Mattamy sponsorship transforms showers into a spa-like retreat
When Mattamy Homes was considering one more charitable opportunity in Calgary, Kidney March was just the fit the company was looking for.
Don Barrineau, President of Mattamy Homes’ Calgary division, notes Mattamy has always had a deep interest in supporting the communities it does business in, particularly in the areas of health and wellness. “It starts at the top with President Peter Gilgan and spreads throughout the company. Here in Calgary, we want to focus our support on a couple of projects with big impact – projects where we can actually see the difference we are making, and that our people can get involved in,” he says.
Established in 1978, Mattamy Homes is North America’s largest privately owned home builder. The company has built 90,000 homes in neighbourhoods across Ontario and Alberta.
“We are proud of the high quality people who work here – people who already have care and concern for their community hardwired in them,” Barrineau says. “And since high quality, integrity, humility, and gratitude is also the culture we want to build, giving back becomes a self-perpetuating thing that just keeps building on itself.”
Though the company is just coming out of a 24 month slow down, Mattamy executives weren’t willing to make the drastic cuts other companies have made to their charitable budgets. “Our people want to do more than come to work, build a house, and go home. They want to have a direct impact in the community where they live. The thing that is really cool is that I am not pushing them to be involved, the team is pushing me to do more,” Barrineau says.
Around the time Executive Assistant Colette Showers and the donations committee were looking for a new charitable opportunity to get involved in, kidney patient and long-time Kidney Marcher Trevor Ferguson helped make an introduction to the company – and the rest is history. “As we were considering our options, we found out our Director of Finance has a history of kidney disease in her family, one of our Permits Coordinators has actually participated in a previous Kidney March, and many other staff members identified a connection to kidney disease or organ transplant. We had no idea so many of our people were affected,” Showers says.
This September, Kidney Marchers can thank Mattamy for its support which will be used to transform the camp showers into a spa-like retreat. Mattamy staff are also excited to sponsor the very last Pit Stop and lend a helping hand as exhausted and triumphant Kidney Marchers cross the finish line at the top of Canada Olympic Park.