Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:00 Good morning, Fort McMurray, wood, Buffalo, and the rest of the world. You've tuned into the maxi morning show. I'm your host, Elliot Pierre. And we're going to start the show off the same way we start every episode off with a moment of gratitude. I know you could be doing a million other things with your time. And the fact that you spend with us truly does mean the world to me. So thank you on that note, Tanner hit him with the intro.
Speaker 1 00:00:21 Oh, she caught me loves you're listening to the next city morning show.
Speaker 0 00:00:30 All right. And we're back at home. If you heard some jingling, some noise, Tanner's just gave me the stink eye. I moved and touched the Mike Tanner. I'm sorry.
Speaker 3 00:00:38 I think you didn't think that people could hear it while the intro is going. Yeah, no, they definitely heard all of that movement on your mic was heard. Yeah,
Speaker 0 00:00:46 That's hilarious. Well at home. Sorry about that. That's too funny. Okay. Everybody at home, I'm excited about my guest today. Uh, it's a complete stranger and those are my favorite types of episodes. So, uh, as you know, I don't introduce my guests. I let them do that themselves. So on that note, can you please tell everybody at home who you are and what you're about?
Speaker 4 00:01:04 I'm Lisa Miller. I'm the regional jumpstart chair for Fort McMurray and wood Buffalo. And I'm with Canadian tire here in Fort McMurray.
Speaker 0 00:01:12 Oh, very cool. So that's why we're wearing these red t-shirts. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. So can you please tell me all about what jumpstart is about? Cause I really don't have an idea. And at first, when we were first messaging you to come on, my head initially went to like jump rope and I was like, well, that's a different type of program completely once I read the title. So what's jumpstart all about,
Speaker 4 00:01:34 Well, jumpstart is the national charity that Canadian tire, uh, supports. And, uh, because of that, uh, Canadian tire, uh, pays 100% of the administration fees. So, um, it's great because the money that we raise here in, in, uh, Fort McMurray, uh, stays in Fort McMurray 100%. So there's no administration fees that go outside of this community as a result of like some charities jumpstart in a nutshell actually, um, supports, um, organizations and, uh, families and children who need financial support to get active in sports and recreation. Oh, cool. So if, if a family, uh, is, you know, typically a low income family, perhaps, uh, they, uh, can apply for individual child grants and receive, uh, up to $300, um, per seasonal sport, maximum of $600 a year. And, uh, and you know, every family can apply for every child they have. So it's not just per family, it's per child.
Speaker 4 00:02:37 And, uh, and then organizationally, um, last year we had the, a $12 million sport relief fund and, uh, Canadian tire, uh, went across the country and put $12 million into as many communities as they could help, um, support the infrastructure of some of the, uh, sporting organizations that were suffering COVID okay, well, because of closures and, uh, problems with, um, lack of enrollment and lack of fundraising and all those things. So, so in order to help, uh, some organizations, uh, stay open that Canadian tire provided some operational support, uh, as well as programming support. So again, COVID kind of forced a lot of organizations to go online and try and deliver some of their programming online. So they had to pivot, you know, in some cases quite quickly to do that. And of course costs were involved in that. And, uh, sometimes they needed some advice on how to do that, so they could apply to jumpstart, um, and basically receive some grant funding to help keep the doors open or deliver programming.
Speaker 0 00:03:45 Cool. So now with this program in particular, like what's the event what's, is it a virtual, is it an in-person? How can the general public help support this, uh, this fundraiser that you have?
Speaker 4 00:03:57 Well, uh, starting Saturday, Saturday, this Saturday, January 29th, uh, we are kicking off our two week event with a, uh, our two week events called champion a child. I have it's on the back of our t-shirts. Right. Uh, and, uh, it is, uh, we're kicking it off at Earl's, uh, with a pancake breakfast that's free for families and we have free face painting and then
Speaker 3 00:04:23 Family you're just like the single person looking for
Speaker 4 00:04:26 Some pancakes. Absolutely.
