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Charity Auction Benefits the Foundation
The Flaman famility celebrates and supports Franks vision
On Friday, March 30th, the first annual Frank Flaman Foundation Charity Benefit Dinner and Auction was held at the Chateau Lacombe Crown Plaza in Edmonton. A sold out crowd of 350 attended the event, which raised approximately $58,000 for the Foundation's humanitarian efforts.
Funds were raised through both live and silent auctions. The live auction featured a dozen big-ticket items (including a multi-item home fitness center, a diamond earring/necklace set, and a big screen TV) donated by the Flaman Group of Companies, and selected Flaman suppliers and supporters. Over 150 additional items were available via the silent auction. Gracious thanks are extended to all the businesses and individuals that provided auction items.
The event wasn't just about raising money, but also about showing attendees how their money would make a difference. Representatives from a number of charitable organizations were invited to receive donations of $10,000 apiece. The beneficiaries of these contributions were: Kids Kottage, Operation Eyesight, Win House, World Vision, Change for Children, the Alberta Diabetes Foundation, Lurana Shelter, Amnesty International and the Mennonite Central Committee. All the recipients expressed their deep appreciation for the support, and for the ongoing efforts of the Frank Flaman Foundation in fighting poverty and suffering at home and across the world.
A presentation by some of the Flaman staff members who took part in the recent trip to Nicaragua provided further information on the Foundation and its initiatives. By night's end, everyone had embraced the spirit of giving, making the event an outstanding success and ensuring that next year's version will come with higher expectations.
Trip with Children for Change Association in Nicaragua
Taylor and Divid sit with children at a village school
Water runs for the frist time in this joyfull village
Frank and Kevin pump water from a well 200 ft. deep
Frank and Crystal stand with a village matriarch
In January of this year, Frank and 11 of his staff traveled to the poor Central American country to see firsthand how their efforts are translating into better lives for the people. The group visited five rural communities (out of 70 total) where Community Water Projects are currently bringing safe, potable water to communities too long deprived of this basic necessity of life.
Water is something that we all just take for granted," said Kurt Flaman, Frank's grandson, during a stop in one remote village. "It's so humbling to be here right now."
"It was an awesome experience to be here, and to see the difference that we as a company, we as a team, can make in these communities," agreed Flaman employee David Sundlie.
The trip opened the eyes of everyone involved, and the participants all singled out Frank for thanks and praise. Kevin Hrynchyshyn, another company employee, summed up this shared sentiment.
"Frank is a humanitarian. Everything he works for and everything he does, it always has to go to help someone else. I don't know anyone else like him on the planet."
Another Story with This Trip in Nicaragua
The lack of unsafe water and sanitation is the world's largest cause of illness. Water is essential to human life and a vital natural resource for the survival of life on our planet. Yet water scarcity is increasing around the world. The world's available fresh water - less than one-half of one percent of all the water on earth - is 
disappearing because of unsustainable practices, including production agriculture, urbanization, deforestation, water diversion, and increased industrial use.
More than 1 billion people worldwide don't have access to potable water, and 2.5 billion lack access to basic sanitation services. As a result, over 3 million people die annually from diarrhea and other diseases related to lack of access to clean water. Nicaragua is a country with an abundance of rainfall and fresh water, especially in the Caribbean region and along the Pacific coast. Nevertheless, for many families in Nicaragua, particularly in the countryside, accessing safe water can be a difficult daily challenge. The challenge becomes even greater during the dry season. About a third of the population in Nicaragua does not have potable water. In rural areas, the number of people without potable water is much higher, about 72 percent. Many households in rural areas are dependent upon shallow hand-dug wells or natural springs and rivers, streams and lakes. However, many of the rivers, streams, and lakes are polluted with pesticides, residential sewerage, industrial waste and toxins. Sewerage coverage is very limited, serving only 800,000 inhabitants (34 percent of the urban population) and the condition of many sewerage collection systems has deteriorated. Sewerage coverage is limited to a few intermediate cities. Nicaragua's largest and most important city, Managua, does not have sewage treatment. The lack of sewerage treatment causes a grave public health problem.
Recently, a group of Flaman employees has returned from Nicaragua where they assisted Change for Children in supplying clean, fresh water wells for many communities lacking direct water supplies or the ability to obtain clean water. Although water covers ten percent of Nicaragua's surface, environmental degradation, pollution, and simple scarcity in some regions threaten the country's ability to provide enough water to sustain its population and productivity. In rural areas, where 72 percent of people lack such access, people must often procure their water from shallow wells, rivers, streams, and lakes that suffer from such pollution.
The entire Flaman Group of Companies helped raise money to support organizations in Nicaragua designed to help communities in need. The employees traveled throughout Nicaragua visiting communities all around the Pacific Coast and inside of the country, from Managua into Leon, Jinotega, Somotillo, and Esteli, visiting rural communities in the area where water wells are projected and have been dug to help provide fresh, clean water to each community; even helping with the digging process and channeling pipe in raising a water tank near Somotillo. Before these wells were put into place, some residents of the communities walked up to five kilometers on dusty roadways and through forests looking for springs and water supplies to provide for their families; however, during the dry season this proves to be very tough. The rains cease around late November, and Nicaragua enters a prolonged drought until May, when the rainy season begins again.
