September 19, 2007

Concrete Support for Kids

VINCE VERSACE

For a $5,000 donation to the Toronto SickKids Foundation, Dufferin Concrete is dressing up its ready-mixed truck drums with corporate logos. Phil Clarkin will be driving this special truck around town for the next year.

Philanthropy

Dufferin Concrete spearheads donation drive for Toronto’s SickKids Foundation

PATRICIA WILLIAMS

Staff Writer

Charity-minded Dufferin Concrete is spearheading a drive to raise donations from the construction industry for Toronto’s SickKids Foundation.

Thus far, the company has raised $50,000 from 10 contracting firms_$5,000 apiece. For its part, Dufferin is affixing the contractors’ names and logos on the drum of a ready-mixed concrete truck for a year.

The company is picking up the tab for the drum design, logo printing and the like.

“We went to some of our top accounts and asked if they were interested in getting involved,” said Bruno Prospero, manager of Dufferin’s McCowan Road plant in Scarborough. “They jumped on board.”

The contractors’ cheques are to be presented to a representative of The Hospital for Sick Children at a customer appreciation event Thursday.

“We’re campaigning to get a second truck happening,” Prospero said. “We have a large number of trucks. If we can do as many trucks as possible, we can raise a lot of money for Sick Kids.”

Established in 1972, the SickKids Foundation has raised more than $500 million for the hospital and invested more than $60 million in research across the country.

“Obviously, this is for a very good cause,” said Keith Rose, vice-president of construction at Monarch Corp., one of the supporters of the Dufferin initiative. “It benefits the hospital; it benefits the kids.”

Karl Rammler, Dufferin sales and marketing manager, said the company plans to undertake similar initiatives elsewhere in the province. Local hospitals or even universities could be the beneficiaries.

“We have ready mix operations right across southern Ontario,” Rammler said. “The idea is to support the local communities in which we work.”

As part of its charitable ventures, Concord-headquartered Dufferin Concrete also donates $150,000 a year in products to Habitat for Humanity.

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