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National Newsletter - Spring 2010

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LCBO Customers and Staff Surpass All Expectations

LCBO customers and employees raised close to $900,000 for MADD Canada and its High School Multi-Media Assembly Program. The funds were collected during LCBO’s annual in-store prompted and donation box fundraising campaign in December. The donation boxes, which were in more than 600 LCBO stores across the province, featured MADD Canada’s Project Red Ribbon holiday awareness campaign.

“LCBO customers and employees have a long history of giving generously to help their fellow Ontarians and this spirit is again evident in LCBO’s recent efforts to raise funds for MADD Canada and its continuing commitment to help stop impaired driving,” said Bob Peter, President and Chief Executive Officer, LCBO.

LCBO staff ask customers to make a donation while paying for their purchases and via donation boxes at cash counters. Funds raised through the campaign are divided between MADD Canada and four Ontario children’s hospitals.

The funds so generously donated by LCBO customers and staff will help support the production and delivery of Shattered, MADD Canada’s 2010-2011 High School Multi-Media Assembly Program. In fact, these funds will ensure that the English and French versions of Shattered will be delivered to 500,000 students across Ontario at no cost whatsoever to the schools.

To put this year’s extraordinary donation into perspective, it is more than double the $445,261 raised for MADD Canada by LCBO in the December 2008 campaign.

“It is difficult to express how grateful and how humbled we are by this incredible show of support from LCBO customers and staff,” said MADD Canada National President Margaret Miller. “Not only does this contribution help educate young people, it also sends a strong message of partnership to the thousands of members and volunteers who work so hard to end impaired driving and support victims.”

Educating youth about the very serious consequences of impaired driving is critical to MADD Canada’s mission to stop impaired driving. Alcohol-related crashes take a disproportionate toll on young people in Canada. In 2006, almost 40% of crash deaths among 16-19-year-olds and 50% of crash deaths among 20-25-year-olds were alcohol-related. The combination of drugs and driving is also a major concern since Canadians between the ages of 14 and 25 have one of the highest rates of cannabis use in the world. The dynamic and powerful High School Multi-Media Assembly Program is designed to make a strong, lasting impression on students and promote safe and sober driving habits that will stay with them for life.

Shattered opens with a vehicle racing down the road. Recklessly passing traffic on a foggy night, the car narrowly misses an oncoming van before swinging back into the right lane. Taillights emerge out of the fog. The driver slams on the brakes but is unable to maintain control. The car spins wildly out of control and crashes into the guardrail. The fast-paced program then fl ashes back to three groups of students on a typical Saturday night. None of the young people realize how their judgement and actions may affect the others when their paths inevitably converge.

Throughout the program, real life victims describe how impaired driving has changed their lives forever.

Each year, MADD Canada delivers its High School Multi-Media Assembly Program to more and more students across the country. By the end of the current school year, some one million students across Canada will have seen the 2009-2010 program, called Wasted.

LCBO’s social responsibility mandate, along with its 20-year partnership with MADD Canada on a wide range of activities, reflect its commitment to safer roads and communities.

“LCBO’s Retail team takes its responsibility very seriously to help ensure the sale of beverage alcohol from our stores is done in the most socially responsible manner possible,” said Roy Ecker, Senior Vice President, LCBO Retail Operations. “This same commitment to social responsibility is reflected in our employees’ passion to fundraise for MADD Canada. I’m very proud of the work we did this year to help fund the good works of this organization.”

What LCBO Stores are saying:

“Even in these uncertain times, people are willing to dig out a couple of more dollars for charities such as MADD Canada. Although the amount we raised is less than other regions, our stores are located in smaller communities. What we lacked in volume, we made up for in spirit!”

Rick Redwood, LCBO Northern Region Director

“The December in-store donation boxes and prompted cash donation program showed that we can work with customers to get their support and provide a large sum of needed funds to the charities that are important to us, including MADD Canada.”

Bob Clevely, LCBO Central Region Director

“We are proud to do our small part. It’s a nice feeling and, most of all, we enjoyed discovering the spirit of giving.”

Denise Byrne, LCBO Store Manager, Zurich

The Allstate Insurance Company of Canada is proud to be an official sponsor of MADD Canada