RBC believes strongly in the importance of investing in young Canadians and vibrant communities. This summer they launched the #Make150Count campaign - a unique, feel-good initiative to celebrate Canada’s 150th anniversary. RBC gave $150 to thousands of youth across the country with no strings attached and encouraged them to do something great with it. Rae, a Phoenix youth, was among those selected.
Not only did the impact of their initiative make a difference in the lives of so many people in their community – it inspired many more to become involved. “I was really happy to get chosen for this,” says Rae. “I began to think about which community I belonged to that I wanted to support, and I chose to do a ‘shoe walk’. Accessibility to decent footwear can be hard for a lot of people. I see people in my neighbourhood walking around in the rain with holes in their shoes or improper footwear. I spent some time myself being homeless and it really can make your day a lot worse when your feet are wet and you don’t have proper footwear. So I decided that I would collect shoes for people who need them in my neighbourhood.
“The Fairview Community Rink donated the space for the event and we got donations from Aerobics First – they donated brand new shoes and a lot of insoles, too, which was great because I didn’t realize that a lot of people take the insoles out of their shoes to stretch .5 of a size bigger to keep them longer. And my family helped with the shoe drive also. Donations were dropped off at PCFY, too, and Donna who works at the Centre helped me a lot.
“In the end, we ended up with about 300 shoes. The second we started putting shoes down, people were there right away, and some people brought shoes to donate back, too! About 100 people in the end came by. It was great - it makes me very emotional to think about it. And because we were so successful getting donations, we spent the $150 on socks and snacks for those came.”
If you’ve been in the downtown core lately you may have wondered who’s image is illustrated in the mural (made completely from post-it notes) on the side of the RBC building to promote #Make150Count . Some have surmised it is the Queen….others, Rosa Parks. We’re thrilled to say that it’s Rae! We at Phoenix are extremely moved by Rae’s commitment to others, and celebrate the wonderful difference they’ve made in our community.