Fundraising initiatives

Ad Astra has achieved its goal of raising $150,000 for Child Haven to build the school so there will be no more fundraising events. Thank you to everyone who participated and contributed, in what ever way you were able. Child Haven still needs contributions though to run the school and its other homes and you can make a direct donation via its web site and pay using PayPal. All donations go direct to Child Haven, a registered Canadian charity (Registration number # 11885 1922 RR0001).

Anthony was one of a group of children from a kindergarten school in Châteauguay who washed cars on June 14th to raise money for Ad Astra. They raised enough money to buy 7 bricks! They had heard Gabriel Filippi speak at their school and were moved by the plight of their peers in Nepal and wanted to do something to help. Merci, merci, merci.

On June 14th, we welcomed Elia back home at a special party in Almonte. Apart from enjoying a very moving presentation from Elia and Anna Egan’s pictures of the Child Haven Orphanages we raised almost $5,000 for Ad Astra which was a fantastic success. Thank you to everyone who attended and supported us.

“Building a school, one brick at a time”

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Please check your names and messages
click here

Click on the wall to see how many we've sold.

Building a school takes time, money and a lot of bricks! Ad Astra has developed a unique fundraiser to help raise the final amount needed to complete construction of the new school. We are asking 100 people and organizations to step forward to “buy a brick”. Each brick costs $100 and each brick donor will get an opportunity to give a message of support to future students on a special commemorative plaque. The plaque will be mounted on the wall of the school. You will then have a very personal link with the school in Kathmandu!

The plaque will measure about 3 ft x 2ft and each message will be about the size of a business card and you can write whatever you want.

Buy a brick, or two, and help us build the school in Kathmandu.

Click here to send an email with your personal message for the students at the new school. If you’d like to include a logo please include it as an eps attachment.

Don’t forget to include your message, your name and postal address so that Child Haven can mail you a tax receipt. Please also indicate if you don’t want your message of support broadcast on this web site.

You can buy a brick by cheque or Paypal.

Send a cheque for $100, made payable to Child Haven (Sean Egan fund) to Carol Gardner, Kanatek Technologies Inc, 535 Legget Drive, Suite 400, Kanata, Ontario, K2K 3B8
Or go direct to the Child Haven web site and make an online contribution using Paypal.

Friday, September 29th,
2nd Annual Ad Astra Golf Challenge

Another fantastic event – this time our golf day. It was a little cold but the rain held off and the event was tremendously well supported. With the proceeds from this event we are well over $130,000 and ever so close to our ultimate goal.

To see the photos from our golf day please click here. If you want to order a photo of your foursome please send an email to carol.gardner@kanatek.com with the photo number and she will arrange for a complimentary copy to be mailed to you, courtesy of HP.

Events like this are not possible without the help of many, many organizations and individuals.

A big thanks to the event sponsors: VMware, EDS, Kanatek Technologies, Hitachi Data Systems, Diligent Technologies Inc., Ottawa Citizen and Hewlett Packard; to the hole sponsors: Brehon Trade Litho Inc., Canadian Bank Note, CCSI Technology Solutions, Heart & Crown, Erin Dubé at Makin Moves, Read’s Book Shop, Reel Concepts and SPAD (School of Sports Administration, Laurentian University); to the volunteers and prize givers: Laurie Boschman, Stephen Brathwaite at Millrace Glassworks, Barbara Carriere, Tania Carriere, British High Commission, Fred and Bonnie Cappuccino, Luanna Cappuccino , Bev Humphries , Greendoor Restaurant, Janet Featherstone, Fedex, Betty Francis, Geoff Godden at G & A Corporate Events, Susan Jonker, KPMG, Dennis LeClaire, Loblaws, Amanda McKay, Milestones, Ottawa Senators Alumni, Natasha Palmer, Maury Prevost, Rogers Television, Bill Van Ryswyck at Security Through Safe Designs, Elia Saikaly , Total Area/Champion Imaging, VoxQuad (Bertrand Doucet, Sylvia Glenn, Ian Kelly, Jacques Loubier, Nathalie Wright) and Barb Weinlander.

The 3rd annual “A Show of Love” took place on February 10th, 11th and 12th at Thorburn Mill in Almonte. It was an amazing array of local artists and they gave 50% of their proceeds to Ad Astra. For more show information on these artists please contact Peace of Mind Creations at (613) 259 2729 or pomc@allstream.net.

Monday, January 30th, Green Door Restaurant

Harold Mah talked at the Green Door Restaurant about his experiences at Everest with Sean Egan, life long wellness and the health impacts of serious training. Presenters include Norm O’Reilly, Terry Kell and Roger Broughton, a colleague and close friend of Sean’s at the University of Ottawa. It was a fun evening of happy memories

Gabriel Filippi has not just conquered Everest; he has also conquered professional speaking. His presentations are tremendously engaging and are set against a backdrop of some unbelievable photographs. Gabriel spoke about Sean and his Everest experience in January in Sherbrooke, Quebec. All the money raised went to the Ad Astra fund.

