Q4 2025 - Oct 21
Our October 2025 (Q4) registered charity meeting again took place at ¡Glitch! Gaming Lounge - and what a night it was! We set a record, passed a milestone, and made a special announcement! A lot to get to, so let's get started.
For this meeting, we had a return of Platinum sponsor - the Old Buckers. The Buckers are the longest running rec league hockey team in Airdrie that has managed to perfectly balance sport, friendship, and community involvement. A fun and generous group of guys.
We also had four Gold sponsors that we would like to extend a heartfelt thanks to:
Check out our Sponsor page to learn more about our platinum sponsor and how to get involved in this program.
New Member Draw
As we did last meeting, we started things by recognizing the new members in the group and had a special door prize draw just for them.
Finding new members is critical to helping 100 Men grow - bringing new energy, spreading the word, and creating new connections.
We will try to continue this tradition so, if you have any friends or family who might be interested, please let them know. Aside from being a part of something awesome, they've got a great chance of winning!
Wilkie Award - Peter Brown
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!
Our meeting coincided with the municipal election. Peter stepped down after 15 years as Mayor, but from Day 1 of 100 Men, he’s been there — always willing to support, promote, and help us thrive.
While he would self-deprecatingly never turn down a chance to grab the microphone, we always appreciated it as his message was never self-serving. Rather he spoke about the importance of community and giving and was generous with his praise of our group.
Congrats Peter - enjoy the civilian life! We appreciate you.
Guest Speaker: Sienna MacDonald
Following the Mayor, we had an impressive young woman as our guest speaker - Airdrie's own superstar heptathlete Sienna MacDonald!
Sienna's journey to champion heptathlete was pretty happenstance when she was offered a chance to compete in the Alberta Games - about two weeks before it started. Despite having minimal time to practice for a bunch of events she had never done before, Sienna walked away as the champ!
It became her calling - she threw herself into it and has never looked back. For those unaware, a heptathlete competes in the 100 metres hurdles, high jump, shot put, 200 metres, long jump, javelin throw, and 800 metres.
Sienna shared many of her accomplishments but it was an early humbling that was one of the key moments in her athletic career. Competing against a field of seasoned Olympians in one of her first international competitions, she felt all the doubt and insecurities of being 'out of your league'.
But she competed hard and held her own. While she didn't finish well, it gave her that initial boost of confidence that she belonged. Sienna has followed that up with a laundry list of personal bests, medals, and achievements including Canadian National Heptathlon Champion!
Sienna has been representing the University of Calgary Dinos since 2021 and, aside from her accomplishments, is a confident, competitive, and articulate woman with a bright future!
Thanks for sharing your time and story with us, Sienna!
Previous recipient: Airdrie Angel
Our Q3 recipient came back to share what they have done with our donation so far. As we learned from their past presentation, Airdrie Angel finds those in the community that are going through a rough time due to no fault of their own.
We heard the story of a young mother who had lost her husband and was eager to take her kids on a vacation to honour the 1-year anniversary of his passing. When her travel plans had been cancelled on her unexpectedly, Airdrie Angel was able to arrange an action-packed trip to West Edmonton mall, for which she and her kids were immensely grateful.
Our donation was able to help make that happen and is just the sort of story we love to hear about.
Q4 2025 Presentations:
We heard next from our three presenters.
Volunteer Airdrie
Susan and Jason kicked things off. They were representing the youth arm of Volunteer Airdrie - the Youth Volunteer Corp (YVC).
The YVC program has been thriving the past couple of years! In fact, two of their youth members joined us in the audience - together with 400 combined hours of volunteer service!
They have seen first hand how youth can thrive when given the chance to serve. They walk through the doors with not only backpacks but loneliness, trauma, and more. YVC offers the chance to find purpose, meaning, value and hope in serving community.
We heard success stories from their program. Like Prya - a gal with an anxiety disorder and painfully shy. She went from wide-eyed and terrified to safe, welcomed and thriving. She's now mentoring and leading her own projects.
Or like Dmitri, who came from war torn Ukraine and joined to start meeting others and practice English. He ended up in the Young Friends program that visited and engages with seniors. Dmitri developed an important bond with those seniors and now has great English skills. He has expanded his involvement but still maintains connection with Young Friends program.
YVC is looking to use the money to deal with the rapid growth of their program and will use funds to provide programs and projects and training.
Boots on the Ground
Next, Mo from Boots on the Ground presented about the peer support helpline that was created and based in Airdrie.
Mo began with an impactful exercise that demonstrated the stark realities of mental health challenges that we face. It is a homegrown issue that too many battle alone.
Mo noted that their program is 24/7 peer support, and it is not staffed by commissions or call agents or health professionals but trained volunteers who have 'walked through the darkness' themselves.
Mo shared his experience of attending a seminar that talked about those died by suicide to understand their final hours. It was devastating that many did not reach out to those that loved them the most - a spouse, or children, or parents.
They would reach out to a friend, though. Boots on the Ground is meant to be that buddy that picks up the phone.
