spring-summer 2012 - bryan borzykowski
TRANSCRIPT
reinvent | reneW | reFreSH
brought to you by investors group | spring-suMMer 2012 | issue 11
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Scott & teSSa’S
triuMPhnothing can stop these
olympic champs from gunning for another gold
Say yeS to yieldpower up your portfolio
with dividend-paying funds
caMera ready ruleSsix tips for taking the perfect summer pics
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Contents
publicatioNS mail aGreemeNt No. 40065349 returN uNDeliverable caNaDiaN aDDreSSeS to:NatioNal MarketiNg, iNvestors group, 447 portage aveNue, WiNNipeg, MB r3C 3B6
*
4 message from investors Group6 editor’s Note; contributors8 letters
Departments
11 �Fresh�Start – a former ottawa tech guru’s surprising second act.
12� �Health�&�Wellness – work up a sweat using these exercise apps.
13 �Career�Strategies – how to become a part-time c-suite exec.
14 Q&A – Dividends can do a portfolio good.16� �The�Payoff – want to help canada’s
economy grow? follow this advice.18 Leisure – throw the best block party.32 The Goods – for para-athlete
Jody barber, a little financial help goes a long way.
33 Cause�&�Effect – investors Group employees help build homes.
34 Back�Story – kara macNeill saves children through sponsorship.
Picture�PerfectEnough with the fuzzy family photos. Two pro photographers offer up their tips on how to capture stunning summer shots. By Jeff Cassidy
Ready�to�RepeatA major injury nearly forced Olympic ice dancing champions Scott Moir and Tessa Virtue to call it quits, but months of hard work has put this gold medal winning duo back on top. By Craille Maguire gillies
Will�Work�for�FoodTired of eating out on vacation? Some travellers are choosing to forage for their own food instead. By alyssa sChwartz
Downsized�Space,�Upsized�StyleFour savvy suggestions on maximizing a smaller living area. By Corinna vangerwen
Features
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Investment products and services are offered through Investors Group Financial Services Inc. (in Quebec, a Financial Services firm) and Investors Group Securities Inc. (in Quebec, a firm in Financial Planning). Investors Group Securities Inc. is a member of the Canadian Investor Protection Fund.
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Message froM Investors group
Watching Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir execute a perfect performance for Olympic gold in 2010 was magical. But the real story of their triumph came from what we didn’t see that day.
My whole life I have been sur-rounded by athletes. I’ve been very fortunate to compete with, coach and become friends with some who went on to reach elite status in their sports. When I see Tessa and Scott perform, I think of all the sacrifice, hard work and planning that went into achieving their dreams. The pair is a great example of what happens when people set ambitious goals and accompany them with a smart
and dynamic plan. Along the road, they may have injuries and travel problems, as well as routines full of elements that require constant tuning and rebalancing, and they experience both good and bad days. But they stay focused on their end goal, sur-round themselves with a team of qualified experts and, by sticking to a well-constructed plan, continue to achieve long-term success while others, with less discipline or direc-tion, fall short.
Whether you’re an investor or an athlete, the process that drives success is strikingly similar. We are thrilled to feature two Canadian sports icons on our cover as they reach the second anniversary of their gold-medal victory. Scott and Tessa continue to stay true to their plan as they look forward to future world and Olympic champion-ships. Enjoy their story!
Neil Taylor,Vice-President,National Marketing
investors Group inc. is a canadian leader in providing personal financial planning services, and is dedicated to building lasting client relationships. our primary objective is to help canadians achieve financial security by providing quality financial planning advice and a comprehensive range of products through a network of independent consultants.
Products and financial services offered include:
• Mutual funds • tax-advantaged funds • portfolio funds• Monthly income portfolios• registered retirement savings
plans (rrSps)• registered retirement income
funds (rriFs)• registered education savings plans
(reSps)• tax-free savings accounts (tFSAs)• registered disability savings plans
(rdSps)• Life, disability, critical illness,
long-term care and personal health insurance1
• Segregated funds1
• Group insurance1
• Group rrSps• Guaranteed investment certificates2
• Mortgages3
• Banking services, including loans and lines of credit4
• Brokerage products and services offered through investors Group Securities inc.
www.investorsgroup.com
1 insurance products and services distributed through i.G. insurance Services inc. (in Quebec, a Financial Services firm). insurance license spon-sored by the Great-West Life Assurance company (outside Quebec).
2 Gics issued by investors Group trust co. Ltd. and/or other non-affiliated Gic issuers. 3 investors Group trust co. Ltd. is a federally
regulated trust company and the mortgagee. Mortgages are offered through i.G. investment Management, Ltd.* inquiries will be referred to a Mortgage planning (Agent) Specialist. *in the province of ontario, Mortgage Brokerage Licence #10809, Mortgage Administrator Licence #11256.
4 Banking products and services are distributed through Solutions Banking™. Solutions Banking products and services are provided by National Bank of canada. Solutions Banking is a trade-mark of power Financial corporation. investors Group and design are trademarks owned by iGM Financial inc. and licensed to its subsidiary cor-porations. National Bank of canada is a licensed user of these trademarks.
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Herb Carnegie: November 8, 1919 to March 9, 2012
It is with profound regret that we mourn the passing of Herb Carnegie, a former Investors Group Consultant, recipient of the Order of Canada, star amateur hockey player and founder of the Future Aces Foundation.
In 2007, Investors Group established two service awards in Herb’s name to recognize individuals who demonstrate extraordinary dedication and service to their community, outstanding business excellence and personalized client service. To further honour Herb, Investors Group is proud to provide the Future Aces program with a special contribution in his memory.
Herb’s dedication, determination and selflessness remind us of how a meaningful life is well lived. We are deeply saddened by his passing, grateful for having known him and proud of our association with him.
Thank you for the Introduction.Refer a potential new Investors Group client and you could win a
Lexus CT 200h HybridContact an Investors Group Consultant for details.
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Most Canadians tune into figure skat-ing during the Olympics, when this country’s best skaters are gunning for gold. As our athletes run their routines, it’s easy to forget that years of hard work and training went into that four- minute program. Perhaps no two skaters have demonstrated how much drive and resiliency goes into a cham-pionship win more than Olympic gold medal ice dancers – and this issue’s cover subjects – Scott Moir and Tessa Virtue. We talk to them (p. 28) about all the constant, painstaking work that goes into a winning career.
Like Moir and Virtue, Review readers know what it takes to be suc-cessful. We’ve worked hard to provide for our families and advance in our jobs. We’ve faced setbacks, but have
persevered. And we know that all that hard work ultimately pays off. Some of you may be finally ready to relax, others may want to continue getting their hands dirty. Or maybe you want to do both.