Sean Egan’s nephew, Gordon Hassett, organized a unique fundraiser for Ad Astra. Gordon had been growing his hair for 15 months and it “looked like an afro” so he decided to get his friends and family to sponsor him to have it shaved off. The shaveathon took place in the West Bridge Bar, Miltown Malbay, Clare, Ireland and raise a great sum of money for the school in Kathmandu. Thanks Gordon!

Nepalese Nights in Toronto

Thank you to everyone who joined Harold and the team at the Nepalese Nights in Toronto in November. With your generous contributions we raised over $1,200 for Ad Astra and had a couple of brilliant events as well as some awesome food.

Thank you to everyone who bought Ad Astra Christmas Cards. They not only helped raise money but also they helped spread goodwill and cheer to friends and families.

November 26th until December 11th

Our photography exhibit in Almonte was a tremendous success. We raised almost $3,000 from the sale of framed photographs. Thank you to everyone who came out to see them at the Philip K. Wood Gallery in Almonte. The gallery (79 Mill St.) will continue to house a small display and if you want to see them you can always call ahead on (613) 256 4007.

If you can’t make it to Almonte but you are interested in seeing the photographs please click here.

Please contact the Phil Wood Gallery- www.philipkwoodgallery.com.

On 20th October, Harold Mah, gave a presentation entitled “My Everest Expedition, a dream, a tragedy, a legacy” at the Assembly Hall. The presentation included lots of photos and DVD footage from the trek to Everest Basecamp and up to 22,000 feet on Mount Everest, the world’s highest hockey game and “Child Haven.” www.assemblyhall.ca

On 30th September, we enjoyed a beautiful fall day at the Ad Astra Golf Challenge and raised $28,000.
The themes for the day were fitness, adventure, challenge, health, wellness and community. After a great afternoon of golf we sat down to presentations by Harold Mah (who climbed to Camp 1 with Sean) and Gabriel Filippi (who reached the summit of Mount Everest on May 30th). We saw some of the special video footage from the expedition shot by Elia Saikaly and produced by Elia and Gavin Lumsden.

Events like this are not possible without the generous support of many individuals and organizations. Thank you to them all.

To our MC, Pat Woodcock and the Ottawa Renegades
To Gabriel Filippi for sharing his summit experience with us.
To Harold Mah for sharing his time at Base Camp with Sean, with us.
To VoxQuad for the music (Sylvia Glenn, Bertrand Doucet, Ian Kelly, Jacques Loubier & Nathalie Wright)

To the people and organizations that have helped us pull this event together and offered such generous gifts for the silent auction: American Graffiti Automotive, Blacks Photography, Brehon Trade Litho Inc, Calian, Canadian Health and Squash Club, Casey's, Champion Imaging, Pierre Chartier Benefit Centre, Jane Clapham, Coaching Association of Canada, Duty Free Airport, Robin Eagan, Eighteen, Florida Fitness, G&A Corporate Events, Tim Gadde Personal Training, Good Life Fitness, HP Procurve, Kanatek Technologies, Loblaws, Motion Matters, Pepsi Company, Protectron, Michele Rousell, The Ottawa Senators, Storagetek, The Table, Total Area, US Air, John Walt, West Jet.

To the event volunteers: Jeanne D'Arc Tenn, Roger Barr, Pierre Chartier, Natalie Colette, John Cull, Danielle Dube Loach, Timothy Gadde, Tamara Malashenko, Michele Mejaski, Catherine Ray, Shannon Renaud, Henriette Riegel, Michele Rousell, Robert Rousell, Elia Saikaly, David Valliere, Barb Weinlander, Chris & Dana Weissbach.

From the organizing committee: Gerry Gaetz, Carol Gardner, Pelly Heighton, Jayne Robertson, Valerie Joncas-Sicard, Terry Kell, Nicole LeBlanc, Tim Redpath.

On 17th September, Gavin Lumsden celebrated his 40th birthday with his many friends and, in true Gavin-style he used the occasion as a fund-raising initiative for those less fortunate. The proceeds of almost $4,000 were donated to Child Haven. Thanks Gavin!

On 9th June, Terry Kell and Nicole Leblanc spoke to a group in Almonte as part of the River Edge Festivities in the town. The talk, "Stories from Everest" was a special tribute to Sean and the Kick Off to the fundraising for "Ad Astra". 250 people came out to see a great display of the Everest gear which drew a lot of attention. Terry and Nicole shared with the group some very special stories from the expedition and even made the group get up for a little stretch just as Sean would have! At the end, they collected a combination of generous donations and the proceeds from Terry's hockey stick from the game at Base Camp that was auctioned off by Gerry, and raised about $12,500 for "Ad Astra".


There are quite a few more exciting fundraising initiatives being planned and they will be announced through the blog, and on this web site, as they are launched.