Donating Time to Help Support a Diverse Community With Food and Friendship
One day, while walking through her Toronto neighbourhood, Tracey Lacroix, Administrator with Nicola Wealth Private Giving Foundation, realized that what she’d assumed was a weekend summer produce market nearby was much more than it seemed. In fact, the Moss Park Market is a pay-what-you-can project, run out of a converted shipping container by the Growing Neighbourhoods Foundation—known more familiarly as Building Roots.
“I thought it was just a market where you go and buy your fruits and veggies,” Tracey recalls. “And then I noticed the sign. When I went home, I researched the organization and what they do. Their cause really resonated with me, and I wanted to be able to help out.”
With a mission to create socially cohesive communities, Building Roots provides access to fresh food for people in the Downtown East community, but that’s not where the support ends. The organization also creates opportunities for connection in a number of other ways: its Coffee & Conversations project, which provides free beverages and snacks alongside critical community materials next to its market; a BookShare program; a Food Bag delivery program; and other outreach initiatives.
The organization is a natural fit for Tracey, whose spirit of giving is reflected in the work she does at Nicola Wealth, helping to disburse funds to charities on behalf of clients. Since December 2022, she has spent almost every Saturday morning helping pack grocery bags or taking part in the Coffee & Conversations. “While the people are in line to pick up their bags of groceries, we have a table set up with coffee, tea, hot chocolate, and goodies,” she explains. “We encourage people not to just come, get in line, get your bag of food, and go home. The idea is that we encourage people to have a cup of coffee, sit around, reconnect with each other, and maybe meet a new neighbour.”
Bridging barriers
As the surrounding neighbourhood includes Toronto Community Housing apartments, Tracey notes that there’s a sizable immigrant population being served by Building Roots programs. “Many new Canadians live here, and this way they can drop by and receive fresh fruits and veggies, healthy food to feed their families, and also meet their neighbours,” she says. “Often in the summertime, there are informal gatherings of many different cultures. You’ll hear different languages being spoken everywhere, and the kids are all trying to speak English and get everybody communicating together.”
For Tracey, connecting with the market’s visitors is particularly fulfilling, and while she’s there throughout the seasons, she looks forward to the summer months when Building Roots hosts a variety of activities. “Last summer, we had kids’ activities including soccer and badminton,” she shares. “One organization shared children’s books, and we encouraged people to select them for their kids or their grandkids.”
Tracey doesn’t see the hours she spends with the organization as a toll but as an enriching part of her life. “It does make me feel good at the end of my shift,” she reflects. “I always feel like I've done something and brought a little bit of joy to somebody. There will always be at least one person who says how much they appreciate that we're here. It brings me satisfaction to know that I'm helping in my own neighbourhood.”
From Stiff Upper Lip to Hairy Upper Lip—All in Support of Men’s Health
Each November, the Nicola Wealth offices tend to get a little hairy. Everywhere you turn, moustaches abound–from the classic “Tom Selleck” to the extravagant “Salvador Dali” - as team members fundraise the annual Movember campaign.
Movember began in 2003 in Australia and has become an iconic global event. Every year, men around the world grow facial hair for a month and join with “Mo Sisters” in various events to raise awareness and funds for men’s health issues, including mental health and suicide prevention, prostate cancer, and testicular cancer. For over a decade, Nicola Wealth has been an enthusiastic participant, forming its first team of “Moustacheers” in 2010 and raising over $500,000 over the next 14 years.
For James McCarthy, Wealth Advisor |Client Relationship Manager at Nicola Wealth, Movember has been a source of pride and community-building. “As the firm grew, the Movember team has grown as well,” shares James, co-captain of Nicola Wealth’s Moustacheers.“When I started back in 2016, we had 12 or 15 people. Last year, we had close to 40. It's really starting to snowball. We raised $200,000 in the last two years.”
In addition to the growing of facial hair (among those who can), Moustacheer teammates take part in several events to help raise funds—from personal “cold plunge” challenges to hosting poker nights. In 2023, they also hosted Steve Farina, Executive Vice-President of the British Columbia Professional Fire Fighters’ Association, to talk about mental health among first responders and veterans.
James, who joined Nicola Wealth after immigrating from Cork, Ireland in 2016, notes that Nicola Wealth consistently punches above its weight. Last year, Nicola Wealth’s Moustacheers boasted the sixth largest team total in the country in 2023, at $110,844, and the ninth largest in the entire world—surpassing the fundraising efforts of other teams with 100 people or more. Opening up the conversation
Last year, one of the standout fundraisers was Lucy So, a Movember rookie who ended up leading the pack with a personal fundraising total of over $7,000. Lucy, Vice President, Institutional | Client Relationship Manager at Nicola Wealth, shares that she was personally moved to join in supporting the cause.