This issue focuses on ways to com-bine R&R with engaging work. Our career strategies story (p. 13) is about former big company executives who now help small operations succeed; our travel piece (p. 22) is on vacation-ers who prefer foraging for their own dinner than eating at a restaurant; we also offer suggestions on how to make a small living space look large (p. 20).
Whatever you want to do with your time, make sure to do it while enjoying the summer. After working hard for so long, it’s time to revel in your success.
BryaN Borzykowski
Editor-in-Chief
CoNtriButors
Peter Bakeris a photographer in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He works for a variety of commercial and editorial clients, as well as exhibiting as a fine art photographer. When he’s not shooting Olympic champions, he’s busy having lengthy discus-sions with his six-month- old daughter.
Craille Maguire Gillies, who wrote this issue’s cover story (p. 28), grew up figure skating on a backyard rink in Ontario, but gave up dreams of Salchow jumps and triple Lutzs and took up storytelling instead. This award-winning writer has written for enRoute and the Globe and Mail. She cur-rently lives in London, UK.
Jérôme Mireaultis a Montreal-based freelance illustrator. He’s contributed to Elle Quebec, the Globe and Mail and Canadian Living. His work has also appeared in several US publications including Philadelphia magazine, and Out. Mireault mostly focuses on fashion, music and urban life.
Alyssa Schwartz is a food and travel writer who almost went to chef’s school but decided eating (and writing) sounded like a better deal. Her culinary bucket list includes hunting for truffles in Croatia and olive picking in Tuscany. She’s written for Best Health and MSN.ca among other publications.
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Letters
EditorialEditor-in-Chief Bryan Borzykowski
Acting EditorJacinthe Dupuis
Editorial Contributors Chris Atchison Jeff Cassidy Leigh DoyleCraille Maguire Gillies Jennifer GoldbergValerie HowesSusan PetersAlyssa SchwartzKat TancockCorinna vanGerwinJen Zoratti
DesignArt DirectorDave Girard
Photo Researcher Arianne Di Nardo
Art Contributors Peter BakerDavid LeyesJérôme Mireault
Production DirectorJoelle Irvine
Copy Editor Christopher Korchin
Fact CheckerChristopher Korchin
Proofreader Katie Moore
Sales & [email protected]
Sales Manager Lori [email protected]
Senior National Account ManagersRysia Adam [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]
National Account ManagerLorna [email protected]
Quebec and Eastern Canada Account ManagerLysanne Boileau [email protected]
Western CanadaBarb Welsh [email protected]
United StatesLeith [email protected]
Investors Group National MarketingPeggy Yuill204-956-8866 peggy.yuill@ investorsgroup.com
PublisherSpafax Canada Inc.spafax.com
President, ContentRaymond Girard
Executive Vice-President, Media Katrin Kopvillem [email protected]
Publisher, Spafax Canada Lyne Farley [email protected]
Content Director Arjun Basu
Director, Finance & Human ResourcesPaula Pergantis
Director of SalesTracy Domitrovic
Toronto1179 King St. W., Suite 101Toronto, Ontario M6K 3C5416-350-2425 Fax 416-350-2440
Montreal4200 Saint-Laurent Blvd., Suite 707Montreal, Quebec H2W 2R2514-844-2001 Fax 514-844-6001
Chief Executive, SpafaxNiall McBain
ISSN 1924-4606
Review is presented as a general source of information only, and is not intended as a solicitation to buy or sell specific investments, nor is it intended to provide legal or tax advice. Commissions, fees and expenses may be associated with mutual fund investments. Read the prospectus before investing. Mutual funds are not guaranteed, values change frequently and past performance may not be repeated.
© 2012 Review magazine is published two times per year by Spafax Canada Inc. All rights reserved.
Editorial opinions or viewpoints expressed by the writers do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher or Investors Group. Content copyrighted by Spafax Canada Inc. may not be reprinted without written permission of the copyright owner. The publisher is not responsible for claims and statements made by advertisers. The publisher assumes no liability for return or safety of unsolicited art, photographs or manuscripts.
Feature LetterThe “Man on a Mission” [Fall-Winter 2011] story had a profound effect on our daughter and has inspired her to form a non-profit foundation to help women and children living with HIV/AIDS in East Africa. Our daughter, Tarin, had travelled to Ngong Hills, Kenya before, to work and volunteer with the Living Positive Program. She helped raise funds before she left Canada. That money went to purchase food, sewing machines and school supplies for these struggling families.
She had been mulling over her next steps when she read the article about Stephen Lewis and his work in Africa. His story inspired her to form the Napenda Rescue Foundation – Napenda meaning love in Kenya’s national tongue. She gathered a board of directors and her first goal is to open a rescue centre to house children left orphaned after their mothers have succumbed to AIDS and starvation. I encourage you to go to Tarin’s blog at www.tarinafrica.blogspot.com.
Christine and darryL arndt
CaLgary, aLberta
Congratulations Christine and Darryl! You’ve won a $100 Transat Holidays gift card. Thanks for sharing Tarin’s amazing story.
Party prize package from TrudeauShare your thoughts on this issue and you could win a prize pack from Trudeau, the number one kitchen and table products manufacturer in North America! The prize, worth $200, includes wine glasses, a bottle opener and a decanter – perfect for your summer long-weekend party.
review Spring-Summer [email protected]
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Get in Touch!Let us know what you think about Review. Send us an e-mail at [email protected] or mail
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You go, Stephen Lewis! He shows us the path of true compassion. Most of us just look on at the pleading eyes of orphaned African children. Their plight is so far removed from our comfortable life that we excuse our apathy by think-ing that there are too many needy children in the world so we can’t possibly support them all.
Luckily there is Stephen Lewis who knows that one person can make the world a better place. We do make special donations toward the Stephen Lewis Foundation in the United Church, but most of us could do a lot more.
Jean F. FahLman
Weyburn, saskatCheWan
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esfresh start
Many of Arlen Bartsch’s current colleagues are surprised to learn that he was once a titan in Ottawa’s tech community. For 20 years he worked for various technology companies, but his big moment came in 2000, when he sold the com-pany he founded for $2.7 million. “It was the most reward-ing event I have ever experienced,” he says of the sale. But while he’ll never forget the thrill of that achievement, his days as a tech-sector exec are now behind him.
Four years ago, the 52-year-old Bartsch made a major career change. He landed a job heading up fundraising efforts for Canada’s National Ballet School (CNBS) as its director of development. He’s always loved the arts, but it wasn’t just his passion for culture that led him to make a mid-career move to the world of non-profit fundraising. “I learned from an early age how important it was to bal-ance life with work and with giving back,” he says.
