Competition raises $75K for House of Sophrosyne
It was fun and games for a good cause at the Windsor Corporate Challenge on Saturday.
Teams played jumbo scrabble, climbed rock walls and faced the largest obstacle course in Ontario to raise $75,000 for the House of Sophrosyne. “We are here with 70 teams, which is about 1,000 participants and 125 volunteers,” said Meighen Nehme, founder of the Windsor Corporate Challenge and president of The Job Shoppe.
“The teams compete against each other in fun, zany obstacle courses, and then there’s a final winner at the end of the day,” she said. “In addition to that, we also raise money and awareness for the House of Sophrosyne.”
The corporate challenge picks a different charity to fundraise for each year. Nehme said the objective is to find a local charity that supports children, women and families.
The $75,000 raised for the House of Sophrosyne will go toward a new building’s family bedrooms and childcare room, allowing women to care for their children while seeking treatment.
This year’s event was Windsor’s sixth corporate challenge, and their largest yet.
“We try to step it up every year — that’s probably the most difficult thing to do,” Nehme said. “We try to mix up the different events and then also provide them with food, water — because it’s quite hot out today. And the feedback’s been really good.”
The daylong challenge included water events and cognitive games. The day is designed to encourage company team-building while raising money for a good cause.
Nehme works in human resources, and said she often had clients ask about team-building seminars and activities. From that, the Windsor Corporate Challenge was born.
“I thought, well, this is a really good way to get corporate teams out, get them interacting with some co-workers that ... they maybe don’t deal with on a daily basis,” she said. “Then they can go back to the office and have that experience together.”
James Vermeulen, team captain for Ground Effects Ltd., said raising money for a good cause and the team-building opportunity brought him and his 36 co-workers out. “We have a great team at Ground Effects,” he said. “We’re an automotive company, so we’ve all learned to work together to strive to do what’s necessary to make quality products.”
SNP Technical Services brought 11 participants to the games.
“Besides the charity aspect, the other main reason for it is getting employees together and participating and collaborating,” said Fonda Asprakis, SNP district manager in Windsor. “That’s the most important part of a team environment — understanding each other and getting to work together as a team.”
It’s SNP’s second year at the challenge and Asprakis said the company will participate next year, “guaranteed.”
“Everybody has fun and it’s a good cause,” he said. “There’s no negatives about it.”