Speaker 0 00:04:28 There we go. Counter you're in luck. Hey man, listen, I adopted you. I can, I
Speaker 3 00:04:34 Can eat for a family if you need me to
Speaker 4 00:04:37 Anybody and everybody's welcome. Okay. So over the two weeks Adderalls, if you come and dine at Earl's, uh, we hope you'll support jumpstart through purchasing a balloon. So we have jumpstart balloons there. It'll, it'll, we'll be filling girls with jumpstart balloons and for $20, uh, you can pop a balloon and when instant prizes, okay. We were also selling bouquets of balloons and that's actually the better deal. It's five balloons for $75. And every balloon's a winner, it's kind of like roll up the rim. And, uh, we have some great prizes. I like prizes that are up to a thousand dollars in these balloons. Oh, wow. So we've got a lot of community businesses, you know, so thankful, so generous, um, to support, um, our event that have provided the pricing. And we also have a grand prize draw on February 14th. Okay. So the event wraps up Valentine's day at Earl's and, uh, at 10:00 PM on February 14th, we'll do a grand prize draw for a trip to
Speaker 0 00:05:39 Mexico. Okay. I was going to ask what's the grand prize.
Speaker 4 00:05:42 Okay. So that's actually in the form of a travel voucher, so you can actually choose anywhere you want to go. Um, and, uh, yeah, so very cool. So what's, um, we obviously, you know, really hope that people will come and support it by, by purchasing a balloon. Of course, every balloon also gets a ballot for the grand prize. So $20 buys you a balloon you'll win an instant prize right then and there when you pop it right, as well as getting a ballot to go into the grand prize draw. Right.
Speaker 0 00:06:10 And if you buy five balloons, $75 and all of those balloons have ballots to go into the draw. So you up your chances of
Speaker 4 00:06:16 Winning five ballots, five prizes.
Speaker 0 00:06:18 Oh, okay. Very cool.
Speaker 4 00:06:20 So, you know, we're kind of thinking it's a great idea for a Valentine's day like sweetheart. Okay. There we go.
Speaker 0 00:06:27 Okay.
Speaker 4 00:06:28 Roses or whatever you might typically, uh, give your little sweetie, uh, that maybe you want to, uh, buy a bouquet of red balloons from jumped for jumpstart, a great cause to the community.
Speaker 0 00:06:42 Awesome. That's awesome. Very cool. Okay. So go down. Earl's, that's how you can support it. Now, if you are a, um, family in town who actually needs the funding, um, how can they find the application to like fill out for like some, some help
Speaker 4 00:06:59 That's easy. Um, you just go online, everything's done online through a jumpstart dot Canadian tire.ca and there's a website that will direct you through the application process. Uh, that process actually gets vetted, uh, locally through, um, well actually regionally through, uh, Alberta, we have a independent committee of sports, uh, experts and people that, um, have volunteered their time to review each application and, uh, and allocate the funding accordingly.
Speaker 0 00:07:32 Do you find, uh, in his community that it's actually, cause my, my thing is there's so much that there's so many things out there that people just don't know about until you know about it. Right. Do you find that the funds are like people know about it and have been using them over the years here?
Speaker 4 00:07:47 Well, actually, uh, since I've been in Fort McMurray, which has only been, you know, two and a half years, I actually found that my, uh, first mission here was to try and educate the community and be more out there, uh, to spread the word because I found that a lot of organizations and families did not know about funding. And, uh, so unfortunately COVID has, has really, uh, put a dent in, in my ability to get in front of people and, uh, uh, you know, help spread the word. But, you know, there there's been other ways with trying to connect with some of the organizations locally and even some of the schools. Uh, last year we were able to fund a couple of programs in some local schools. And so it's, so most people are surprised at what jumpstart does, right. Uh, actually they often confuse it with kids sport, which is very different. And although, you know, similar missions, similar goals in our community. But, uh, you know, I say to people, jumpstart is just another resource, another pot of money, really, that you're likely to have access to if you qualify.
Speaker 0 00:09:02 That's right. Yeah. Very cool.
Speaker 4 00:09:04 And we've got some great examples in the community already last year that we, uh, we supported organizations that are trying to deliver programming. Great.