Bartsch was already wanting to leave the Ottawa tech industry when a recruiter contacted him with a new oppor-tunity – the CNBS’s executive director was looking for people with business experience. Bartsch saw it as an ideal fit. “My values (aligned) with my skill set and the organiza-tion’s needs,” he says.
Transitioning to a new industry in a different city was not without challenges. He commuted from Ottawa to Toronto three days a week in his first year with CNBS before moving to Toronto full time. But Bartsch’s greatest hurdle was re-establishing his network. “I had to build relationships [in Toronto] with people who didn’t know me. In Ottawa I had a reputation because of what I’d accomplished,” he says.
Bartsch has no regrets. The non-profit world is a bet-ter fit for him at this stage of life, he says. He also finds the work he’s doing now both rewarding and inspiring. “I get to talk with people who want to make transformational change happen through a financial contribution,” he says. “I can (help) steer a gift into the area where it’s most needed.”
Boardroom Meets Balleta former ottawa tech guru takes on the demands of dance.By Jennifer GoldBerG
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Endomondo iOS/Android/BlackBerry
A must-have for runners. Using GpS, the app tracks where you run, for how long and you can share your best times with friends.
health & wellness
MyFitnessPaliOS/Android
track calories and exercise with this free app. it has over 1.2 million foods in its database and is backed by an active com-munity of users to keep you motivated.
After seven months away from his martial arts gym, Jody White was put-ting off returning to classes. “I was worried about my push-ups,” he says. To get back into shape, the Toronto-based writer turned to his trusty iPhone for help. He used a mobile app that told him when he needed to do a set of push-ups. He listened to the software nearly every day for five weeks, and now he can do an impres-sive 125 consecutive push-ups.
More and more people are turning to fitness apps to help them get into shape, but can you really get results like White did? The answer is yes, says
Handheld Health Get fit using mobile apps. By leigh Doyle
Toronto, says fitness apps help with accountability. “People who have to report their exercise progress regu-larly are more likely to meet their goals,” she says. But for an app to really work, it needs you – the user. “Regardless of the program, people have to stick with it in order to see results, which is easier than ever because of the convenience of smart-phones,” says Cugelman. White agrees: “It works. You just have to do it,” he says. Ready to get fit? Try one of these four expert-recommended health apps, available for iPhone and Android smartphones.
Brian Cugelman, a Toronto-based researcher who studies how technol-ogy can improve health outcomes. People just need to use the right apps.
The most effective apps are those that require you to set a goal – like trying to do 125 push-ups – then pro-vide regular feedback and tips for success as you key in your informa-tion daily. “A good app will also send you reminders when it looks like you’re not on track to achieve your goal,” says Cugelman.
Meg Sharp, the executive dir-ector of personal training for the Cambridge Group of Clubs in
CrossFit TravelAndroid
Keep fit while you travel. this app gives you over 120 equipment-free workout programs.
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iMapMyRUNiOS/Android
As you run, this app records distance, pace, speed, elevation, calories burned, route and time travelled on an interactive map.
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When Christopher Barry left an impressive full-time position in the corporate world in
2001, it wasn’t with a golden hand-shake and the promise of countless rounds of golf in his retired future.
On the contrary, Barry, a strategic turnaround specialist, decided instead to become an interim executive, sell-ing his services to firms ranging from small-to-medium-sized companies to publicly funded organizations. In many cases, his clients require C-suite help but lack the funds to hire someone with his expertise on a full-time basis.
“I like the interim route because you have a varied challenge,” Barry, now in his early fifties, explains. “We’re the type of people who like to run into a burning building.”
Barry is one of a growing number of former, mostly baby boomer, exec-utives who take the free-agent route – often well ahead of their senior years – to provide knowledge and expertise to help the next generation of small busi-nesses reach their growth potential.
While these interim executives can command C-suite salaries, they’re not usually in it for the money. Like Barry, they trade the security of the corpor-ate world for flexibility. Engagements typically last anywhere from a few months to a year, and offer the per-sonal freedom to work and get in a few rounds of golf or travel with family.
Jane Matthews, head of the interim placement division at Toronto search firm Odgers Berndtson, says executives typically find companies to work for by using executive search firms;
reaching out to contacts in their extensive networks, or by liaising with accountants or lawyers, who often have strong insights into C-suite tal-ent shortages at the SME level.
But, as Barry stresses, the interim route isn’t for everyone. People need to be adaptable, flexible and willing to walk into sometimes disastrous situa-tions, as he did when he recently had to restore funding and ethics structures, as interim CEO, at the embattled Toronto Humane Society.
But for those who enjoy being a part-time executive, he feels the opportunities are virtually limitless. “There are so many companies look-ing for help,” says Barry, who has worked virtually non-stop since 2001. “Once you get in the game, it’s impossible not to get work.”
Part-time President Ease your way into retirement by becoming an interim executive. By Chris atChison
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Q & A
Dive into Dividends Boost returns and lessen risk with dividend-paying funds. By BryAn Borzykowski
Q: Why are more people seeking out dividends?A: One of the primary reasons is that dividend yields on securities, in many situations, are greater than those you’d find on fixed income, which have dropped globally. For some context, five- to 10-year government bond yields are hovering under two percent right now, which is very low. Some dividend yields of quality corporations are exceed-ing this, offering upwards of four percent or more.
In today’s volatile, low-return, low-interest-rate envi-ronment, many investors are scratching their heads, wondering how their portfolios will ever grow. While his-tory proves that markets go up over the long-term, there is one way to help stabilize returns today: dividends.
A dividend is a quarterly or annual payout made by a company to its shareholders. Investors can be paid in cash – via a cheque or direct deposit – which can be used to pay for living expenses or to reinvest in more of the se-curity. With the market still experiencing ups and downs, many investors are turning to these stable-yielding securi-ties to increase their savings.
Keith Potter, Investors Group’s Vice-President, Products, spoke to Review about why people may want to consider adding dividend-paying funds to their portfolios.
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Send your queries on any financial topic to [email protected] or Review Q&A, 4200 Saint-Laurent Blvd., Suite 707, Montreal, QC H2W 2R2. Please include your full mailing address and a daytime phone number.
dividend-paying companies often have a high quality of earnings, meaning they can generate sustainable cash flow to pay investors dividends over time. This quality of earnings provides investors with dividend income and makes it more comforting for investors to hold the securities in times of uncertainty, which reduces volatility. While dividend paying securities tend to be less volatile it is important to remember they are still equity investments so there will be ups and downs.