The lack of clean, fresh water causes many illness, death and disease throughout Nicaragua. Children from homes with water supplies over 500 meters from the house had incidence rates of diarrhea 34% higher than those of children from houses with their own water supply. In the Central region, water scarcity is a greater problem. In a few urban areas, particularly during the dry season, the shortage of water requires shutting off the service for large portions of each day. Water scarcity, combined with the problem of water contamination from agricultural activities and the lack of sewerage treatment, has resulted in severe public health dangers. For example, the Rio San Francisco was recently contaminated by the cholera virus.
Through Frank's generosity and the continued efforts of the Flaman Group of Companies and the Frank Flaman Foundation, aid and assistance is being provided to people throughout the world. Constant improvement, relief, aid, and assistance are being made available locally and globally to individuals in need. With the combination of Frank's share of profits and private donations from businesses and people who want to help, the Frank Flaman Foundation is making incredible improvements to the quality of life for individuals around the world, and providing communities with what they need the most, from drinking water to education! They are changing the world, one life at a time!
Donation by the Frank Flaman Foundation to Global Neighbors Canada
Global Neighbors Canada is the recipient of a generous donation from the Frank Flaman Foundation.
Steve Flaman presented a cheque for $10,000 for the construction of the new Orphanage and Daycare Center in Mae Sot, Thailand to Luc April and Dave Heppner. The Frank Flaman Foundation has been established to help the poor of this world improve their lives through creditable charities. Global Neighbors is honored to have been chosen to represent the Flaman Foundation to fulfill this mandate.
Check it out Global Neighbors Canada Website for a full detailed story.
Donation by the Frank Flaman Foundation to Big Brothers Big Sisters
Chris Jangula, of Flaman Sales Ltd. Lethbridge, recently presented a cheque in the amount of $10,000.00 from the Frank Flaman Foundation to Rick Austin, Executive Director of Big Brothers Big Sisters. Big Brothers Big Sisters would like to thank the foundation for their generous support. This donation will assist us in meeting the needs of the children in our programs.
Check it out Big Brothers Big Sisters Website for full detailed story.
Sponsorship of Alberta Diabetes Foundation
The Frank Flaman Foundation is the Sustaining Sponsor for Alberta Diabetes Foundation.
Check it out Alberta Diabetes Foundation Website for detailed information.
December 20, 2005 - The University of Alberta is helping children take a step in the right direction to improve fitness levels.
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Stepping into the U of A pedometer project are Ted Dakin of Flaman Fitness, Millwoods Christian School principal Frances Kroeker, JoAnne Langner of the Alberta Diabetes Foundation, and students Rachael and Joshua. |
Teaming up with Edmonton Public Schools, Flaman Fitness and the Alberta Diabetes Foundation, researchers in the U of A Faculty of Physical Education and Recreation are helping teach youngsters about being active.
Supplied with pedometers by Flaman Fitness, a local company, 535 Grade 5, 6 and 7 children from four Edmonton-area schools strapped on the gadgets and spent seven days recording their steps from dawn to dusk.
"The project helped raise awareness of how much they move around," said Dr. Wendy Rodgers, who is working on the research along with Dr. Gordon Bell and Dr. Vicki Harber. One thing they'd like to find out is how many steps children need to take on a daily basis to maintain a healthy body weight.
The fitness level of children has been declining "horribly" over the last 30 years, Rodgers noted. "There is a strong focus on sedentary activity, and we need to establish the value of moving around and physical health. One of the goals of this project is to convince people that fitness is important and that it can be achieved just through day-to-day activities."
Before heading out with their pedometers, the children were given an orientation session, weighed, and measured at the waist and for height. Armed with calendars, they then kept track of their steps for five days at school and a weekend at home.
"We did some basic fitness assessments, which is going to allow us to provide some information to Edmonton Public Schools about how many steps, on average, kids are taking per day in school, how that relates to their fitness levels, and how that can fit into the province's 30-minutes-a-day fitness policy."
In September of this year, Alberta Education implemented its Daily Physical Activity Initiative, a requirement that all Grades 1 - 9 students get 30 minutes of physical activity per day. It's up to each school to decide on the best way to integrate daily activity for its students.
After returning their calendars to the schools, the students were asked to do a one-mile walk/run fitness test. Generally speaking, "we found the faster they were, the fitter they were," Rodgers said.
Their reaction to taking part in the project was positive, she noted. "The kids and teachers were really interested in it. The pedometers were considered 'cool' and the children found it fun to count their steps."
Rodgers and her colleagues are now analyzing their data. Their conclusions will be presented at an Alberta Diabetes Foundation event in January. "We hope to advise Edmonton Public Schools on how to help meet the 30-minutes-a-day challenge."
Though not based purely on hard science, the project is a good example of how research is connected to community, Rodgers said. "It's such a good example of co-operation between the community and the university. It's one of the ways we (as researchers) are going to achieve our goal of knowledge translation. I think we will get some important, good-quality information from this study. It's a stepping-stone."
check it out here for a full story.
