This picture above will forever be etched in my brain –  and my heart! What a moment of excitement for Community of Hearts to find out that they had gained the top prize for this years Oak Tree Project!

So what is the Oak Tree Project?

From their website: 

“Offering a new approach to corporate social responsibility, The Oak Tree Project demonstrates how philanthropy is changing to engage communities and strengthen local nonprofits. The Oak Tree Project was established in 2014 by The Mactaggart Team at Richardson GMP to empower Guelph/Wellington charities with funds and stories about their impact that will help them strengthen their roots and further their long-term success and growth.”

 It was a packed house at the newly designed and renovated Art Gallery of Guelph. (I’m going to do a separate blog post on it soon by the way!)
I want to congratulate the MacTaggart Team – Will & Mike – for what they’ve created in our city. They are corporate citizens not afraid to embed social responsibility into their business that makes them and our community better!

I spoke briefly tonight and mentioned to the crowd that there is so much work that goes into an evening like this! So if anyone, from the staff at MacTaggart, to my fellow judges, to corporate sponsors, volunteers and so on that made this happen, please know our city thanks you!

  
I wasn’t able to get a complete list of all the winners so I’ll try to update this here later, but I heard that Better Beginnings Better Futures was the chosen people’s choice award receiving over $1,000! 

  
Live music was provided by Guelph’s one and only Adrian Raso, allowing me to sit in on a song! (I was pretty honoured, Adrian is an amazing musician) Ha!

 
Again, thank you for including me in this project. I’m here to help again next year if you wish!

Cam