurance Company as well as a long time Rotarian. Last
April, Gary completed the Boston Marathon. Gary has also participated in
two distributions of bedkits in India and is well qualified to provide
his story of how one can make a difference in the life of a needy child.  And, lastly, our Keynote speaker will be CHRISTINE MAGEE, President and co-founder of Sleep Country Canada, the largest retailer of mattresses in Canada. Christine is a well-known and successful Canadian Businesswoman who continues to make a difference by leading a company that has a social conscience. Christine believes strongly in sharing knowledge and staying involved in the community. In addition to her charity work, she is an active member of the Women’s President Organization, as well as a member of the Advisory Council for the Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario. Christine has been the recipient of numerous awards – Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Awards (2007), Honourary Doctorate of Commerce from Ryerson University (2006), Outstanding Business Leader Award from the Wilfred Laurier University (2005), Ontario Entrepreneur of the Year, Retail/Wholesale by the Financial Post (1998), and one of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 (1997) – to name just a few! Don’t miss these wonderful speakers. If you promise to be present on May 5th at 7:30 a.m., we promise to finish the program by 9:00 a.m.! The event has happened. Here's our photo album. WE’VE GOT SPONSORS – BUT WE’RE LOOKING FOR MORE!Hosting a breakfast by The Pinehurst Club for 600+ people costs in the neighborhood of $35,000. The Pinehurst Club has a Sponsorship Program known as “5 for 5”. This means that our sponsors are asked to commit to providing $5,000 per year for 5 years. For this, each sponsor receives a table of 10 seats at the breakfast and recognition on all our signage and promotional material. We have a number of sponsors already committed for the next five years but we can use more. If you would like to “kick the tires” for a year and try it out, The Pinehurst Club would gladly welcome a one year trial commitment (a table of 10 and signage will be supplied). TD Commercial Banking were very generous with their sponsorship in our first year and we are indebted to them for their support of our inaugural breakfast. The Pinehurst Club Committee has decided that it is better to spread the commitment over multiple years and at a lower annual level. If your firm would like to become a sponsor or have any questions, please call John Hercus at 416-401-2017 or Bob Barclay at 905-891-5031.
 WE’VE GOT THE TIME AND THE PLACE!Our 2nd annual Pinehurst Club breakfast will be held on Wednesday, May 5th, at 7:30 a.m. in the Canadian Room at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel. Our inaugural event was held on April 29th, 2009, and this date unfortunately coincided with the end of the tax return season. By May 5, 2010, the tax return season will be history so we are looking forward to seeing more participants from the financial and accounting community on May 5th. WE’VE GOT THE PEOPLE!Selling seats, tables, and sponsorships to the most expensive breakfast in town is no easy task. In spite of the recession, our Ambassadors exceeded our expectations and sold 55 tables for our 2009 inaugural breakfast. We do not expect the job to be any easier this year, but we are committed to selling 70 tables (each table sells for $1,500). The Ambassadors for 2010 are HEATHER BAKER, BOB BARCLAY, RICHMOND CHANDLER, DAVID COOKE, ALAN GREENWOOD, DEBORAH KINZINGER, JUDITH KIRKNESS, DUNCAN MACGREGOR, JOHN MARTIN, CHUCK McILRAVEY, DARCY RECTOR, EVAN RUSSELL, LYNDA RYDER, and SIEG WILL. When these people send out information on The Pinehurst Club, we hope that the recipients will respond positively. Our Ambassadors are not only committed volunteers, but they are committed to The Pinehurst Club financially as well. When you hear from them, please consider their request. 
WE’VE GOT THE PRICE!At $150 per seat, breakfast at The Pinehurst Club is not cheap. In fact, we still believe that it’s the most expensive breakfast in town! However, it’s not really about the food. We do not apologize for the price of each seat because we know where the money is going and we know that 100% of the net proceeds of the breakfast are invested for future benefits to SCAW. The entire net proceeds of the breakfast will be turned over to SCAW’s Legacy Fund and invested so that it will continue to pay for the operating expenses of SCAW. You can read all about SCAW’s Finances by going onto our website at ‘www.scaw.org’. SCAW is completely transparent and we take pride in being known as “The 100% Charity”. WE’VE GOT THE STORY!Enclosed with this newsletter are the stories of The Pinehurst Club and Sleeping Children Around the World. SCAW is a volunteer based charity that has well over 200 volunteers on a regular basis giving of their time and resources. There is only one paid staff member who is paid out of the funds provided by the Legacy Fund. And, even that person spends a considerable amount of her earnings to travel as part of a SCAW Team. Each year, it is estimated that travelling volunteers (13 teams of 6 people) spend in excess of $240,000 of their own personal funds and no charitable receipts are issued (a SCAW Core Value). SCAW’s story is a compelling one with over 70,000 bedkits being distributed in the current year with every penny of donations for bedkits getting to the children.
SCAW’s Legacy Fund is administered by our Finance Committee. The investment strategy for the Legacy Fund is extremely conservative. It is interesting to note that the Legacy Fund did not lose one red cent during the current recession and has continued to earn interest that pays for the operating expenses of SCAW. This prudent investment policy of SCAW’s Finance Committee means that the funds provided through The Pinehurst Club breakfast will provide a long term financial foundation for SCAW as the number of bedkits distributed annually continues to grow. 
WE’VE GOT ANOTHER WAY TO DONATE!At the end of our 2009 Breakfast, NEIL AITCHISON handled the draw for some amazing prizes that were donated by generous supporters of SCAW. Among the prizes for 2009 were two $1,000 vouchers for Westjet Flights! Our raffle will continue to be the final part of the 2010 breakfast. The Pinehurst Club is seeking 10-12 donations of items worth a minimum of $300 or more. If you would like to donate, please contact John Hercus at 416-401-2017 or Bob Barclay at 905-891-5031. The entire proceeds of the raffle – 100% - goes to strengthening the SCAW Legacy Fund. 
AND THERE’S ALWAYS THE GIFT OF A BEDKIT!This picture was taken in February 2009 in a town called Athani in Karnataka State, India. The three young men in this picture are mentally and physically challenged. What you do not see in this picture is the happiness and gratitude that was expressed by the parents of these three children. At our 2009 Pinehurst Club Breakfast at total of 351 bedkits were donated by supporters of the breakfast. SCAW says “THANK YOU!”WE’VE GOT PLACES TO GO!Bedkits are currently distributed in 13 locations. 5 locations are in India (Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Pune, and Belgaum). 4 locations are in Africa (Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Togo). In addition, SCAW also distributes in Bangladesh, Philippines, Nicaragua, and Honduras. Over 70,000 bedkits will be distributed in these locations in the coming year. And, in each location, over 100 volunteers connected to our partners, known as “Overseas Volunteer Organizations”, give up their time to help SCAW traveling volunteers distribute the bedkits. It’s an amazing system of volunteerism that allows SCAW donors to give the gift of sleep to needy children and to ensure that every penny gets to where it is supposed to go!
“Thanks” to BELAIR PRINTING LTD for the gift of our newsletter. |
