2013 National Philanthropy Day NDP Victoria
It is an honour to be asked to photograph the National Philanthropy Day - NPD 2013 at The Fairmont Empress. Every year I leave inspired with a new personal hero this year it's definitely Rudi Hoenson.
His personal stories are inspiring; from spending half a year in Japan as a prisoner of war in World War II, to immigrating to Canada and meeting the love of his life.
His story of scraping together "a little pile of money" as he put it and being able to donate tens of thousands of dollars - to creating the Sylvia Hoenson Foundation of $500,000 thousand dollars makes you believe anyone can make a difference and I would love to be like him one day to be able to help so many people.
The Reynolds Secondary School / Cop for Cancer organizing committee raised an amazing amount, just over $100,000!
Dr. Rebecca Grant winning the award for outstanding fundraising volunteer award. Or the Independent Order of Odd Fellows Columbia Lodge number two, and their outstanding efforts to raise money from numerous causes, winning the outstanding Philanthropic service club.
Coastal Community Credit Union one the corporate responsibility award. For their passionate employees donating their time and coastal community supporting them with donations.
If you're lucky enough to attend the event you get to rub elbows with extraordinary people and of course make connections to help people doing extraordinary things.
So take this as a reminder to donate your favourite cause or volunteer your time to make someone's life and the world a better place.
To see all the images from the event go to
http://orangefrogstudio.smugmug.com/event/NPD/WEmNYAohcd13k
Check out the event coordinater
Monica Powell Event Management www.monicapowellevents.ca