MONTREAL, Aug. 12, 2014 /CNW Telbec/ - This year's Air Canada Foundation golf tournament raised a record of over $1,000,000 in support of organizations focused on health and wellbeing of children in Canada.  Now in its third year, the tournament was held Monday, August 11^th, at the Saint Raphaël Golf Club, Québec. The event featured 73 teams totaling 292 golfers from across North America. It included a full day of golf followed by dinner and silent and live auctions of items donated by tournament partners.

Aimia was the presenting sponsor of this year's event which was supported by more than 115 Canadian and international corporations and organizations. To view a complete list of supporters, please visit: http://www.aircanada.com/en/about/community/foundation

"With the unwavering support of Air Canada's friends, partners and employees, the Foundation's signature fundraising event has exceeded its million dollar target in just three years," said Priscille LeBlanc, Air Canada's Vice President, Corporate Communications and Chair of the Air Canada Foundation. "The funds raised will increase the Foundation's ability to make a difference in the lives of thousands of children across Canada through financial and travel assistance to children's hospitals, charitable organizations and causes focused on helping children in need. On behalf of all the people whose lives are touched by the Air Canada Foundation, I extend a heartfelt thank you to our loyal sponsors, participants and volunteers for their on-going enthusiasm and generosity."

As a registered not-for-profit organization, the Air Canada Foundation's mission is to help connect sick children to the medical care they need, grant children's wishes and alleviate child poverty. The Foundation also actively participates in humanitarian activity following natural disasters around the world. The following are highlights of the Air Canada Foundation's activities in 2013:

Cash Donations

Funds are donated to programs or projects submitted by eligible registered charitable organizations which meet the Air Canada Foundation selection criteria. Information is available at aircanada.com/foundation. Some of the recipients of the 2013 fund donations were:

• Breakfast Clubs of Canada to support five existing school breakfast programs in aboriginal communities and finance the cost of equipment and training for four new programs in four different provinces and territories:
• Annapolis Valley First Nation, Cambridge, Nova Scotia
• Aronhiatekha/Rotowennakehte School, Kanehsatake, Quebec
• Duke of Malborough School, Churchill Manitoba
• Omiishosh Memorial School, Pauingassi, Manitoba
• Mildred Hall School, Yellowknife, NorthWest Territories
• 14 Canadian pediatric hospitals, members of the Children's Miracle Network to assist with their most urgent funding needs.
• Dreams Take Flight Canada, a charitable organization founded and driven by Air Canada employees and retirees who enable thousands of children with physically, mentally or socially challenged backgrounds from across Canada to experience an all-expense paid day at Disney.
• Shriners Hospital Canada, as part of a five-year commitment to the Young Patient Lounge area of Montreal's new hospital.
• Canadian Red Cross's emergency aid for the Philippines.
• Pathways to Education's "The Pathways Air Canada Foundation Scholarship Fund," which is a three-year commitment towards the creation of a scholarship fund called to help youth from low-income communities graduate from high school and successfully transition into post-secondary education and training.
• Beyond Borders ECPAT's program to free children from sexual abuse and exploitation.
  
  

In-Kind Support

In 2013, the Air Canada Foundation managed over $3.5M in in-kind support donated by Air Canada including:

• Aircraft for eight Dreams Take Flight trips to Disney.
• Support to over 300 charitable organizations with the gift of travel for hundreds of fundraising events.
• A partnership with the RCMP Child Recovery Program to ensure the safe return of several missing children.
• The Air Canada Foundation Hospital Transportation Program which donated over 10 million Aeroplan Miles to pediatric hospitals across Canada enabling children to access medical care not available in their own communities.
• A Volunteer Involvement Program (VIP) for employees which awarded support to 106 charitable organizations in which Air Canada employees volunteer in their own community, including:
• A Loving Spoonful Meals Society - British Columbia
• Autism Aspergers Friendship Society of Calgary - Alberta
• Winnipeg Harvest Inc. - Manitoba
• Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Society of Canada (ALS) - Ontario
• Fondation du Centre des Femmes de Montréal - Montréal
• Fondation du Syndrome d'Angelman - Québec
• Charlotte County Cancer Society Inc. - New Brunswick
• Society for Women Healing From Addictions and Abuse - Nova Scotia
• Glenn's Helping Hand Foundation Inc. - Newfoundland
  
  

Humanitarian Aid

Following natural disasters the Air Canada Foundation provides humanitarian aid to those communities across the globe that need it most:

• The Air Canada Foundation donated $50,000 to the Canadian Red Cross in support of relief efforts in the Philippines following typhoon Haiyan.
• The Foundation also provided complimentary travel to the Canadian Medical Assistance Team to determine the extent of the devastation, the infrastructure repair requirements, and the health needs of the typhoon victims before setting up their inflatable field hospital and deploying their volunteer medical staff.
• Air Canada Cargo transported 30 pallets of essential medicine, enough for 240 000 treatments, from Toronto and Montreal to Frankfurt, in an effort to provide emergency medical relief to victims in the Philippines.

About the Air Canada Foundation

In celebration of its 75 years of community involvement, Air Canada launched in 2012 the Air Canada Foundation, a not-for-profit organization focused on the health and well-being of children in need. The Air Canada Foundation offers both financial and in-kind support, through travel assistance, to Canadian registered charities. Core programs include the Hospital Transportation Program, which donates Aeroplan Miles to pediatric hospitals across Canada enabling children to access medical care unavailable locally; the Volunteer Involvement Program (VIP) recognizes the involvement of employees in their local community by providing airline tickets to the registered charities in support of their fundraising initiatives. The Foundation in collaboration with the airline also engages directly in fundraising activities such as the Every Bit Counts program which encourages customers to donate loose change of all denominations onboard flights or through airport collection containers. The Foundation also offers continued support to major health-related causes that benefit Canadians and is an active participant in international humanitarian relief activity as the need arises. For more information about The Air Canada Foundation, please visit www.aircanada.com/foundation or the 2012 Corporate Sustainability Report, Citizens of the World, online at http://www.aircanada.com/csr.

About Air Canada

Air Canada is Canada's largest domestic and international airline serving more than 180 destinations on five continents.  Canada's flag carrier is among the 20 largest airlines in the world and in 2013 served more than 35 million customers.  Air Canada provides scheduled passenger service directly to 60 Canadian cities, 49 destinations in the United States and 73 cities in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Australia, the Caribbean, Mexico and South America. Air Canada is a founding member of Star Alliance, the world's most comprehensive air transportation network serving 1,316 airports in 192 countries.  Air Canada is the only international network carrier in North America to receive a Four-Star ranking according to independent U.K. research firm Skytrax that ranked Air Canada in a worldwide survey of more than 18 million airline passengers as Best Airline in North America in 2014 for the fifth consecutive year.  For more information, please visit: www.aircanada.com.

SOURCE Air Canada