Charitable & Environmental Initiatives at Canada Life Place!
Canada Life Place has experienced the thrill of many amazing acts and performances throughout the years. Providing a space where artists can connect with thousands of people is truly a great feeling, but nothing compares to the feeling we have when we are able to help out our community. Canada Life Place strives to contribute to charitable and environmental initiatives that create memorable experiences for those involved. Take a look below at some of our highlights over the past few months!
Canada Life Place Annual Open House Skate in Support of Children’s Aid Society
On Sunday, December 3rd Spectra Venue Management was happy to open the Canada Life Place doors once again for a free open house stake and toy drive in support of Children’s Aid Society. The campaign this December marked the ninth consecutive year that Canada Life Place has launched a toy drive, tallying donations over $50,000 to local children’s charities since 2008. Spectra Venue Management shows no sign of stopping in the future and hopes to continue on the Christmas spirit of giving back during the most wonderful time of the year.
London Knights Green Game in Support of Reforest London
The London Knights vs. Sudbury Wolves hockey game on Saturday, February 10th marked Canada Life Place first ever Green Game! Fans who attended the game had the opportunity to ride on the LTC buses for free to and from the venue in order to save gas waste. Fans also had even more of a reason to cheer on every save the Knight’s goalie made as it contributed to a cause beyond the scoreboard. As part of the ‘Saves For Trees’ partnership between Spectra and ReForest London, each save made during the game resulted in a tree being planted. This partnership helped further ReForest London’s ‘Million Tree Challenge’, which is a community wide project focusing on planting one million trees for the health of the London community! In addition, the official game sponsor – Downtown London agreed to match the total number of saves resulting in a doubled number of trees planted, which totaled to 44 trees!
London Clean & Green
Speaking of green… Spectra is proud to be involved in the annual London Clean & Green day as an initiative to help clean up our local surroundings for the spring season. Each year a day is scheduled around Earth Day where Canada Life Place staff members ditch their desks and clean up garbage around the venue in contribution to the ‘20 minute London make over’. Although this isn’t directly a charitable initiative, our staff is happy to take 20 minutes out of their day to contribute to a community-wide environmental movement.
Heart & Stroke Big Bike
For those who haven’t seen or heard of the energetic Big Bike riding down the streets of London, it’s a charitable initiative in support of the Heart & Stroke foundation! This year on June 7th, Canada Life Place staff members helped raise over $600 dollars while getting heart pumping exercise and helped spread awareness as they peddled through the streets of downtown London. For anyone who hasn’t participated in the Big Bike – look into it for next year as it’s a great team building (and literal) exercise!
Bud’s Backstage Experience in Support of MusiCounts
Have you ever wondered what it’s like to experience the behind the scenes atmosphere of the entertainment industry? Well Bud’s Backstage Experience (BBE) allows you to do just that for charity! This past June marked our third BBE event and it was a sold out success! Guests had the opportunity to tour dressing rooms, eat at a beautiful buffet of items previously requested by past artists and listen to guest speaker Allan Reid – president and CEO of the JUNO’s, CARA’s and MusiCounts. BBE was first held in June 2015 and has since raised over $38,000 for local charities! A we gear up for the 2019 JUNO awards, Canada Life Place thought it would be appropriate to have funds from this year’s event go to MusiCounts, which is a music education charity that strives to put musical instruments into the hands of children who need them most.
Like many venues in the sports and entertainment industry, Canada Life Place has made a conscious effort to evaluate our practices and procedures to ensure we are proactively helping out our community. Be sure to check our website for more upcoming charitable and environmental initiatives that you can be a part of!
ReForest London Tree Planting
Canada Life Place plans to celebrate National Forest Week in the Forest City by participating in the ReForest London fall tree planting events. On September 27th staff members will get down and dirty by volunteering to plant trees in Shelborne Park to help make London healthier and greener. Canada Life Place takes pride in giving back to the community and this is just another way our staff shows support while helping keep the forest in “The Forest City”.
Paper Straws
The next green initiative that Canada Life Place will be supporting is the paper straw movement. Plastic straws are extremely harmful to the environment and can be referred to as “the world’s most wasteful commodity”. In efforts to help fight the battle and reduce plastic waste Canada Life Place will be providing paper straws rather than plastic as of September.