"A person's a person, no matter how small"
Dr. Seuss
In June 2017, staff members at West Elgin Mutual came up with the idea of “Summer Solstice – Longest Day of Golf” to raise funds “Fore the Kids”!
On a day in June of each year (for 12 hours), a dedicated team of “marathon golfers” play as many rounds of golf as possible; staff from our branches play a round or two to cheer them on, and locals from within the community, along with a large number of West Elgin’s business partners, come out to join in the fun.
Money is raised through sponsorship and donations, with ALL proceeds being used to provide “kids in our communities” with positive experiences not normally available to them. For example health, financial or personal issues that their families are facing.
Between 2017 and 2020, we had the honour of distributing nearly $15,000 into our “communities”.
This year we're excited to announce, that because of the success of our June 2021 event, we will be able to distribute a further $12,000 and bring smiles to a lot of little faces in our communities.
If you know of a child within your care, school, or local community that would benefit from a positive experience, we would love for you to reach out to us. The guidelines for donations are provided below.
For more information, please contact the following by phoning 1.800.265.7635 or reaching out via email:
Kelli-An DeCook (kdecook@westelgin.com) or
Rae Perry (rperry@westelgin.com)
How we have helped:
- Music lessons to children with special needs.
- Equine Assisted therapy camp.
- Ensuring kids can participate in baseball and hockey by paying their fees or helping out with gear.
- Paying for Summer Camp attendance, ballet and swimming lessons.
- Donating books to be included in the Santa Sacks for the children undergoing care at the Children’s Hospital over Christmas.
- Donating an Easter basket, backpacks and school supplies for kids at the St Thomas Women’s Shelter.
- Purchasing Christmas presents and everyday necessities for kids who wouldn’t normally have something to open on Christmas Day.
- Purchasing zipper pouches filled with positivity for kids battling mental health.
- Back-to-School supplies.
- Donations of funds to help with the purchase of bikes.
Donation Guidelines
It would be fantastic if we could provide support to everyone who asks, but that is not always possible - we only have a limited amount of funds. We want to ensure those that who need most, are the recipients and that we support as many children as possible.
The guidelines below have been developed to help in the decision-making process.
- Support will be considered for children under 16 years of age. However, support requests for children over the
age of 16 years may be considered on a case-by-case basis by the Longest Day of Golf Committee.
- We understand the importance of confidentiality, and also understand that accepting “support” is very hard for some families. The Longest Day of Golf Committee will work with your organization to ensure all aspects of our donation remain confidential, to the point where we don’t even need to know the recipient’s name. Depending on the support requested, fees can be paid directly to organizations, schools, or groups, and whilst it would be nice to meet the kids we support, we respect that this may not happen. However, if a family does want to acknowledge our donation, we will accept any kudos with open arms!
- The Committee reserves the right to:
- Approve or decline any request.
- To pay the full amount or only a portion of the funds being requested
- When making our decision, the Committee considers the following:
- Age of intended recipient
- Family situation
- Type of request
- Assumed long-term benefit of our support.
- We will not consider:
- Gas cards
- Gift cards
- Paying money directly to the family
- Support outside of our business coverage area. Our coverage area is:
- As far east as Tillsonburg
- To north London
- Just West of Strathroy
- West to Ridgetown
- Full support in a situation where Government or organizational grants are available to the intended recipient. However, in the event that these grants only pay a portion of the amount required, consideration may be given to paying the balance in full or part thereof.
- Donations in excess of $500 (unless in exceptional circumstances).
