National Philanthropy Day 2020
National Philanthropy Day is an annual day in honour of those who donate their time, skills and financial support to non-profit organizations in our community.
The Zebra Child Protection Centre is proud to recognize and honour four nominees from our Zebra Herd for National Philanthropy Day 2020! Read about each of them below.
Centre High Campus - Emergency Response Career Pathways
Centre High Campus Emergency Response Career Pathways (ERCP) students chose the Zebra Child Protection Centre as the beneficiary for their Bike-A-Thon fundraiser event. ERCP students chose to raise money for vulnerable children in the Edmonton community. Throughout the fall, the ERCP students raised money by going door-to-door, connecting with their fellow classmates and spreading the message about the work of the Zebra Centre. On December 13, 2019 they hosted a Bike-A-Thon event that included activities to raise money, such as a popcorn sale, bake sale, pancake breakfast, talent show and a chili cookoff that generously raised $11,472 for our Centre. The generous donation by Centre High Campus goes towards our Child Support Services programs, which includes support and resources for children and youth as they go throughout the disclosure, investigative, judicial and healing process. We have created a space that reflects the children and youth in our community and provides comfort for them as they tell their story. We were honoured to be chosen by the ERCP students and are proud to see students working to raise awareness about child abuse in our community.
First Responders Rodeo Association
For two years the Edmonton First Responders Rodeo has hosted an annual amateur rodeo/recreational event for First Responders and their families. The purpose of this rodeo event is to promote positive community interaction, raise funds for charity and mental health supports for First Responders. The Zebra Child Protection Centre is one of the two chosen beneficiaries for this event. In the two years of this event, Edmonton First Responders Rodeo has raised $15,000 for our Centre. The Zebra Centre is grateful to be chosen as a beneficiary and proud to be part of an event supporting First Responders. The Edmonton First Responders Rodeo has provided new avenues to help us share our message, inform the public about our work and connect with local businesses supporting the Edmonton community. Their commitment to supporting First Responders and children and youth in our community heartwarming.
Central Sewing Westend Volunteer Group
For many years the Central Sewing Westend Volunteer Group has been making quilts for the children and youth that come to the Zebra Centre. Around Christmas time the Central Sewing group also makes stockings for the Zebra Centre to give to children and youth. The time, effort and materials the Central Sewing group volunteers and contributes to making quilts and Christmas stockings is heartwarming. When children and youth come to the Zebra Centre they get to choose a toy or a quilt to take home with them as a reminder of how brave they were in telling their story. The quilts donated by Central Sewing are absolutely beautiful and we can tell they were made with love for the children and youth in our community. The Edmonton community and the Zebra Centre is grateful to have the Central Sewing Westend Volunteer Group supporting our organization and the children, youth and families we serve.
Child Advocate Volunteer - Sonya
Sonya is a Child Advocate with the Zebra Child Protection Centre and has been with us since February 2019. As soon as she completed Volunteer Training, she hit the ground running. After training, most advocates are engaged in making phone contact only with our families to provide emotional support and informational updates. This is where Sonya began, but on her second or third shift with us, we needed a volunteer to engage a group of children while their parent debriefed with one of our police partners. Sonya ended up staying over an hour past the end of her shift that day and since then has been instrumental in supporting families who are coming in for interviews at our Centre. More recently during the pandemic, Sonya was one of the first volunteers to return to active duty. Sonya shows up early, works hard, stays late and makes it all look easy – we are extremely lucky and grateful to have her as part of our herd.
On behalf of the Zebra Child Protection Centre we thank all of these amazing people and organizations for their contributions to our community and to our Centre!