On April 27, the Wilfrid Laurier University Letterman club donated a total of $12,000 to various charities both within the Laurier community and in Canada. Laurier Letterman gave $6,000 to the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation, adding onto their previous year’s $10,000 donation, as well as contributions to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Five Days for the Homeless and National Service Dogs of Canada, donating $4,000, $1,000 and $1,000 to each charity respectively.
The club increased the amount of donations from last year by $2,000, expanding the charities they donated to.
“Giving back to the community has been part of my life and my experience at Laurier since I came here,” Letterman president Jeremy Hedges said. “It’s been an amazing experience and it’s really satisfying to be able to give back this way.”
Throughout the year, Letterman hosted various fundraising initiatives, including the annual PowderPuff tournament.
In what was classified as a “building year” for Letterman, the club also modified their initiatives with Hedges at the helm. On top of hospital visits, the club added to the amount of kids they visited over the holidays, and also ran “Holiday of the Hawks” for their youth outreach program, working with a total of 45 kids throughout both semesters.
“I just felt like we could do more,” Hedges said, who had been the vice-president of Laurier Letterman the previous year and ran the exact same initiatives.
According to Hedges, another significant change occurred to bring the women’s teams on board.
“Traditionally the Laurier Letterman club was only men, so it’s varsity men athletes giving back to the community. This year, we brought the women’s teams on board so now it’s just varsity athletes giving back to the community,” Hedges said.
As for next year, Tamika Grant will be taking over as president of Laurier Letterman, as Hedges will be graduating after four years with the club.