Speaker 0 00:09:12 Yeah. I think that's like what you said, there's so many different organizations that are trying to do good. And sometimes you just don't know. And so, yeah. I'm glad that you came on the show. That's right. That's exactly it. So we were talking a little bit about a Canadian tire before, and it's one of, one of your, there's two locations in town for Canadian tire. You have like the main store, but then like down the way, just a little bit, there's the outdoor store. And as Tanner kind of pointed out, I'm not the biggest outdoors guy in the world, however, as he laughs, however, that store is super cool. Like how the setup is like, um, the marketing of where you've placed things. It has a very cool vintage, kinda small town look to it. How did that come up in regards to the two different locations and how you decided to put certain products there versus the main store? Well,
Speaker 4 00:10:06 Well, all of those decisions were made before we arrived in CA in Fort McMurray and, and have this, uh, current store, uh, the, um, the outdoor store was essentially a decision made because we didn't have enough square footage in the main store. So to be able to offer more product to a growing community, right. That the, um, outdoor store was created to, um, handle all of the outdoor products that we know, uh, people in Fort McMurray love to buy. So whether that's Marine or sport or hunting, fishing, uh, you know, ice, fishing, that type of thing. Uh, and so when actually the store flooded, those stores flooded as well back in April of 2021. Yes.
Speaker 0 00:10:53 Uh, 20, 21. I don't know. Let's COVID I lost track of the years.
Speaker 4 00:10:57 Me too. Yeah. They're slipping by, um, you know, we, we did want to restore it to its, you know, original look and decor and, um, and of course we actually had to do a preservation work on Marie the bear because Marie, the bear got wet. Yeah. And, uh, so we had him restored as well because he certainly an icon in the store and greets everybody that comes. Right. And, uh, yeah. So that's how it happened. Okay,
Speaker 0 00:11:25 Cool. Yeah. It's a sweet store. And if you're out there, anybody looking for disposable coolers, that's where to go. Cause you could waste your time going everywhere else and they may or may not have it, but I can assure you if you go into the Canadian tire, outdoor store, disposable coolers, really easy to find. Yeah. Just if you didn't know now, you know, all right. Tanner just gave me the signal. He has his questions ready for his segment called the max CD minutes. So he's going to ask you some questions. I don't know what he's going to ask you. I wish you nothing,
Speaker 4 00:11:52 But the best of luck. Let's hope I can answer them.
Speaker 3 00:11:55 Alrighty. Question number one. What is your favorite part of being part of a charity that helps communities grow?
Speaker 4 00:12:04 I love seeing the impact it's had on the children's faces.
Speaker 3 00:12:08 Okay. Question number two. What is your favorite event you've taken part in with jumpstart?
Speaker 4 00:12:16 That would be, uh, in our former, uh, location, you know, where we lived before, which was Yorkton Saskatchewan. We did enough fundraising in Yorkton, Saskatchewan, where we were able, we actually were awarded a $20,000 prize from, uh, jumpstart, uh, charities. And we put that money back into the community, uh, by having a girls, um, active in sport day. And so we organized in conjunction with the local schools in that region, that area we invited, uh, great six girls from 12 schools. And we had over 300 kids come to a big rec center, kind of like Mac island park. And, uh, they got a chance to rotate between seven stations and, and try a different sport. And so some of these girls who had never picked up a volleyball before, or, you know, we had an indigenous dance and we had, um, uh, we had, um, wheelchair curling.
Speaker 4 00:13:15 Oh, ah, so it, it really, um, it was an opportunity that a lot of these kids would never have had. And, uh, anyways, it was just a fantastic event. Um, and it felt just fantastic to see the impact that had on, on so many smiling kids that day. And, uh, we had some, some guests, uh, uh, Olympic athletes there as well. And so it was meant to be an inspirational day and a chance for kids to try to, uh, to be active in sport and hopefully go home and say, Hey, mom and dad, I really loved volleyball. Can I, can I participate in volleyball or, or baseball or hockey or whatever we did that day. So that's probably my favorite event.
Speaker 3 00:13:55 Question number three. What is something you've noticed about the Fort McMurray community that other communities don't have?
Speaker 4 00:14:04 I would have to say, uh, the generosity that I've seen in this community, uh, it doesn't matter whether it's for jumpstart or other charities and, and, um, or just people in need. It's certainly a very tight knit community and people are very generous with their time and their, their support
Speaker 3 00:14:22 Question. Number four. What is something that Fort McMurray has taught you about owning a business?
Speaker 4 00:14:31 That's a good one. Yeah. Well, again, you know, um, I think the flood experience really taught us, uh, taught me, uh, that, uh, Fort McMurray loves their Canadian tire and the support, again, that community, uh, showed us in the six months we were closed and how excited they were to come back and support us once we were open again was, um, you know, again, it just really showed how showed me or us how connected, uh, Canadian tire is in, in this community. And as well as other communities we've been in. Right.
Speaker 3 00:15:12 And you final question. What has, what is something you've learned about yourself from your time in Fort McMurray?