Q: Is one dividend-paying company as good as the next?A: No. Not all companies’ earnings are equal and you need to ensure that the dividends are supported by strong sustainable earnings into the future. You need to be careful of the dividend trap, which is when yields go up from a falling stock price as a result of deteriorating fundamentals of the company. In these situations divi-dend yields can be quite high, but there is a risk that the company can’t sustain earnings and they’ll have to reduce their dividends.
Q: How does someone choose a dividend security?A: Not all dividend-paying companies are the same, so you need a professional investment manager who can determine which dividend-paying companies to invest in. They’ll look for businesses with quality, sustainable and growing earnings and dividends that are likely to increase over time.
Q: Is it good enough to just buy one dividend- paying mutual fund?A: You want to ensure you are properly diversified even within dividend-paying companies and within the con-text of an investor profile. This is where an advisor comes in. They help select a set of funds that minimize the amount of volatility in a portfolio. Even with dividends, you still want a diversified set of funds. And there are a variety to choose from, including Canadian dividend funds, global dividend funds and other Equity Income paying securities such as Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs). Remember that foreign dividends don’t have the same favourable tax treatment as Canadian dividends, so you would need a higher pre-tax return to realize the same net after tax income.
Another attraction is that Canadian dividends get pref-erential tax treatment in non-registered accounts. The dividend tax credit helps reduce actual taxes payable on Canadian dividends, and usually increases after tax income.
Q: How can dividends help a portfolio grow?A: Dividends contribute to growth even if the share price stays flat, or is somewhat volatile as the dividend will help the total return of that investment. For example, if a stock price is flat and stays, say, at $20, but you get a four- percent dividend yield, you will receive approximately a four percent return for the year.
Q: Are dividend-paying companies safer than non-dividend payers?A: In many cases dividend-paying companies have proven to be less volatile than non-dividend-paying companies in uncertain times. One of the main reasons for this is that
Keith Potter, B. Comm (Hons), CGA, is Vice-President, Products, at Investors Group.
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THE PAYOFF
To Save or to Spend? Conflicting economic messages are confusing Canadians. BY SuSAn PETErS
Ever since the recession, Canadians have been bombarded with mixed messages about how to save our economy. Some financial experts warn that we’re taking on too much debt and we need
to save more. Others say Canada can best weather the rocky recovery if its citizens continue to spend. Needless to say, it’s hard for people to know what to do.
John Wiltshire, a Senior Vice-President of Product and Financial Planning at Investors Group, says that sustain-able spending can, in fact, help the economy. For example, spending an affordable amount on a mortgage encourages a stable housing market. However, it’s also true that people can help the economy by saving. According to a recent Equifax report, the average Canadian household currently owes $150,000 in debt for every $100,000 in income. That imbalance could pose problems as interest rates rise, making it more difficult for people to pay off debt. Ideally, consumer spending shouldn’t grow faster than incomes, says Wiltshire, but, according to the Bank of Canada, for most of the recession, spending did outpace salary increases.
One of the best ways Canadians can help our economy, says Wiltshire, is to think less about the market’s daily ups and downs, and focus instead on solidifying your own finan-cial house. By doing what’s best for your own bottom line – that could be spending, saving or both – you’ll also help
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Send your queries on any financial topic to [email protected] or Review Q&A, 4200 Saint-Laurent Blvd., Suite 707, Montreal, QC H2W 2R2. Please include your full mailing address and a daytime phone number.
John Wiltshire is a Senior Vice-President of Product and Financial Planning at Investors Group.
bolster this country’s fortunes. Here are a few ways to improve your own – and ultimately Canada’s – financial situation.
Tip Invest A well diversified portfolio includes owning some Canadian companies, says Wiltshire. The money businesses get from those investments allows them to upgrade technology, spend more on research and development and become more competitive. By purchasing mutual funds, you end up spreading your money around to numerous companies.
Tip Three-bucket approachWhen it comes to spending, you need to remember that you’re not just spending for today. Wiltshire suggests thinking about spending in three buckets: what you’ve spent in the past, what you spend in the present and what you plan to spend in the future.
The past bucket, he explains, is for money you’re using today to pay off debt; the present bucket is for cash you’re spending on today’s needs, like a car payment and groceries; the last bucket is savings, so you have money to spend in the future. Wiltshire points out that there needs to be a balance between each bucket, so don’t spend all your money today at the expense of future savings. And, the older you get and the more debt you pay off the less money you’ll need for the past bucket. Put that money into the future bucket instead.
Tip Eliminate debt Low-interest rates actually make this a great time to pay off debt, since your payments will go further to reduce more of the principal, above and beyond paying off interest. Most people should aim to pay off debt before retirement. If you’re planning to do consulting or work part-time in retirement, then perhaps paying off all debt isn’t necessary, but make sure your savings are sufficient enough to handle any interest rate increases or other surprises.
Tip Remember to have funAfter you’ve put money away for your current necessi-ties – like your child’s tuition – and allocated savings for your future, you can help the economy by spending some of your hard-earned cash. For example, it might be time for that cross Canada trip you’ve always dreamed of tak-ing. “Create a plan in advance, then have fun and spend on those things that make life worthwhile,” says Wiltshire.
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Rock the Block PartyIt’s the season for sunny backyard bashes. Follow our expert advice to make yours the party to gatecrash.By Valerie Howes
SippersTo go with juicy steak or hamburg-ers, offer Niagara’s Open Cab2-Merlot
or Jackson-Triggs Meritage, sug-gests Natalie MacLean, author of Unquenchable: A Tipsy Quest for the World’s Best Bargain Wines. “Beyond our borders,” she adds, “try robust reds from South America, such as Alamos Malbec from Argentina or Carmen Cabernet-Sauvignon Gran Reserva, from Chile.”
With seafood, MacLean pours Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio, from Italy or Woodbridge Pinot Grigio, from California. “Ontario’s Malivoire Ladybug Rosé is stunning with planked salmon or grilled tuna,” she adds.
KidsTo keep children happy, Jennifer Reynolds, editor-in-chief of Canadian
Family, suggests providing a plastic sandbox for tots and a craft table for school-aged kids: “Decorating small birdhouses is seasonally appropriate.” Or go simple: “Balls of all shapes and sizes are a surefire hit.”
Your own kids can take on hosting duties. Reynolds says, “Have them write up a menu, make decorations (pennant flags, welcome signs and centrepieces) and welcome guests.”
Decor“The most dramatic way to transform an outdoor party is by hanging paper
lanterns,” says Binky Holleran, owner of Montreal café and catering business Fuchsia Épicerie Fleur. She suggests customizing them with crepe paper flowers or spray paint and stringing them over large, outdoor fairy lights.
