Seeding change
Author and educator Joe Kelly created the Project Change Foundation after embarking on a yearlong challenge to discover what really mattered to him. He found it wasn’t the consumer goods and indulgences he had spent years trying to fill his life with.
“Project Change was an idea in response to the question we often ask ourselves: What kind of legacy do I want to leave in this world?” says Kelly. His idea was sparked when his dad was diagnosed with terminal stage-four pancreatic cancer and he spent the last months of his father’s life with his family in Kelowna.
Kelly then decided that “someday” was today and enlisted good friends Jessica Bouchard, Gordon Johnson, Robin Turnball, and Holman Wang to make the Project Change Foundation a reality. Created in 2015, its mission is simple: to help make the world a better place by supporting and empowering people who are creating positive social or environmental change. The organization acts as a catalyst, providing financial and free advisory support.
Kelly and fellow author Wang fronted the firm’s second annual soiree at the Vancouver Convention Centre. Friends gathered to support the pair’s efforts, raising $7,000 for Emily-Anne King and Joanne Griffiths‘ Backback Buddies program, the foundation’s 2016 charity of choice, which is dedicated to filling the weekend hunger gap for children who rely on school meal programs during the week.
“My own father passed away at the end of 2014, and while I got to share the idea for the Project Change Foundation with him, he didn’t get to see it take shape. Still, I think he’d be proud”, says Kelly.
CHANGE-MAKER: Joe Kelly’s inaugural Project Change gala helped raised funds for Natasha Thom’s Lipstick Project, which provides complimentary professional spa treatment services for people facing significant health challenges.
Project Change Foundation director and event organizer Holman Wang helped raise nearly $7,000 for Emily-Anne King’s Backpack Buddies program, which helps feed hungry school kids.
Richmond Gateway Theatre executive director Camilla Tibbs, left, and Firehall Theatre General Manager Laura Efron are among supporters helping Project Change provide financial assistance and advisory support to emerging charities in Canada.
Change maker
Help Change My City is dedicated to empowering to the homeless, at-risk youth, teen parents and youth who have aged out of foster care. The charity aims to provide opportunities — through guidance, care, support and mentorship — for them to reach their fullest potential and to be fully active participants of our community.
It was created in 2012 by Alpha Kirabira, a Ugandan-born Vancouver resident who wanted to give back to the country that has provided him so much. Sponsored by a Canadian family, he arrived in the country at the age of 12 and attended high school in Surrey. He and his mother would eventually return to their native land and that’s when the affable Kirabira says he found his calling: to help and give back.
With very limited means, he and his mom launched various humanitarian efforts to help their own, from opening shelters to providing schooling for Ugandan kids. To fund their efforts they started a printing company and ran a guesthouse for foreign aid workers. Kirabira would bring this model of giving back to his adopted home. With the support of Christine Michelle, an aid worker who has spent many years helping others in refugee camps, and a supporting cast of young local do-gooders, they created Help Change My City to help marginalized kids get from a difficult place of helplessness to one of self-sufficiency.
To support the outfit’s many programs and services, the organization recently staged its fourth Little Black Dress Gala at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver. Nearly 1,400 well-dressed attendees convened at the iconic property for the festive night of live music, fashion and fundraising. Looking to bring in $30,000, the party featured local designers, musicians, and dancers coming together for a night of change.
“It’s an exciting night because it’s about community and giving opportunities to those in need. This event changes our community, culture, and future which is something I’m really excited about,” says Kirabira.
Scotiabank’s Vanja Pojuzina, left, and Grace Kim were among around 1,400 stylish guests that attended Help Change My City’s Little Black Dress Gala. Proceeds from the fashionable fete went to help the homeless, at-risk youth, teen parents and youth who have aged out of foster care.
Help Change My City creator Alpha Kirabira welcomed tastemaker, writer and entrepreneur Jackie Ellis to his flagship fundraiser aimed at helping marginalized kids become self-sufficient.
PARTY DRESS: Help Change My City principal Christine Michelle created her own black dress, accented by her grandmother’s pearls, for the firm’s signature soiree at the Hotel Vancouver.
Changing perceptions
World AIDS Day is held every Dec. 1, an opportunity for people worldwide to unite in the fight against HIV/AIDS, and the stigma associated with the disease. It is a time of reflection to commemorate those who have died and an opportunity to show support for those individuals — men, women and children — living with the virus or syndrome. Globally, there are an estimated 34 million people who have HIV. Stigma and discrimination remain a reality for many people living with the condition.
In Metro Vancouver, Lisa Martella’s A Loving Spoonful organization hosted its annual World Aids Day Luncheon to continue the conversation. Presented by BMO Financial Group, the event attracted some of Vancouver’s business elite, community leaders and distinguished personalities to the afternoon friend-raiser, tallying $75,000 for the 27-year old charity, which has been providing 100,000 free, nutritious meals annually to people affected by HIV/AIDS.
Melissa Manchon and Mike Bonner of BMO Financial Group — presenting sponsor of the World AIDS Day Luncheon — get set to raise their paddles in support of A Loving Spoonful’s efforts to provide free nutritious meals to clients affected by HIV/AIDS in Metro Vancouver.
Andrea Miller and Peter Jackman’s Terminal City Club hosted the World AIDS Day Luncheon. The club also helped make spirits brighter, donating $3,000 to the cause.
MEAL DEAL: At the World AIDS Day benefit, A Loving Spoonful executive director Lisa Martella highlighted the stigma and discrimination that remain a reality for many people living with HIV/AIDS. Astrid Lalonde was among benefactors that contributed to the $78,000 tally.
McMillan’s Tom Deutsch and his wife Corri were among business leaders that lent their time to the afternoon luau designed to dispel the stigma about HIV/AIDS.
