This is a special time of year for the Calgary Stampede Lotteries. It’s a time of giving and sharing, as the proceeds of the 2015 program are shared with many deserving charities and organizations in our community. It’s also a time of celebration, as we reflect on the many amazing things those same charities and organizations are able to do throughout the year.
Calgary Stampede Lotteries is a partnership between the Calgary Stampede and four service clubs: Kinsmen Club of Calgary, Rotary Club of Calgary South, Calgary Stampede Foundation and the Calgary Marching Show Band Association. Every year, proceeds from the lottery support the Calgary Stampede, a not-for profit organization, and our youth and agricultural programs. Shared proceedsare directly reinvested in the community through these service club partners. This year, $1.172 million was distributed to benefit community programs.
Enviros is one of the many not-for-profit social service agencies the Kinsmen Club supports with funds from Stampede Lotteries. “These programs are offered to youth who may be recovering from adictions or need intensive therapy in order to return back to their home,” explains Jennifer Harbour, manager of fund development at Envrios, adding “[The funds received] are used to help Enviros with building maintenance and renovation projects for the residential programs we operate.”
Hull Child and Family Services uses the funding it gets from Stampede Lotteries to help children with behavioural and mental health challenges that impact them, their families and our society. One youth from Hull shares, “Hull has been my home, my safe place, for more than 20 years of my life and when I go back to volunteer or visit staff members, I feel a sense of ease, comfort and gratefulness.” With the support of the Stampede Lotteries program, Hull Services is able to purchase safe vehicles, sporting equipment and other important items that can help change the lives of the kids in its care.
Other community programs supported by the Stampede’s four service club partners include the Boys and Girls Club of Calgary, Calgary Drop-In & Rehab Centre, Calgary Food Bank, Inn From the Cold, Kids Cancer Care, Ronald McDonald House and The Salvation Army. There are hundreds more, all playing a key role in shaping and enriching the lives of people throughout our city.
Youth participating in the Calgary Stampede Showband learn a lot about music and performance, while also gaining valuable skills that will benefit them for the rest of their lives. That experience comes thanks, in part, to funding from the lottery proceeds given to the Stampede Showband by the Calgary Marching Show Band Association.
“Over the years, the Calgary Stampede Showband and the Stampede Foundation has enhanced my life through leadership, musicianship, professionalism, and cultural exchange,” Jay Stueck, Stampede Showband alumnus, says. Stueck refers to the Showband as his home away from home, where he was able to create lifelong friends, with whom he has had the privilege of sharing memorable experiences with. “The values of the Calgary Stampede have shaped my identity where I developed a greater appreciation for the vast diversity our great city possesses. As I move forward as an alumnus of the Calgary Stampede Showband, the founding principles of the Calgary Stampede will continue to influence my life as they have all these years…accountability, commitment, compassion, engagement and stewardship,” he continued.
The reach of Stampede Lottery proceeds is far in the city of Calgary but could not be possible without all those who support the program. On behalf of the many community programs, the four Stampede Lotteries partners, and the Calgary Stampede itself, thank you.
To learn more about Calgary Stampede Lotteries and the many charities the lotteries support, visit https://www.calgarystampedelotteries.ca/
