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Offline E-man

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Helping kids, and having a ball doing it
« on: August 28, 2009, 06:27:04 PM »
Giving back: Helping kids, and having a ball doing it.
By: Paul Waldie (The Globe and Mail, Canada).


How an investment banker turned a love for soccer into a fundraiser to help children with cancer go to camp

The donor: Glenn Gatcliffe

The Gift: Bay Street Camp Quality Soccer Tournament

The Cause: Camp Quality

The Reason: To help children with cancer go to camp.

When Glenn Gatcliffe was growing up in Trinidad, everyone he knew was a huge fan of soccer – or football, as he and most of the world calls the game. “In the islands, it's football or football. There really isn't too much other choice,” he says.

Mr. Gatcliffe kept up his love of soccer when he came to Canada about 10 years ago to attend McGill University in Montreal. He earned an MBA and then moved to Toronto, where he joined the Bank of Montreal as an investment banker. He quickly found a group of soccer-loving colleagues at BMO, including bank analyst Ian de Verteuil, and they began playing together once a week.

Another BMO colleague was Bill Vlaad, a fellow investment banker who was involved with Camp Quality, a not-for-profit organization that runs seven camps across Canada for children with cancer. Mr. Gatcliffe started helping with some fundraising events for the organization, but thought more could be done.

“They have all these tournaments for hockey and basketball, but nothing for the Bay Street crowd for soccer,” he explains. “I said to Bill, ‘Look, we could really take this to a good level and have one of these big tournaments and see how we do.'”

They organized a tournament with six teams made up largely of investment bankers who donated a few thousand dollars per team. “It went so well and everybody was so interested, we said, ‘Let's do this on a larger scale.'”

The event quickly grew; this year, the fourth Bay Street Camp Quality Soccer Tournament will be held on Sept. 26 and features 16 teams from Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal, involving roughly 300 players. Each team will donate $5,000 and the day will include a barbeque, an inflatable bouncy castle for kids and an opportunity to meet children who attend Camp Quality.

“I think it really puts together a great cause, but then also I think there is a level of [soccer] growing in Toronto. This little tournament has built up a lot of following,” Mr. Gatcliffe says.

He hopes to expand the tournament with more teams and corporate sponsors. “People are cutting their budgets and it's difficult to ask for money in these times, but I think we have to drive on.”


Headhunter Bill Vlaad and Glenn Gatcliffe, a BMO investment banker, started the Bay Street Camp Quality Soccer Tournament, raising over $60,000 for Camp Quality, a camp for kids with cancer. Jennifer Roberts


see: http://www.campquality.com/news/upcoming_events.html
« Last Edit: August 28, 2009, 06:29:58 PM by E-man »

Offline Deeks

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Re: Helping kids, and having a ball doing it
« Reply #1 on: August 28, 2009, 07:26:50 PM »
Is this Gatcliffe related to businessman Tommy Gatcliffe? Ian Deverteuil sounds familiar also.

Offline Coop's

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Re: Helping kids, and having a ball doing it
« Reply #2 on: August 28, 2009, 08:01:22 PM »
Is this Gatcliffe related to businessman Tommy Gatcliffe? Ian Deverteuil sounds familiar also.
      I'm almost sure it had a Deverteuil that used to play for Maple,i think that's him.

Offline pass(10trini)

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Re: Helping kids, and having a ball doing it
« Reply #3 on: August 29, 2009, 03:23:06 AM »
Ian de Verteuil sound very familiar.
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