Q1 2025 - Jan 28
Presented by:
Our January 2025 (Q1) meeting again took place at ¡Glitch! Gaming Lounge. We always get nervous about the January meeting, knowing that people may be struggling a bit coming out of the holiday season, but we surpassed our 100 paid member milestone earlier than normal this time, which was a great relief!
We would like to extend a huge thank you to our Platinum Sponsor for the evening - the Propak Systems Ltd.
In addition, our Gold sponsors for this meeting:
Our sponsors play a huge role in our quarterly meetings. They ensure that none of our presenters go home empty handed and help us top up the $10,000 goal, if needed.
Check out our Sponsor page, to learn more about our platinum sponsor and how to get involved in this program.
Before we started the meeting, we handed out a special door prize. We noticed we had a dozen or so new members, which was awesome to see, and we set aside a door prize just for them. It is awesome to see new members at our meetings and we really encourage everyone to try and bring a friend or neighbour or family member to a future meeting. Even if they don't pay and just check it out, we truly think it is worthwhile to attend our meetings to share in the camaraderie and feel-good vibes!
Wilkie Award - Matt Carre
The Wilkie Award recognizes someone from the group that embodies the spirit of our late co-founder Keith Wilkinson. We consider The Wilkie to be a noble and prestigious honour!
The Wilkie Award winner this month is Matt Carre.
Matt is a local real estate agent that has been with the 100 Men from the get-go. He's always been an eager participant, generous with donations and auction item bids, and a real champion of the group. He has also co-founded his own initiative Airdrie Angel which gives a hand up to those who have been through a difficult time or are living in challenging times, through no fault of their own. The 100 Men have awarded the Airdrie Angel program $10,000 at a previous meeting and it is truly a powerful thing to hear the monthly stories of those that are helped through the Angel program.
Matt also started the Daddy Daughter Hair Day which your author - as a proud member of the Girl Dad club - has attended previously. The annual event teaches dads the finer points of ponytails as well as, more importantly, the finer points of quality bonding time, while also dishing out some BBQ and fun activities.
Thanks for all you do, Matt!
Guest Speaker: Hussain Mumtaz and Myles Ridge
Tonight's guest speakers are well known to the groups as well. Hussain and Myles wanted to share a story of how a small idea turned into a movement. They were sitting around one evening and thought how rewarding it would be to cook and give away meals to those who needed it, especially knowing how many are struggling with the cost of living.
The idea started small but soon enough a dozen or so businesses and individuals were involved, restaurants started to donate their time and space (shoutout to Wildcard Shack and Jams) and before they knew it they were equipped to provided 100 meals to those in need. No questions asked - just show up, grab your food, and change some lives one meal at a time!
On top of that, there was so much donated that, even after 100 fully prepped meals, there was enough left over to give over 400lbs of turkey to the food bank!
While the execution was surely difficult, the idea was simple and, along with the generosity of many, it is awesome to see something like that pulled off.
Great job guys!
Previous recipient: Airdrie Hospice
Next, we had our previous quarters recipients share what they’ve done with the funds they received.
Airdrie Hospice has long been an advocate for improving end-of-life care in Airdrie. It is a desperately under-resourced service. The board has been strategizing as to how to best make their case for further funding.
While money will be put toward services (including space of their grief programming) and marketing efforts, they also need to earmark funds to help them report writing, evaluation, and positioning themselves to have successful grant applications. In essence, turning our donations into more significant funding.
We wish them the very best!
Q1 2025 Presentations:
We heard next from our three presenters.
Airdrie Raiders Football
Steve and Dawn from the Airdrie Raiders football program kicked things off. The club has been around since 2006 and grown from 40 to over 250. They also started a female program that doubled after its first year. The program prides itself on doing more with less and offering a competitive sport experience that requires only cleats to play, with the program providing all other required equipment.
We heard some touching testimonials - a female participant that displayed every bit of the determination and passion you’d expect from a football player, and a male participant that wrote about how football helped get him over the anxiety and discomfort he felt at school and learned the value of effort, teamwork and leadership.
If successful, the money would go 100% to equipment, getting more kids on the field, and keeping fees as low as possible.
