Design Roofing Donates $10,000 to SHARE Family & Community Services
Responding to an Urgent Need
Design Roofing donated $10,000 to SHARE Family & Community Services because we wanted to help the community in the most efficient way possible. Kimberly Wallace, VP at Design Roofing, noticed there were reports on the news about food banks being in urgent need of donations. Since our company provides a service that is essential and we are remaining open, she wanted to help those in our community who aren’t as lucky and may be losing wages due to COVID-19.
The great thing about SHARE is that it’s local and it provides community resources beyond just the food bank, like child like development and housing programs.
Donating Money Instead of Food
For every $1.00 donated the food bank can get $3.00 worth of food. This means SHARE can get about $30,000 worth of food for our community. That’s a lot of food.
If businesses do what they can to help people during this uncertain time it will make recovery so much easier when this is finally past us. We hope that the donated money will help as many people in the Tri-Cities as possible whether it’s through food or support services since we know that demand on SHARE will be higher now.
Employees are Proud
Our employees do take a lot of Pride in the work that our company does to give back to our community. Everyone needs to do as much as they can right now to enable people to follow the guidelines from our health authorities to keep our community as safe as possible. It is a critical time for everybody all over the world and if everyone who can pitch in does, we will get through this so much faster and be so much stronger for it.
Design Roofing Raises Funds for Our Wish Kids
How it Started
It was at a charity golf tournament in 2017 when Design Roofing’s Vice President Kimberly Wallace caught on to the magic happening at Children’s Wish Foundation. After hearing about a local teen’s wish to Disney World, Wallace stood up and urged the other golfers in attendance to match her on-the-spot $500 donation. Her passion for granting wishes and engaging her family’s commercial roofing business in philanthropy has only grown since.
Flash forward two years
Kimberly is now a board member on the Children’s Wish BC & Yukon Chapter Advisory Board. She proudly donated $51,815 this year, getting all employees at her company involved in the fundraising. Design Roofing registered a team for Children’s Wish’s 2019 TIMBER MART Heroes Challenge event and raised the funds over the summer to grant 11-year-old Muskaan’s wish. Their entire team turned their Port Coquitlam headquarters into festival grounds on Aug. 23 for their Make a Splash fundraiser, featuring axe throwing, a dunk tank, carnival games, bouncy slides, and other activities all going toward their fundraising goal.
In 2018 the company raised over $17,000 during several months of grassroots events – through pub nights, barbeques, and social media. Paired with seven-year-old Macken Leung, who lives with a severe seizure disorder, Design Roofing instantly bonded with the family and raised enough money for Macken and his family to go on his dream trip to Disney World.
Employees Get Involved
While many companies simply write a cheque from their social responsibility budget, Design Roofing believes employees should directly experience the value and reward that comes from getting involved with a charity.
“I looked into a lot of different charities and settled on Children’s Wish for Design Roofing to stand behind,” says Wallace. “They are very transparent with the fundraising and where the money goes. I really like that they can say ‘$10,000 a wish’,” she adds, referencing the average cost of a wish in B.C.
“In the past, we have supported large international foundations and they are all great causes, but I never knew where my money was going, and I didn’t feel like I was making a difference. With Children’s Wish, we meet the child, and see pictures of them and their family. The best part is to see the happiness the wish brought. Everyone at Design Roofing is able to fully understand how important the work they did was.”
Quote from Children’s Wish:
“Design Roofing is one of our most passionate and enthusiastic corporate sponsors. They have jumped into the world of Children’s Wish with both feet and never see a challenge too large – both in business and in their philanthropy. Their dedication is a testament to what a small family business can accomplish. The Port Coquitlam business community should look at Design Roofing as an example of how to engage employees in corporate giving.”
- Hannah Smith, Provincial Director, Children’s Wish BC & Yukon Chapter
About Children’s Wish:
In a milestone moment, Children’s Wish Foundation of Canada and Make-A-Wish® Canada have joined forces, with the goal of granting the wish of every eligible child across the country. United as Make-A-Wish® Canada, our mission is to provide children with life-threatening illnesses the opportunity to realize their most heartfelt wish, giving them the strength to endure their treatments and build resilience. To learn more, visit www.thepowerofonewish.ca.
Together, we will grant over 2600 wishes annually by year 5 of the combined organization. With up to 6,000 children in Canada facing a critical illness and complex medical needs each year, this is an important step toward our goal of ensuring every eligible wish is granted.
You can help grant the next single most heartfelt wish. Visit www.childrenswish.ca or www.makeawish.ca for more information and to donate.
On August 23, 2019 we put on a fundraiser at our location in Port Coquitlam. It was a great success and everyone had a fantastic time.
The children we sponsored this year both love the outdoors and playing in the water. So we decided our theme for this year would be sharks!
The “Make a Splash” Fundraiser at Design Roofing
Our Mascot is SuperFinn
This was SuperFinn’s first appearance!
A big hit with the little ones.
The real Finn was not to be outdone though.
Kids Activities
There were lots of activities to keep the kids entertained including two bouncy castles.
Fun For All
Would you dunk your boss?
A Career in Roofing
A Realistic Career Path
Some of our best foremen hadn’t even thought a career in roofing was going to be their path. The truth is, some of them didn’t have any future vision when they applied for a Labourer position at Design Roofing. We were lucky they did and we hired them because they had a great attitude and they fit perfectly into our company culture.
We provide training in-house and we put our Apprentices through the Industry Training Authority (ITA) Roofing program. When they complete the program they become red seal certified. Someone with no skills could start working at Design Roofing as a general labourer. They would then start formal training and become an apprentice and eventually a foreman, earning a good living that can take them through their future and help them reach their life goals and dreams. That gives a lot of hope to people who are lost or unsure about their future.
It’s About Attitude
People under-estimate the importance of attitude. There’s no measure, qualification, certification or test that proves it. It’s something we try our best to recognize.
So what is the definition of a great attitude? It depends who you ask. We look for people who are willing to help, willing to learn, are very precise, and who feel accountable for their work and want to be proud of it. Our best employees are the ones who want their co-workers to succeed and want the company to succeed. That’s our magic formula, and you need it to fit in. Every company has a different one.
We survey all of our employees every 12 – 18 months. The survey is anonymous and it takes under two minutes to complete. We find out how connected they are feeling to the organization and how positive they are about working with us. We have an idea box where employees can submit with their name attached or anonymously. We share customer feedback with all of our employees and make a point of recognizing great work.