THANKS TO ADAM WOODWARD, senior vice president and investment advisor with Toronto-based Macquarie Private Wealth Inc. in Calgary, more than 960 kids and their parents were given the red-carpet treatment this past November.
The Woodward Asset Management Annual Family Movie Day is an initiative that Woodward and his business partners – John Reyes and David Wilder, both fellow financial advisors with Macquarie – came up with two years ago. The three advisors purchase movie tickets out of their own pockets to bring the “ultimate movie experience” to underprivileged kids and their families.
This past year’s event was held on Nov. 3, 2012, at the Scotiabank Theatre Chinook in Calgary. It was the second year that the event took place and, in that short time, it has grown to more than 960 attendees from 300, filling three theatres worth of seats for the family flick Wreck it Ralph.
Moviegoers are invited to the Saturday-morning event, which has all the trimmings a kid could want, says Woodward, including McDonald’s breakfast sandwiches, Tim Hortons doughnuts, assorted fruit and juice boxes. Woodward also purchased more than 50,000 arcade coins, 500 bags of candy and, of course, buttered popcorn and pop, and booked children’s entertainers with face-painting and animal balloons, as well as an ice cream stand, for the event.
“This was really about letting the kids be kids,” says Woodward. “For about 85% of the kids this year, it was either their first movie-theatre experience ever or it was the only one that they were going to see that year. When you hear that kind of feedback, it makes you realize just how important an event like this is.”
Woodward, who has three young children of his own and recently adopted another, knows the importance of spending time together as a family. “For a family of four, a night out at the movies can end up being close to $200,” Woodward says. “So this is an opportunity for lower-income families to come out and really enjoy the experience together as a family.”
The annual event costs up to $15,000 to run. But, although there are many community organizations that might be willing to donate items, Woodward doesn’t want the movie night to be a sponsored event, so he plans on covering the costs for all future events.
“We are really fortunate in the line of work that we do,” he says, “and this is our way of giving back to the less fortunate in our community. It’s about allowing families to really enjoy themselves without having to think about the financial burden.”
With two successful movie events already under their belts, Woodward and his team want to expand their initiative to include a second annual event – a family bowling day. That event will be similar to the movie experience and be held in the spring.
Woodward’s passion for getting involved isn’t new. In 2000, he and Wilder co-founded the Give Big Project, an initiative that started out to raise a few hundred dollars to cover the expense of sports uniforms for local high-school students.
Today, Woodward works closely with the Calgary Board of Education, the City of Calgary, the United Way, the Calgary Foundation and KidSport Calgary to provide for underprivileged student athletes in a number of “poverty pockets” in the Calgary region.
To date, the Give Big Project has raised more than $700,000 and has expanded to include six high schools in the Calgary region. The project has expanded beyond uniform costs and now includes other needs, such as a “send a kid to camp” program, a university-scholarship program and a gym-membership program so that participants can work on their game when they are not in camp.
In 2012, the Give Big Project sponsored four basketball programs and purchased gymwear for every Grade 10 student at Forest Lawn High School. In addition, the project helped to purchase practice jerseys for the entire basketball program at Father Lacombe’s High School, sponsored league and tournament fees, and provided gym memberships for more than 100 children.
“We started out with only eight donors, and we never go out asking for any amount of money,” says Woodward. “But, today, it’s absolutely amazing how it has grown, and now we have 150 partners who have been generous enough to continue donating every year.”
For Woodward and Wilder, their charitable works go beyond the fundraising: they both spend three to four days a week coaching junior and senior boys basketball teams at two schools.
“We really have integrated ourselves into the community,” says Woodward. “And while we may not be on the bench every day, we certainly do our best to find the time to spend with these kids as much as we can.”
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