Mister Transmission franchisees, supply partners, and staff gathered north of Toronto to raise money for its Charitable Fund, renew connections and build new ones.

The 35th annual Golf Tournament attracted a tight group of nearly 100 to Redcrest Golf Course in King City, Ont.

Tony Kuczynski. President & CEO of Mister Transmission says the youth-oriented Charitable Fund benefits greatly from the tournament, mostly due to the sponsorships and raffle ticket sales.

He says too that the fund had raised some $17,000 last year and contributed to a variety of causes. Since 2018, the Charitable Fund has raised $75,000.

“We do everything from scholarships to wildfires to food banks. We do all kinds of good stuff for kids in our local communities. But I want to thank the sponsors who really step up and contribute. We appreciate their support. Our sponsors really contribute to this event, make it financially positive and strong.”

Speaking after the festivities, Kuczynski says the engagement with the network has really benefited from a shift in focus for the Charitable Fund some years back.

“When I joined Mister Transmission, our charity was focused on cancer. And it was a good cause. We would do the walk and we had some franchisees engaged, but lots that weren’t. And I actually met with [former AIA Chair and President of Specialty Sales and Marketing] Ken Coulter about what he had done with [the AIA High Fives for Kids Foundation].

“We talked amongst ourselves, met with our advisory committee and decided raising money for children and youth in our local communities would be a worthy cause everyone would get behind. And we looked at it from a health, hardship, education, and community perspective. And so that has been our focus.”

There are two key elements. One is scholarships that, he says, typically go to the children of Mister Transmission technicians for post-secondary education. More than 30 scholarships have been awarded to date.

“But we look at particular causes, flood victims, the fires that we had out west last year and of course right now, with inflation there’s been a big uptake in food banks. So that’s been something we’ve focused on. We also worked with a cause that I’ve worked with in the past, the Children’s Breakfast Club. So, every year we raise money, our franchisees get behind it. We come out for this event for the day. We get our sponsors out here and we raise money and it makes everybody feel good.

“We bring people from across the country from our franchisees, we have local franchisees, and quite a few of our suppliers. Work is busy and we provide a good service to the community, but you need to take time to celebrate and to enjoy a beautiful day like today. Comradery, that’s what it is. Team building.”