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Annual fundraiser wins National Philanthropy Award

A local man has received recognition for a much-loved charity event he started five years ago that has raised thousands of dollars for the Stollery Children's Hospital in Edmonton.
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A local man has received recognition for a much-loved charity event he started five years ago that has raised thousands of dollars for the Stollery Children's Hospital in Edmonton.

After receiving a National Philanthropy Award for organizing the annual Children's Charity Golf Classic fundraiser, Mark Reid said the recognition is a testament to the hard work put in by all the volunteers and participants.

“It's as much theirs as mine,” said Reid. “Those people are a big part of everything that's happened to the tournament.”

Over 800 people attended the awards luncheon at the Shaw Conference Centre in Edmonton on Nov. 13 where Reid accepted the award with his wife and older daughter. He received word that the fundraiser was being nominated for an award around two months ago.

“It's obviously a big thing for all the people involved to get the recognition and it makes everybody want to stay involved,” Reid said. “We take a lot of pride in it and it kind of gives you the energy to go forward with it.”

Holding a special place in Reid's heart, the fundraiser was started by him and his wife to honour their younger daughter Kennedy, who was born with Costello Syndrome. A number of years ago, Kennedy had a wish granted through the Children's Wish Foundation and they got to meet the man who raised the money for the wish.

“The guy that raised the money was from Calgary for the wish trip that we went on (and) we got to meet him and then kind of when I just walked out of there, I'm like, ‘Okay, I'm going to do something to give back somewhere,' and I didn't know what at the time but then we came up with this golf tournament.”

Since then, he hasn't looked back. The fundraiser has managed to raise a whopping $89,000 since it was started in 2011.

Over 140 locals signed up to play golf in this year's fundraiser in June, and a banquet at the end of the event was replete with speeches, a large raffle and a silent auction. They raised $20,000 this year.

“Companies or people donate all kinds of prizes, cash donations and we get a lot of different prizes from the community and the support is unreal,” Reid noted. “Hopefully everyone sees that we're putting the time in there and results are coming with it as well.”

Currently generating funds exclusively from auction items, Reid hopes the award will get some sponsors on board for the fundraiser in the future

“That's our next step in this thing.”

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