Kalix Legacy Foundation
Next, John and Betina spoke about their son Kalix and his inspiration for the Kalix Legacy Foundation. Even those in the room that were fully familiar of Kalix's heartbreaking story, it is devastating to hear every time and I'm sure I speak for all in attendance when I say that John and Betina's bravery is commendable.
At the same time, Kalix was - and continues to be - an inspiration for others and the Legacy Foundation not only keeps his memory alive but also continues to help others in the way Kalix would have wanted - to help single parents and low-income families get the same training and opportunities in sport that everyone else has access to.
The Foundation provides funding for accredited sport in Airdrie. With funds received from the 100 Men they would be able to offer opportunities for additional families. They're excited to reach a milestone of 100 children helped!
948 Charity Support
Finally, Charlie and Geoff from 948 Charity Support told us about how their group began. It all started as an offshoot of the original Airdrie Dads Golf Tournament. While that tournament was an instant success, it was clear that with a little direction and organization, some incredible potential could be realized.
The tournament now raises over $30,000 annually and they're looking to host 10th annual event this year!
They noted that the mission of the group isn't just to raise and pass along funds - it is about ensuring that money goes where it is needed most and fostering the sense of community that comes with giving and supporting others.
If 948 Charity Support were to receive the full donation, they have plans for providing vehicles for donors to give bigger, better and more consistently so that the money from 100 Men could last longer and impact more people.
——
For this meeting, between our paid members, the $2000 from sponsors and an additional $775 from auction items, we had $14,775 in total! This meant that we would be giving away $10,000 to one of the groups and over $2300 to each of the other presenters.
After the online vote tally, the Airdrie Raider Football program was announced as the $10,000 recipient for Q1 2025. Congratulations!
Thank you to ¡Glitch! Gaming Lounge for once again being fantastic hosts.
We’d also like to give a giant shout out to those that donated door prizes. Thank you to:
We will back at ¡Glitch! Gaming Lounge for the next meeting - April 15th.
See you then!
We would like to extend a huge thank you to our Platinum Sponsor for the evening - the Propak Systems Ltd.
In addition, our Gold sponsors for this meeting:
Our sponsors play a huge role in our quarterly meetings. They ensure that none of our presenters go home empty handed and help us top up the $10,000 goal, if needed.
Check out our Sponsor page, to learn more about our platinum sponsor and how to get involved in this program.
Before we started the meeting, we handed out a special door prize. We noticed we had a dozen or so new members, which was awesome to see, and we set aside a door prize just for them. It is awesome to see new members at our meetings and we really encourage everyone to try and bring a friend or neighbour or family member to a future meeting. Even if they don't pay and just check it out, we truly think it is worthwhile to attend our meetings to share in the camaraderie and feel-good vibes!
Wilkie Award - Matt Carre
The Wilkie Award recognizes someone from the group that embodies the spirit of our late co-founder Keith Wilkinson. We consider The Wilkie to be a noble and prestigious honour!
The Wilkie Award winner this month is Matt Carre.
Matt is a local real estate agent that has been with the 100 Men from the get-go. He's always been an eager participant, generous with donations and auction item bids, and a real champion of the group. He has also co-founded his own initiative Airdrie Angel which gives a hand up to those who have been through a difficult time or are living in challenging times, through no fault of their own. The 100 Men have awarded the Airdrie Angel program $10,000 at a previous meeting and it is truly a powerful thing to hear the monthly stories of those that are helped through the Angel program.
Matt also started the Daddy Daughter Hair Day which your author - as a proud member of the Girl Dad club - has attended previously. The annual event teaches dads the finer points of ponytails as well as, more importantly, the finer points of quality bonding time, while also dishing out some BBQ and fun activities.
Thanks for all you do, Matt!
Guest Speaker: Hussain Mumtaz and Myles Ridge
Tonight's guest speakers are well known to the groups as well. Hussain and Myles wanted to share a story of how a small idea turned into a movement. They were sitting around one evening and thought how rewarding it would be to cook and give away meals to those who needed it, especially knowing how many are struggling with the cost of living.