Speaker 4 00:15:21 Another good question. Well, uh, I would say again, our timing was not great. I've been here two and a half years and, um, first COVID hit, which shut down a lot. And then the flood hit, which shut down our store. Um, so it's been really hard to get out and, and meet people and socialize. And generally that's something I love to do. Uh, so, you know, however, I have found ways to, to, you know, get out there and try and spread the word about jumpstart and try and get people involved and try and help people in the community as much as I can through jumpstart funding. So I guess, uh, there where there's a will, there's a way,
Speaker 3 00:16:05 And those are being your five questions.
Speaker 0 00:16:07 There we go. Very cool. Did I pass you did flying colors. Awesome to say people informing Marie Love Canadian tire is an understatement. Almost a cult. Yeah. Yeah, it's crazy. And when you go the it's, it's always, there's no good time to go to Canadian tire and will in regards to like, if you want to get in and out quick, it ain't happening. Um, but what I like about Canadian tire, my favorite component of going there is you, the reason it's not quick is because you meet so many people that, you know, and so then you end up chatting and then it turns into a conversation which is a beautiful thing,
Speaker 4 00:16:44 Local community center. That's, that's
Speaker 0 00:16:46 Literally what it is. And I find like growing up in Fort McMurray, just based on how, like we're set up, there's not a lot of walking that goes, like, we don't have like a, like on white avenue in Edmonton, for example, or water street in Newfoundland. Like you have people who would walk and gather and you'd bump into people. We don't really have that area where you have walking traffic per se, where you have large volumes and there's two places in town that you can go if you want to bump into somebody like island or Canadian tire. Yeah. And you're guaranteed a good conversation. Yeah. So, um, listen, we're wrapping up the show. Um, and I know you have, at the end of all, episodes, people get to shameless, shout out or plug. I know what you're probably going to shout out and plug, but you got the lights, the cameras and the mic on you, a fun.
Speaker 4 00:17:31 Well, of course, it's all about champion a child. Uh, this is our first fundraising event, uh, that we've been able to hold because of COVID. We had a much grander plan in place, but again, because of COVID, we, we decided we're going to go ahead with a scaled down version. So the Papa balloon, um, uh, event is, is, um, something I hope everybody will support. Uh, you know, again, 100% of the funds that we'll raise during this event will stay in, in Fort McMurray, will help local kids. And, uh, I think more than ever, because of COVID, you know, kids really need to get active, need to get out. They need to, um, work off some of that pent up, you know, frustration and energy and, um, and help with some maybe mental health issues that are accumulating because of COVID. So the more we can do through jumpstart to help get kids back into sport, you know,
Speaker 0 00:18:22 There you go. And so that kicks off this Saturday at orals,
Speaker 4 00:18:27 Eight to 12 free pancake breakfast, free face painting, and hopefully you'll, uh, like to pop a balloon and win some prizes. Got some great
Speaker 0 00:18:36 That's awesome. Tanner. I think we both know where we're going Saturday. We got some breakfast plans. Here we go. Awesome. Well, listen, thank you for coming on the show. I really do appreciate it. Please feel free to come back again and again and again, and I truly do mean that, and I tell everybody it, but it is a truth and some people take me up on it, but if there's anything else that you're doing in the community, um, for jumpstart, or you want to get a message out that something's taking place at Canadian tire, please come back again and again,
Speaker 4 00:19:01 Everybody can follow us on Facebook to get more information, follow Earl's on Facebook. Um, I do want to mention our sponsors if I may definitely we've had the generosity of Coldwell banker, uh, Fort McMurray, uh, donate the grand prize, which is the trip to Mexico. Uh, the lower group, which is also Coldwell banker, uh, Fort McMurray. They've, um, they're one of our main sponsors and, uh, Earl's of course the entire, so the three main sponsors and our three Facebook pages. If anybody wants more information, we're posting regularly, uh, to get some information out there as over the two weeks.
Speaker 0 00:19:36 There we go. That's awesome. Good job sponsors. Okay. Well, everybody at home, that's the end of another episode of the Mac city morning show. Thank you very much for tuning in. I do really appreciate it. It means the world to me. I hope you're having a great day and we'll see you tomorrow. Peace.
Speaker 1 00:19:51 I just dies that desk. Another Mac Sydney morning show, Don.
Speaker 6 00:20:08 Yeah. Talk about quenching your ugly thirst.