For the table, Holleran suggests ed-ible arrangements made with cut fruits and edamame; and for the bar area, beautiful large glass beverage jars filled with punch or sangria, with spigots for easy serving.
BitesBorje Salming, NHL player turned barbe-cue guru and author of Grilling with Salming,
suggests switching up the “dogs-and-burgers” formula: Cut salmon into one-inch-thick slices, marinate in the refrigerator for up to 12 hours in 2/3 cup sugar, 1/3 cup salt, the juice of one lemon, a generous sprinkling of crushed white pepper and a handful of chopped dill. Rinse after marinating, pat dry with paper towel, then grill over very hot coals, a few minutes on either side, so they’re charred on the outside and just cooked on the inside. Serve with bulgur salad.
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Make your small abode feel large. By Corinna vanGerwen
Open things upIf you’re willing to renovate, consider an open-concept floor plan. “the more open one room is to the other, the larger it feels,” says Yetman. “In a small space, this gives you the look of one large room.”
Furniture layout in an open space can be a struggle for some, though. Everything should work together, but don’t think of your space as one big room. to make furni-ture placement easier, look at your space as “a series of vignettes that make up a whole,” adds vancouver designer Kelly Deck.
Downsized Space, Upsized Style
Go with built-insIn a home with a small square footage, having a place to put everything is key. too many little pieces – whether they be furniture, artwork or accessories – visually break up a space, making it seem smaller.
scott Yetman, a Montreal-based in-terior designer, recommends investing in a wall-to-wall bank of floor-to-ceiling built-ins, custom designed to suit your storage needs. the usefulness of built-in millwork can’t be replicated with a bunch of freestanding furniture pieces, which will just add visual clutter.
There comes a time in most people’s lives when that spacious dream home starts to feel a bit too big. Maybe the kids have left or the upkeep is getting tiresome, but for whatever rea-son, condos and smaller houses may suddenly start looking attractive. But just because you want to downsize doesn’t mean you need to be cramped. Follow these four design tips and your new space may feel just as roomy as your old one.
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Make use of mirrorsMost people know that mirrors can make a space feel larger by reflecting light and extending eyelines. this time-tested technique is a boon for small spaces.
simply hang a framed mirror above a mantel or – particularly ideal for small homes – utilize mirrors as a space-expanding architectural detail. “Using mirrors architecturally enhances their impact,” says Deck. try a wall of mirrors, or feature them in open areas of custom millwork, such as between two columns or as the backsplash of a built-in bar.
When deciding on where to incor-porate them, “think about what the mirror is going to reflect,” says Yetman. “they’re a great way to expand a view.” If you’re not keen on looking at yourself all the time, try an on-trend smoked mirror, suggests Deck.
Easy on the coloursthere are two tricks to choosing colours for a small space: Go light, and limit the number of hues.
“Light colours make a space feel more open,” says Deck. If you do want to use dark tones, limit them to the lower part of the room – the floor and low-slung furniture – so as to keep the upper part of the space light and airy.
It’s also important to stay consistent. “choose one tone and use plenty of it,” says Yetman. For example, select tone-on-tone fabrics and opt for furniture in a colour that’s similar to your walls. Less contrast makes for a more harmonious space, tying it together visually and mak-ing it seem larger. “When you consider resale value, areas that look larger and have a lighter, more positive space are a good investment,” says Yetman.
but just because there’s less room doesn’t mean it’s easier to put together a small space than a large space – in fact, the opposite is usually true. If you find yourself struggling to make your new, smaller home work for you, it might be time to talk to a design pro. “Every inch needs to count,” says Yetman.
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Tired of visiting restaurants on vacation? Forage for your feast instead. By AlyssA schwArtz
Will Work for Food
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I always thought oysters tasted like the sea – that salt-licked, briny goodness that, for a landlocked Toronto girl, conjures frothy waves and windswept beaches in just one slurp. What I realize, standing on a float
dock in tranquil Clayoquot Sound, near Tofino, British Columbia, is that the molluscs actually taste just like the air here. They start and finish with salt and algae, yes, but there are notes of green and other almost imperceptible subtle-ties that make the flavour nearly indistinguishable from the cool air I’m gulping down as greedily as I am the bivalves.
It’s a Saturday morning in November, and this is break-fast. Normally, there would be at least one extra degree of separation between those oysters and my mouth, but this weekend also happens to be the Clayoquot Oyster Festival, and as part of the annual festivities comes the rare op-portunity to take a tiny boat up into Lemmens Inlet for a lesson in oyster farming and a chance to eat them right off the line. No need for ice – the oysters are still cold from their marine nests, dripping with sea water.
There’s only about a dozen of us out here slurping oys-ters, but the interest was so high that I had to talk my way into a seat on the tour. It’s no surprise that these types of culinary adventures are in such high demand: According to the Canadian Tourism Commission’s Global Tourism Watch, interest in hands-on foodie activities is on the rise. While it’s still niche compared to the millions of people who’d rather spend their travel days ordering off a menu, it’s also hard to deny the appeal of foraging for your dinner.
Oyster farmer Michael Mullin wouldn’t have it any other way. “If that’s not nature’s perfect food, I don’t know what
is,” he says as he pops the shells open with a knife. He uses an old barrel as a table, explaining as he shucks why the wa-ters off Tofino are such a “magical” place to do what he does.
There’s an intimate understanding of the connection between the oysters’ pure flavour and this place, which comes while standing on a dock accessible only by boat, surrounded by pristine waters (oyster lines hang down some 20 metres deep, and yet we can easily see the inlet’s floor) and flanked by rainforest. Oysters feast on microscopic plankton that live in the water, which means they’re really only as pure as their environment – and though they can
certainly be enjoyed anywhere, there’s a unique appreciation that comes from eating them here.
Visits to farmers’ markets, farm-to-table dinners and the like do offer a chance to become better acquainted with the rela-tionship between food and its origins, but experiences such as the one I had harvesting oysters, or learning to make cheese on a dairy farm in New Zealand, or dragging a crust of bread through the Tuscan olive oil you helped press, can impart special
insight into how inextricably flavour can be tied to place, history and culture.
“There’s only so much you can take of observing sites and eating in restaurants,” said Heidi Fink, a Victoria-based chef and cooking instructor who recently led a culinary tour through Spain and Morocco. “At some point you don’t want to be a tourist anymore. You want to be a traveller. You want to be someone who’s experiencing a country.” A high-light of that trip, says Fink, was wandering among roaming chickens and piles of exotic spices in a souk in Marrakesh and then going back to the kitchen of the chic Riad El Fenn
An oyster farmer prepares to check his crop.