Mo told story of a volunteer that stayed on the phone for over an hour with an individual that needed connection. In that moment he didn't need therapy or intervention or medication - he needed to be heard. Thankfully, he got help, is working again and rebuilding his life.
Boots on the Ground has seen over 600 of those kind of calls in past 2 years and there is no one that gets paid - not a single salary. Every dollar goes into training, certification, and keeping phones online and that is where these funds would go as well.
Special Olympics Airdrie
Finally, a trio from Special Olympics Airdrie - athletes Emmy and Ellie and coach Rick - spoke to the group about what Special Olympics has done for them.
For the athletes, it has provided an opportunity to travel and experience new things and meet new people. It has helped them gain confidence and feel stronger and develop friendships. On top of that both athletes shared their multiple medals that they have earned at Provincial games!
Coach Rick shared that Special Olympics offers programs for athletes that are intellectually disabled. They offer 10 sports in Airdrie and while athletes cover a small portion of the cost, the bulk of fees are subsidized and all funds all come through donations.
In the past couple of years, expenses have risen dramatically - at a rate unsustainable for most athletes. In addition, the athletes require more support - generally one volunteer for every four athletes. While all the staff are unpaid volunteers, they do need to find money for training, equipment costs, athlete travel and so on.
Any funds from the meeting tonight would go directly to subsidizing fees, purchasing equipment, and training volunteers.
——
It was fitting that three inspirational presentations were met with record-breaking donations. And when I say record-breaking, I mean we smashed our previous records!
Between 140 paying members, sponsors, and auction items, we had over $18,000 to give away! But then a generous member (Clark Hamilton from Straightline Motor Group) offered to top up the meeting to $20,000!
Unbelievable!
This meant that we would be giving away $10,000 to one of the groups and $5000 to each of the other presenters! We'd also be blowing past $400,000 for our all-time total.
To add to the excitement, we also announced the launch of our online store! This has been a long-standing request from members and we were able to secure a partnership with local company Dudz to make it happen! Check out the store page to learn more.
Back to the vote!
We had one of the closest votes ever with only 4 votes separating all three presenters! Boots on the Ground was ultimately awarded $10,000 for Q4 2025. Congratulations!
Thank you to ¡Glitch! Gaming Lounge for once again being fantastic hosts. Thanks as well to Tim Lowing of Lowing Media - he was taking video for us and is working a special cut that we can't wait to share with you!
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 - January 27th.
See you then!
For this meeting, we had a return of Platinum sponsor - the Old Buckers. The Buckers are the longest running rec league hockey team in Airdrie that has managed to perfectly balance sport, friendship, and community involvement. A fun and generous group of guys.
We also had four Gold sponsors that we would like to extend a heartfelt thanks to:
- Martins Pest Control
- OK Tire
- Dulux Paints from Mike Merta
- David Bowman Painting
Check out our Sponsor page to learn more about our platinum sponsor and how to get involved in this program.
New Member Draw
As we did last meeting, we started things by recognizing the new members in the group and had a special door prize draw just for them.
Finding new members is critical to helping 100 Men grow - bringing new energy, spreading the word, and creating new connections.
We will try to continue this tradition so, if you have any friends or family who might be interested, please let them know. Aside from being a part of something awesome, they've got a great chance of winning!
Wilkie Award - Peter Brown
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!
Our meeting coincided with the municipal election. Peter stepped down after 15 years as Mayor, but from Day 1 of 100 Men, he’s been there — always willing to support, promote, and help us thrive.
While he would self-deprecatingly never turn down a chance to grab the microphone, we always appreciated it as his message was never self-serving. Rather he spoke about the importance of community and giving and was generous with his praise of our group.
Congrats Peter - enjoy the civilian life! We appreciate you.
Guest Speaker: Sienna MacDonald
Following the Mayor, we had an impressive young woman as our guest speaker - Airdrie's own superstar heptathlete Sienna MacDonald!
Sienna's journey to champion heptathlete was pretty happenstance when she was offered a chance to compete in the Alberta Games - about two weeks before it started. Despite having minimal time to practice for a bunch of events she had never done before, Sienna walked away as the champ!
It became her calling - she threw herself into it and has never looked back. For those unaware, a heptathlete competes in the 100 metres hurdles, high jump, shot put, 200 metres, long jump, javelin throw, and 800 metres.
Sienna shared many of her accomplishments but it was an early humbling that was one of the key moments in her athletic career. Competing against a field of seasoned Olympians in one of her first international competitions, she felt all the doubt and insecurities of being 'out of your league'.
But she competed hard and held her own. While she didn't finish well, it gave her that initial boost of confidence that she belonged. Sienna has followed that up with a laundry list of personal bests, medals, and achievements including Canadian National Heptathlon Champion!
Sienna has been representing the University of Calgary Dinos since 2021 and, aside from her accomplishments, is a confident, competitive, and articulate woman with a bright future!
Thanks for sharing your time and story with us, Sienna!
Previous recipient: Airdrie Angel
Our Q3 recipient came back to share what they have done with our donation so far. As we learned from their past presentation, Airdrie Angel finds those in the community that are going through a rough time due to no fault of their own.
