News Releases
BMO Fountain of Hope (FoH), BMO Financial Group's Employee Foundation, hosted a Celebration of Giving this evening, to distribute more than $1.3 million to 50 Greater Toronto Area charitable organizations.
BMO Financial Group employees and representatives from the supported charitable groups gathered at First Canadian Place in Toronto tonight to celebrate the culmination of a year of employee driven fundraising efforts by BMO Fountain of Hope. The 2006 national fundraising campaign established a new record for the foundation with more than $8 million raised across the country, of which more than $5 million was raised in Ontario.
“The success of this campaign demonstrates BMO employees' spirit of giving and support for the communities in which they live and work,” said Gilles Ouellette, President and CEO, Private Client Group, BMO Financial Group. “Our employees show us that with hope and belief we can help build healthy and safe neighbourhoods and we can take pride in helping to make a difference.”
“It's inspiring to see employees rally behind this important fundraising campaign. This is a remarkable accomplishment, which provides us with an even greater incentive to raise more funds for the upcoming year,” said Heather Baird, Chair of the FoH Ontario Board of Directors.
“BMO Fountain of Hope has demonstrated extraordinary generosity toward Toronto General & Western Hospital Foundation, enabling remarkable breakthroughs and achievements in medical science. This includes the discovery of a new gene associated with Alzheimer's Disease; acquiring the latest technology such as a Gamma Knife for non-invasive surgical procedures on the brain; and implementing a virtual clinic for healthcare providers and diabetes patients to manage their insulin intake,” said Tennys Hanson, President and CEO, Toronto General & Western Hospital Foundation.
“This donation will allow us to provide professional counselling, referral and support services through the phone and web to the more than 200,000 children in the Greater Toronto Area who will reach out to us for help in 2007,” said Tom McAllister, President and CEO of Kids Help Phone.
“We count our blessings that Bank of Montreal has believed in our dream. BMO was instrumental in helping Yee Hong build our first facility, providing a culturally appropriate continuum of care services to Chinese Canadian seniors,” said Pauline Tong, President, Yee Hong Community Wellness Foundation. “Setting a gold standard in the senior care industry, our four Yee Hong Centres are known as the provider of choice. We serve more than 15,000 seniors and their families in the GTA each day, including those from the South Asian, Filipino and Japanese communities. Since 1998, our Cancer and Palliative Care team has provided critical care to more than 4,000 terminally ill patients in the comfort of their own homes, with 60 per cent of them outside of the Chinese community.
“BMO Fountain of Hope's contribution has made many of our services possible, including the support of patients and families coping with life-threatening illness; nursing home residents receiving quality and dignified care; isolated or frail seniors getting friendly visits; as well as activities for seniors to maintain their physical and mental well being,” added Ms. Tong.
Listed below are the recipient organizations of this donation:
AIDS Committee of Toronto
Alzheimer Society - Ontario Division
Arthritis Society - Ontario Division
Autism Society Ontario
Bloorview MacMillan Children's Foundation
Camp Oochigeas - Toronto
Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation - Ontario Chapter
Canadian Cancer Society - Ontario Division
Canadian Diabetes Association - Ontario Division
Canadian Mental Health Association – Ontario Division
Canadian Red Cross – Ontario Division
Children's Aid Foundation
Children's Wish Foundation - Ontario Chapter
CNIB - Ontario Division
Covenant House - Toronto
Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of Canada - Ontario Division
Daily Bread Food Bank - Toronto
Epilepsy Association - Ontario
Gerrard Resource Centre
Habitat for Humanity - Toronto
Heart and Stroke Foundation - Ontario Division
Hospital for Sick Children Foundation - Toronto
Humane Society – Provincial Ontario
Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation - Ontario
Kidney Foundation of Canada - Central Ontario Branch
Kids Help Foundation - Ontario
Macaulay Child Development Centre – Toronto
Mon Sheong Foundation
Mount Sinai Hospital Foundation of Toronto
Multiple Sclerosis Society - Ontario Division
North York General Hospital Foundation
North York 's Women's Shelter
Parkinson Society Canada - Toronto
Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation
Red Door Shelter – Wood Green Red Door Family Shelter
Ronald McDonald House – Toronto
Rouge Valley Health System Foundation – Ajax-Pickering
Royal Victoria Hospital - Barrie
Salvation Army - Ontario Central division
ShareLife – Toronto
Sickle Cell Association of Ontario – Toronto
Southlake Regional Heath Centre Foundation - Newmarket
St. Michael's Hospital Foundation – Toronto
Stephen Lewis Foundation
Sunnybrook Foundation - Toronto
Toronto Child Abuse Centre
Toronto Hospital Foundation (General & Western)
United Jewish Appeal of Greater Toronto
United Way - Greater Toronto
Yee Hong Community Wellness Foundation - Scarborough
Last year, employees in the GTA supported a broad range of charitable organizations through BMO Fountain of Hope including children's charities 15%, community service organizations 15%, hospitals 29%, medical and health care organizations 33% and various other organizations 8%.
BMO Fountain of Hope is the charitable foundation of Canadian employees and pensioned employees of BMO Financial Group who support registered charities in their local communities, through personal donations and fundraising efforts. Since its inception as a national foundation in 1999, BMO Fountain of Hope has raised over $40 million for more than 3,000 charities across the country through the efforts and generosity of BMO Financial Group employees and customers.
Photos of this event will be available on bmo.com.
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