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restaurant to learn how to prepare tajine – a dish named after the pot it’s cooked in – and other traditional foods. The best part, she says, was getting to eat everything they cooked.
But this type of culinary travel isn’t always about gour-met feasts. For Lisa Niver Rajna, preparing a customary meal inside a ger – a traditional Mongolian yurt-style dwelling – was memorable not for its gastronomic excel-lence but because of the window it afforded into her hosts’ lives. The visit was a spontaneous stop at the home of friends of her hired driver, and shortly after arriving, Rajna found herself crouched on the floor, being shown by a lo-cal woman how to mix and roll out dough for old-style Mongolian noodles, which she then baked and ate with a dish she describes as “goat gruel.” Later, she and her hus-band herded goats and sheep with the family patriarch and learned how to turn their milk into cheese and yogurt. A self-described picky eater, Rajna said she was so hungry from travelling in the Gobi Desert with meagre food op-tions that it didn’t matter how the goat stew was made. Her host was hacking off pieces of dried-out goat on the kitchen floor – she polished off two bowls while her normally less finicky husband ended up eating peanuts for dinner.
“It wasn’t a trip of luxury,” Rajna said, “but we saw how people really live.”
The morning after my oyster farm visit, I take a forest walk with Gisele Martin, who runs Tla-ook Cultural Adventures. We’re supposed to be foraging – among the delicacies that grow natu-
rally here are all manner of mushrooms, including chicken of the woods and chanterelles – but we’re past the first snowfall of the season and much of the bounty has already either been collected or started to rot. Martin’s people – she’s of the local Nuu-chah-nulth tribe – don’t believe in farming (“We wouldn’t impose a plant on a place,” she says), but in helping indigenous vegetation along within its natural growing periods. And while there may not be mushrooms left to eat, there’s still plenty to taste.
As we hike, she picks tart berries – they’re called cin-nimoka, which translates to “berries that get sweeter as it gets colder.” They’re mouth-puckering now, but later in the season they’re dried into cakes for snacking and baking. We also pick needles off a hemlock tree (not the poison-ous kind). The sprigs have a sour, citrusy pine flavour, and while I imagine they would taste amazing in place of rose-mary baked in focaccia bread, Martin describes the ancient method of using hemlock branches to catch roe herring.
As on the oyster farm the day before, it’s impossible to not be struck by the links between the place and its bounty, or to be unimpressed by all the food Martin is able to scavenge based on knowledge handed down over literally thousands of years.
“Hishuk ish tsawalk,” she says, wisely summing up what has emerged as the theme of what I’d initially thought would be purely a food-focused journey. “Everything is one.” n
Travelling to Tofino Getting there: tofino is accessible by daily float-plane service from downtown Vancouver and Vancouver international Airport, operated by tofino Air (tofinoair.ca). by car or bus, tofino is about a three-hour drive (200 km) from Nanaimo.
Where to stay: long beach lodge is a laid-back west coast-type property with hotel-style rooms in the main lodge and cottages featuring outdoor hot tubs and full kitchens. 1441 pacific rim hwy., tofino, 1-877-844-7873, longbeachlodgeresort.com
Remote Passages: though oyster-farm visits are only available during the clayoquot oyster Festival every November, remote passages, which operates the tour, offers a host of whale-watching and sea kayaking trips and other excursions. 51 wharf st., tofino, 1-800-666-9833, remotepassages.com
Tla-ook Cultural Adventures: together with her father and sister, Gisele Martin offers forest walks and trips in hand-carved traditional canoes, focusing on the history and tradition of the Nuu-chah-nulth first nations tribe in and around tofino. 1-877-94-cANoe, tlaook.com
Gisele Martin, owner of tla-ook cultural Adventures, searches for the perfect berry.
colourful spices – great for making tajine – brighten up a shop in Morocco.
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arm yourself with these photo-taking tips and never miss a shot again.By Jeff Cassidy
summer’s finally on its way, and that means it’s time to swap your Oxfords for flip-flops and get some well-deserved r&r. whether you’re planning a staycation at the cottage or an adventure overseas, one thing’s for certain: You’re going to be taking lots of pictures. it doesn’t matter if you use an
entry-level point-and-shoot or a fancy digital single-lens reflex (better known as DsLr – it’s bigger and has more manual fea-tures than a point-and-shoot), taking great pics is less about the gear than it is about knowing a few basics and making good choices. Here are some tips on how to make your shots shine.
Do a recon missionsteven nederveen, who’s travelled the world capturing landscapes for his paintings, highly recommends scop-ing out your location – be it a Grand canyon view or the eiffel Tower – to see how the light affects it at different times of the day and to find the best angles. “Find its spirit,” he says. “Don’t think you’re going to get a good shot by just standing there.”
For Landscape Shots
Picture Perfect
CompositionOnce you’ve got your scene in the crosshairs, the next question is where to position things in the frame. Left? right? Top? Bottom? This is where the rule of Thirds comes in handy. “most cameras have a setting where a grid appears over the LcD screen,” says nederveen. “centre a prominent object on any one of the grid’s intersections. i like to keep my horizon lines low, because i like big dramatic skies.”
Create dramaDaniel Harrison, a photographer who’s shot for Flare and Chatelaine, says that this tip is key. “i always try to look for drama,” he explains. “whether it’s interesting cloud shapes, rain or just conflict in the sky, it always adds something to the image.” Try to get the image to capture something, nederveen adds. “Think of an adjective that describes the place and see if your photo has it.”
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Focus on your subjectrule number one may seem simplistic, but make sure to set your focus on your subject. Do this is by blurring the background. “i’m a big advocate of this, because it puts all eyes on your sub-ject,” says Harrison. “Backgrounds can be distracting – there’s always stuff go-ing on.” For point-and-shoot cameras, the portrait setting often does the trick, but for full control Harrison recom-mends a long lens.
Be inconspicuousHow many people do you know who like having their picture taken? exactly. if you really want great shots at your next party or wedding, invest in a point-and-shoot with a decent optical zoom – or a long telephoto lens for your DsLr – and hang back. “stay farther away so people don’t know they’re being photographed,” Harrison says. “it gets you real people in their own element.”
Consider renting lensesYou can’t do this with a point-and-shoot, but if you use a DsLr you can get different shots with different lenses. Before buying a pricey lens, rent one and test it out. canon and nikon DsLrs are the most widely used cameras, so most camera shops will rent lenses for them. n
For Portrait Photos
Submit your amazing pics!enter your best outdoor shots of canadian places in investors Group’s “Great canadian Outdoors” photo contest. The winning pics will end up in an investors Group 2013 wall calen-dar. For more info and to enter, go to facebook.com/investorsgroup or send your pictures to [email protected]. The contest closes august 13, so start snapping!