“My involvement was triggered by a personal connection to the causes and the efforts that Movember is trying to support,” she shares, adding that she was particularly keen on shedding light on mental health and suicide prevention and realizing there were others in the organization that felt the same way.
The Movember campaign, she says, has helped facilitate conversation and open up new lines of communication. “It had people talking about these issues, and that is such a positive step forward,” she observes. “I learned about other people's involvement with Movember and why they are involved—whether it be a father or a brother that had prostate cancer or if they had been impacted by suicide in their close circle. Awareness and the ability to talk about these things openly is so important.”
For James, taking part in the Movember campaign has opened up valuable conversations about mental health and men’s health in general. “Growing up in Ireland, Irish society is not the most welcoming to open and honest emotional conversations,” he reflects. “It’s been an eye-opener for me. Over the last number of years, being involved with Movember has allowed me to talk about any mental health struggles or emotional battles, in comparison to what I would have been used to growing up.”
Lucy says her Movember experience last year was a comfort during a difficult time. “A lot of the support from my colleagues is the reason why I was able to raise the most funds across the organization,” she shares. “That kind of turns work from work into a family.”
Thomas Adamietz is Helping Nicola Wealth Put Pedal to the Metal in Support of Cancer Research
When Thomas Adamietz joined Nicola Institutional Realty Advisors as Manager of Development over a year ago, he didn’t just bring his skills in business, development and architecture; he also brought along his passion for supporting cancer research.
This June marks the third time Thomas is participating in a challenging bike ride in his stepfather’s memory: The Princess Margaret Ride to Conquer Cancer, which takes place over the June 8-9 weekend this year. The largest cycling fundraiser in Canada, the event sees thousands of cyclists bike from Toronto to Niagara over two days to raise funds for The Princess Margaret Cancer Centre. Following two years of riding with his wife’s workplace team from TD Bank, he is participating as the captain of Nicola Wealth’s inaugural team of riders this year, alongside David Howell from the Business Transformation Team, Gary Orellana from Asset Management, and Spencer Dundas from Advisory Services.
“My stepfather passed away from a long battle with cancer,” Thomas shares. “He was diagnosed when I was in high school, passing away shortly after I graduated from my undergrad…. I've participated in endurance sports most of my life. Participating in an endurance event to support an initiative like cancer research is an easy yes for me.” It’s something he was able to persuade three colleagues to also champion, with lots of support from the Nicola Wealth Gives Back Charitable committee and Nicola Wealth colleagues.
A team effort
“Once I proposed the ride, there were many people who were excited about it and willing to help,” he shares, adding that the Nicola Wealth Gives Back Charity Committee pledged to donate $500 to each of the riders, who must each raise $2,000 to $4,000 to participate in the event, depending on which of the four official routes they choose to take. “What I found out through doing this is that if you want to be a champion of something [at Nicola Wealth], you have plenty of resources available for you to be as successful as you want it to be,” he continues. “I found great support in starting up this team and I hope that it continues to grow over the years.”
According to the Public Health Agency of Canada, an estimated two out of five people in Canada are diagnosed with cancer over their lifetime, and one in four die as a result of the disease, Thomas points out that cancer is something that touches virtually everyone. “When one person has cancer, there’s also the group around them—their partner, their extended family—that is impacted,” he observes. “I am doing this to support those who have cancer or may have it in the future, and also recognizing that the people around those who have cancer also need support. Because that's really where I was.”
In sharing his motivations for joining the Ride to Conquer Cancer with the Nicola Wealth team, Thomas says it’s helped foster conversation and connections in the workplace. “Sometimes, we have no idea about what happens outside of the nine to five” he notes. “Participating in something like this, you discover that some people have a similar story to you of a parent or a brother being lost to cancer, or even of being a cancer survivor themselves. It’s a great way to get past some of those walls and understand people a little more.”
Getting to the finish line
To prepare for the big event, the team is following a training program developed by the Ride to Conquer Cancer team. While Thomas admits the distance can seem like a daunting undertaking, he says there’s plenty of encouragement and support along the way to make it manageable—and even fun. “You have stops every 20 to 25 kilometres, and at each of those stops there is food, water, and volunteers. Sometimes there’s music and other distractions to keep everyone hyped up, and you can stay there really as long as you need to refresh yourself and continue. There’s so many people taking part that there’s always someone in front of, beside, or behind you to give support.”
Crossing the finish line after two days of cycling, he says, is an incredible feeling. “You’re tired, mentally and physically from the journey, but a couple of kilometres from the finish line, there are people with signs making noise, waving flags, supporting everyone coming through,” he shares. “As you cycle down the big hill along Niagara Falls leading to the finish line and you’re with people that have completed the journey, have the same stories as you, or are cancer survivors, and it’s just a wash of emotion. You cross the finish line and you’re re-energized. You sign up for next year’s ride right then and there.”