The idea started small but soon enough a dozen or so businesses and individuals were involved, restaurants started to donate their time and space (shoutout to Wildcard Shack and Jams) and before they knew it they were equipped to provided 100 meals to those in need. No questions asked - just show up, grab your food, and change some lives one meal at a time!
On top of that, there was so much donated that, even after 100 fully prepped meals, there was enough left over to give over 400lbs of turkey to the food bank!
While the execution was surely difficult, the idea was simple and, along with the generosity of many, it is awesome to see something like that pulled off.
Great job guys!
Previous recipient: Airdrie Hospice
Next, we had our previous quarters recipients share what they’ve done with the funds they received.
Airdrie Hospice has long been an advocate for improving end-of-life care in Airdrie. It is a desperately under-resourced service. The board has been strategizing as to how to best make their case for further funding.
While money will be put toward services (including space of their grief programming) and marketing efforts, they also need to earmark funds to help them report writing, evaluation, and positioning themselves to have successful grant applications. In essence, turning our donations into more significant funding.
We wish them the very best!
Q1 2025 Presentations:
We heard next from our three presenters.
Airdrie Raiders Football
Steve and Dawn from the Airdrie Raiders football program kicked things off. The club has been around since 2006 and grown from 40 to over 250. They also started a female program that doubled after its first year. The program prides itself on doing more with less and offering a competitive sport experience that requires only cleats to play, with the program providing all other required equipment.
We heard some touching testimonials - a female participant that displayed every bit of the determination and passion you’d expect from a football player, and a male participant that wrote about how football helped get him over the anxiety and discomfort he felt at school and learned the value of effort, teamwork and leadership.
If successful, the money would go 100% to equipment, getting more kids on the field, and keeping fees as low as possible.
Kalix Legacy Foundation
Next, John and Betina spoke about their son Kalix and his inspiration for the Kalix Legacy Foundation. Even those in the room that were fully familiar of Kalix's heartbreaking story, it is devastating to hear every time and I'm sure I speak for all in attendance when I say that John and Betina's bravery is commendable.
At the same time, Kalix was - and continues to be - an inspiration for others and the Legacy Foundation not only keeps his memory alive but also continues to help others in the way Kalix would have wanted - to help single parents and low-income families get the same training and opportunities in sport that everyone else has access to.
The Foundation provides funding for accredited sport in Airdrie. With funds received from the 100 Men they would be able to offer opportunities for additional families. They're excited to reach a milestone of 100 children helped!
948 Charity Support
Finally, Charlie and Geoff from 948 Charity Support told us about how their group began. It all started as an offshoot of the original Airdrie Dads Golf Tournament. While that tournament was an instant success, it was clear that with a little direction and organization, some incredible potential could be realized.
The tournament now raises over $30,000 annually and they're looking to host 10th annual event this year!
They noted that the mission of the group isn't just to raise and pass along funds - it is about ensuring that money goes where it is needed most and fostering the sense of community that comes with giving and supporting others.
If 948 Charity Support were to receive the full donation, they have plans for providing vehicles for donors to give bigger, better and more consistently so that the money from 100 Men could last longer and impact more people.
——
For this meeting, between our paid members, the $2000 from sponsors and an additional $775 from auction items, we had $14,775 in total! This meant that we would be giving away $10,000 to one of the groups and over $2300 to each of the other presenters.
After the online vote tally, the Airdrie Raider Football program was announced as the $10,000 recipient for Q1 2025. Congratulations!
Thank you to ¡Glitch! Gaming Lounge for once again being fantastic hosts.
We’d also like to give a giant shout out to those that donated door prizes. Thank you to:
- Peter Flannigan / Maaco
- Hussain Mumtaz / Simmply MD
- Ron Chapman / Tiger Propane
- Tim MacDonald / Redline Real Estate
- Rival Axe Throwing
- Brad Scott / Mint Property Management
- Keith Yeoman / Yeoman Woodworks
- ¡Glitch! Gaming Lounge
- Mayors Night of the Arts
We will back at ¡Glitch! Gaming Lounge for the next meeting - April 15th.
See you then!