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Tessa Virtue and scott moir celebrate their gold medal triumph at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics.
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Harder, better, faster, stronger. Whatever the sport, an athlete always has those clear goals in mind. Yet strength and speed are only part of the equation.
Ask any athlete the secret of their success and they’ll almost certainly tell you it is resilience. Not talent – which is a given – but a relentless drive that wakes them hours before dawn to train, carries them through pain and injury, and motivates them under pressure. It’s this resilience, coupled with a stubborn persistence, that propels athletes over finish lines, puts them on podiums and carries their teams to championships.
Ice dancers Scott Moir and Tessa Virtue learned this young-er than most. They’ve skated together since they were children, moving away from home as teenagers to train for hours a day. Their goal, like many of their peers, was to make it to the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver, and they were pegged as Olympic hopefuls.
But for months before the Games they faced count-less challenges. Virtue, small and strong with fire in her eyes and a quick smile, had persistent pains in her shins. Doctors tried to find a solution before settling on risky surgery. In the year and a half before the 2010 Games,
Virtue had to regain the ability to walk, not to mention skate. While she recovered in Ontario, Moir practised at their rink in Canton, Michigan, with a hockey stick instead of his partner. It was their resilience, passion and drive – “I had to get to the Olympics,” Virtue later explained – that kept them going.
Flash forward to early 2010. When the pair finished a balletic, nearly perfect performance to Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 5
at the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver, they must have suspected it was a gold-medal moment. They glided to the edge of the rink, where Moir launched himself over a thick padded wall, opened his arms wide and bear-hugged long-time coach Marina Zoueva. Virtue looked at coach Igor
“The obvious assumption is that once you’re an Olympic championyou have the world in your hands. But we found it was quite the opposite.”
after a year of setbacks, Olympic champion ice dancers scott moir and Tessa Virtue are ready to win again.
By Craille Maguire gillies
Readyto Repeat
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Shpilband, gave a half shrug and grinned. “Oh Canada!” a TV announcer said.
After the couple’s score was announced, the 12,000-odd people packed into Pacific Coliseum chanted “Can-a-da! Can-a-da!” Moir and Virtue had won the first gold medal in figure skating for Canada since 2002, when David Pelletier and Jamie Salé won for their pairs program in Salt Lake City. (Virtue, who was 20 years old at the Vancouver Olympics, and Moir, then 22, were the youngest ever to win the ice dance category.) “I’ll probably wear it in the shower,” Virtue said at the time of her gold medal. “I’m not going to take it off all week.”
Still, winning at the Olympics doesn’t guarantee a life-time of smooth skating. In the months after the Games, Virtue was again plagued with health problems – a frus-trating repeat of that 2008–2009 season. And it came at a time when she and Moir might have been expected, in the lingo of the Vancouver Olympics, to “own the podium.” Virtue’s shins were operated on for a second time in late 2010, and a strained quad forced the pair to withdraw from the 2011 Four Continents competition, one of
the key events in the figure skating season. “The obvious assumption,” said Moir one warm Friday this winter while making the weekend commute home to Ontario from their long-time training centre in Canton, “is that once you’re an Olympic champion you have the world in your hands. But we found it was quite the opposite.”
During this period they seldom communicated, afraid to talk about the personal toll their professional separation was taking on their relationship, and perhaps a little afraid of the future. As Virtue told sportswriter Steve Milton for their autobiography Tessa & Scott: Our Journey from Childhood Dream to Gold, “That was the worst time for our relationship, and unfor-
tunately it was matched up with the worst time of our skating career.”
But by now, the duo were used to persevering. Virtue and Moir have been making sacrifices and dealing with challeng-es since they started skating together 15 years ago. When they were kids they’d often wake up at 4:30 a.m. to squeeze in a practice before heading to school. The pair got their start in Ilderton, Ontario, a small town outside London, when Tessa was eight years old and Scott was 10. When they
the duo’s near flawless olympic routine catapulted them into first place.
“You train hours and hours and for a four-minute window that performance has to be perfect.”
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were in their early teens they moved away from their fami-lies to train – first in Kitchener and later in Canton.
Early on, everyone around them knew they were the perfect pair. In fact, Virtue turned down an invitation to study at the National Ballet School so she could skate with Moir. “They had a musicality that was different from any other kids I had taught,” Suzanne Killing-Wood, one of their first coaches, says in Tessa & Scott. “It wasn’t just the time count, it was the character and the way they played off each other.” Moir has said that he didn’t skate well until he partnered with Virtue. Their easy camaraderie and al-most singular on-ice performances often fuel speculation that they are an off-ice couple (they’re not).
Even in conversation they often agree, with Moir ex-plaining their work and then saying, “Right, Tess?” before she chimes in. Struggling with chronic injuries at the height of their success has taught them how important it is to work on their relationship on and off the ice. “At times I thought a personal relationship wasn’t imperative to suc-cess,” she admits, “but it’s definitely helpful and that much more productive and fun.” Today they are candid with themselves and others about how important and unique their partnership is. “In the two years since the Olympics,” says Moir, “we’ve excelled at understanding each other and understanding our goals.”
Scott and Tessa’s TourThe ice dancing duo take their show on the road
Figure skating fans don’t have to wait until the olympics to watch gold medal-ists scott moir and tessa Virtue perform their routines. Between april 27 and may 18, the pair will be travelling across Canada as part of investors group stars on ice tour. the event, which is now in its 11th year, also features Joannie Rochette, shawn sawyer and Jeffrey Buttle, with choreography by legendary Canadian skater Kurt Browning.
While no hardware is at stake, the event will be just as thrilling as one of their competitions, says Virtue, who adds that she and moir will be showcasing two new routines. she’s also looking forward to performing in front of people who’ve only seen her skate on tV. “We love that fact that we get to skate in cities across Canada,” she says. “We can share our love of performing on ice with so many audi-ences.” Visit www.starsonice.ca for more information.
These days, Moir and Virtue – who is once again healthy – compete just eight or nine times a year, but they spend 50 weeks perfecting their programs, with four hours together on the rink each day and another two hours in solo prep. “You train hours and hours,” he says, “and for a four-minute window that performance has to be perfect.” Virtue puts it another way: “There’s no such thing as a perfect program – we’re all striving for this one thing that doesn’t exist.” In some ways, that’s the touchstone of resilience: working through a challenge that seems insur-mountable and showing an unrelenting drive that depends as much on psychological toughness as athletic prowess.