We heard the story of a young mother who had lost her husband and was eager to take her kids on a vacation to honour the 1-year anniversary of his passing. When her travel plans had been cancelled on her unexpectedly, Airdrie Angel was able to arrange an action-packed trip to West Edmonton mall, for which she and her kids were immensely grateful.
Our donation was able to help make that happen and is just the sort of story we love to hear about.
Q4 2025 Presentations:
We heard next from our three presenters.
Volunteer Airdrie
Susan and Jason kicked things off. They were representing the youth arm of Volunteer Airdrie - the Youth Volunteer Corp (YVC).
The YVC program has been thriving the past couple of years! In fact, two of their youth members joined us in the audience - together with 400 combined hours of volunteer service!
They have seen first hand how youth can thrive when given the chance to serve. They walk through the doors with not only backpacks but loneliness, trauma, and more. YVC offers the chance to find purpose, meaning, value and hope in serving community.
We heard success stories from their program. Like Prya - a gal with an anxiety disorder and painfully shy. She went from wide-eyed and terrified to safe, welcomed and thriving. She's now mentoring and leading her own projects.
Or like Dmitri, who came from war torn Ukraine and joined to start meeting others and practice English. He ended up in the Young Friends program that visited and engages with seniors. Dmitri developed an important bond with those seniors and now has great English skills. He has expanded his involvement but still maintains connection with Young Friends program.
YVC is looking to use the money to deal with the rapid growth of their program and will use funds to provide programs and projects and training.
Boots on the Ground
Next, Mo from Boots on the Ground presented about the peer support helpline that was created and based in Airdrie.
Mo began with an impactful exercise that demonstrated the stark realities of mental health challenges that we face. It is a homegrown issue that too many battle alone.
Mo noted that their program is 24/7 peer support, and it is not staffed by commissions or call agents or health professionals but trained volunteers who have 'walked through the darkness' themselves.
Mo shared his experience of attending a seminar that talked about those died by suicide to understand their final hours. It was devastating that many did not reach out to those that loved them the most - a spouse, or children, or parents.
They would reach out to a friend, though. Boots on the Ground is meant to be that buddy that picks up the phone.
Mo told story of a volunteer that stayed on the phone for over an hour with an individual that needed connection. In that moment he didn't need therapy or intervention or medication - he needed to be heard. Thankfully, he got help, is working again and rebuilding his life.
Boots on the Ground has seen over 600 of those kind of calls in past 2 years and there is no one that gets paid - not a single salary. Every dollar goes into training, certification, and keeping phones online and that is where these funds would go as well.
Special Olympics Airdrie
Finally, a trio from Special Olympics Airdrie - athletes Emmy and Ellie and coach Rick - spoke to the group about what Special Olympics has done for them.
For the athletes, it has provided an opportunity to travel and experience new things and meet new people. It has helped them gain confidence and feel stronger and develop friendships. On top of that both athletes shared their multiple medals that they have earned at Provincial games!
Coach Rick shared that Special Olympics offers programs for athletes that are intellectually disabled. They offer 10 sports in Airdrie and while athletes cover a small portion of the cost, the bulk of fees are subsidized and all funds all come through donations.
In the past couple of years, expenses have risen dramatically - at a rate unsustainable for most athletes. In addition, the athletes require more support - generally one volunteer for every four athletes. While all the staff are unpaid volunteers, they do need to find money for training, equipment costs, athlete travel and so on.
Any funds from the meeting tonight would go directly to subsidizing fees, purchasing equipment, and training volunteers.
——
It was fitting that three inspirational presentations were met with record-breaking donations. And when I say record-breaking, I mean we smashed our previous records!
Between 140 paying members, sponsors, and auction items, we had over $18,000 to give away! But then a generous member (Clark Hamilton from Straightline Motor Group) offered to top up the meeting to $20,000!
Unbelievable!
This meant that we would be giving away $10,000 to one of the groups and $5000 to each of the other presenters! We'd also be blowing past $400,000 for our all-time total.
To add to the excitement, we also announced the launch of our online store! This has been a long-standing request from members and we were able to secure a partnership with local company Dudz to make it happen! Check out the store page to learn more.
Back to the vote!
We had one of the closest votes ever with only 4 votes separating all three presenters! Boots on the Ground was ultimately awarded $10,000 for Q4 2025. Congratulations!
Thank you to ¡Glitch! Gaming Lounge for once again being fantastic hosts. Thanks as well to Tim Lowing of Lowing Media - he was taking video for us and is working a special cut that we can't wait to share with you!
We’d also like to give a giant shout out to those that donated door prizes. Thank you to:
- Hussain Mumtaz
- Ron Chapman / Tiger Propane
- Peter Flanagan / Maaco
- Brett Fitt / All Fitts Auto
- ¡Glitch! Gaming Lounge
- Jordan Bey / Insureline
- Brad Scott / Mint Property Management
- Myles Ridge / Big Ben Cleaning
We will back at ¡Glitch! Gaming Lounge for the next meeting - January 27th.
See you then!