Their hard work is, once again, paying off. At the end of March they won a gold medal at the World Figure Skating Championships and in May they’ll skate in front of Canadian crowds as part of Investors Group Stars on Ice tour. They’ll then start training for next season, with their sights set on defending their Olympic medal in 2014. The pair has what they describe as a new attitude – a feeling that their challenges have made them a stronger team.
“One of the key phrases we say to each other a lot is that it’s all part of the process,” says Virtue. But now that she is, as she puts it, “100-percent healthy,” they can focus on their performance. “Tessa and I talk about pushing boundaries,” Moir says, “but at the end of the day we want to win.” n
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the goods
The Game ChangerJody Barber may be a successful skier, but the para-athlete couldn’t have made it without a little help. By Jen Zoratti
In November 2006, Jody Barber’s life changed forever. Five days before the British Columbia-based triath-lete was to compete with the Canadian National Long Course Team at the World Championships in Canberra, Australia, she was hit by a car during a practice race and her right arm was nearly severed at the elbow. Although surgeons were able to save it, Barber was told she’d never swim or bike again. “I just sat there and cried,” the 47-year-old recalls. She then vowed not to let doctors tell her what she could and couldn’t do.
Determined, goal-oriented and – if you ask her – stubborn, Barber was running a half-marathon just one year after the accident. She took up cross-country skiing with a single pole and, by the spring of 2008, was a silver medallist at the national para-nordic championships. Barber was invited to join the National Para-Nordic Ski Team and represented Canada at the 2010 Paralympic Winter Games in Vancouver.
Competing at that level is expensive – and almost im-possible to do when you’re a mother of five with bills to pay. So when Barber found out she was awarded the Team Investors Group Amateur Athletes Bursary and would be able to compete at the World Cup in Europe in February 2010, she was elated. “That fund allowed me to do the competition I had to do this year,” she says. “If you can’t compete, then what’s it all for?”
The 2010 World Cup was a significant one for Barber as it was her last – she’s since retired from para-nordic ski-ing. She’s now focusing on her first love, the triathlon, and hopes to compete in the Rio 2016 Summer Paralympics.
As an athlete as well as a coach and phys. ed. teacher, Barber’s thankful that funds such as the Team Investors Group Amateur Athletes Bursary exist. “Amateur athlet-ics is a wonderful thing to be involved in,” she says. “It’s important we have companies like Investors Group who believe that, so athletes can achieve their goals.” P
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Cause & effeCt
Feel Good Food Investors Group Consultants don’t just create healthy financial plans – some create healthy meals, too. Last year, Bill Arnott, a North Vancouver-based Consultant, took his first love, cooking, to a new level. The trained chef started volunteering with the North Shore Salvation Army’s “New Hope Cuisine” program, an initiative launched by Scott Rowe, a food industry veteran and the organization’s executive chef.
The program has three main goals: to train local chefs, offer cheap eats (a meal costs just $3.50) and put soon-to-be-thrown-out grocery store food to good use. New Hope Cuisine hasn’t just helped countless local residents: It’s also helped Arnott get in touch with his culinary past. “Volunteering in this manner has been a pleasure,” he says. “It’s allowed me to work with a dedicated professional alongside highly skilled students and apprentices, while contribut-ing to our community. It is undoubtedly one of the most positive professional kitchen environments in existence.”
People Who CareAt Investors Group, corporate culture means more than just serving the needs of our clients – it means caring for our communities, too. Through donations, grassroots involvement and unique projects, we’re working with you to make a difference.
Helping Build HomesAs last year drew to a close, several Investors Group employees from the Cobourg, Ontario, office put on their work boots and rolled up their sleeves to help build homes for Habitat for Humanity Northumberland’s Women Build project. The staff members spent a day laying floor-ing and painting trim on several semi-detached homes in the area.
The day ended with the staff members handing over a $1,000 donation to the organization. “[Investors Group] have not only generously donated funds, but they have also put their donation into action by spending a day building homes and, ultimately, hope,” said Meaghan Macdonald, Habitat for Humanity Northumberland’s executive director.
Award-Worthy Team Supporting research into hereditary diseases is the focus for the volunteering efforts of Nancy Morin and her col-leagues. An Investors Group Associate in Saguenay, Quebec, Nancy has been involved with the Corporation for Research and Action on Hereditary Diseases for the last three years. Last year she was the chair of their Salon des Gourmets, an annual fundraising dinner that features top local chefs. Since 1999, the meal has raised more than $500,000.
Investors Group recently recognized Nancy’s commit-ment to the CRAHD, as well as that of Jacques Rondeau, Division Director at the Saguenay office, by awarding them Volunteer Support Grants of $600 and $1,650, respectively. The money will help them and their colleagues continue their work for this important organization.
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As a child, Kara MacNeill would often hang around the mailbox, waiting for letters from the Indonesian and Filipino kids her family sponsored to arrive. She was so excited by those notes, that when the now 35-year-old psychiatrist from Amherst, Nova Scotia, started working full-time, she decided to become a child sponsor herself. “We don’t have kids of our own,” she says, “so this is something that we thought it would be important to do.”
MacNeill and her husband didn’t just sponsor one child, though. In 2008, she sponsored five children through World Vision, and they’re now up to 12, each in a different
country, from Romania to Mongolia to Brazil. Why so many? “We want to do something concrete to make a dif-ference in the lives of children in other countries,” she says. As for the cost – about $35 a month per child – they simply consider it part of their house-hold budget, and organize accordingly.
In 2010, MacNeill took her spon-sorship a step further. She started visiting “her” kids, such as Safia in Ethiopia and Evelyn in Peru, both of whom she saw on World Vision vol-unteer trips. She hopes to eventually meet all 12.
Visiting the children is powerful, she says, because she can see, first-hand, how their families and
communities are helped by the support they receive. But she also witnesses their struggles – such as a lack of food. While the trips to Ethiopia and Peru were “amazing,” coming back to Canada was a shock. “When I got home, the first thing we did was stop at the grocery store,” she says. “I had to leave – it was so overwhelming to see that much food.”
She’s already taken two trips to Africa, sent countless letters overseas and contributed thousands of dollars to help her kids, but she says she’s eager to sponsor again. “The impact is huge,” she says. “I can’t overstate the difference that [sponsorship] makes in the lives of communities.”
Back story
Global VillageKara MacNeill helps underprivileged kids through child sponsorship. By kat tancock
Kara MacNeill, in Ethiopia, hanging out
with her sponsored child Safia (who’s
wearing the hat) and Safia’s friends.
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