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Kelowna  

Donation brings smiles

A donation from a local philanthropist to a charitable foundation will be sure to put smiles on the faces of more children in our province.

Al Hildebrandt and his wife Irene have donated $100,000 to Cops For Kids, making their contribution the largest single donation in the foundation's 15-year-history.

Hildebrandt founded the company QHR Technologies Inc. and has recently retired, providing him the opportunity to give back to his community.

He says Cops For Kids is a special charity to him, as he was once a police officer in the 1970s in Edmonton.

“We’ve seen the impact of who they (Cops For Kids) have been supporting in the community. Most of it is behind the scenes and you never know the names of the people, but it is certainly a great cause,” he says.

“When we had an opportunity to do something we thought we would try and make an impact and help.”

The donation will go to helping children in crisis in B.C. and Cops For Kids president Gail Harrison says the Hildebrandt’s donation of securities will make an impact.

“When families contact Cops For Kids, they’re in real crisis, their world is upside down, their child is ill,” Harrison says. “This donation raises our profile. The key to this donation is the motivation others get to get involved.”

This donation brings the money raised this year for Cops For Kids to just $15,000 shy of half-a-million dollars..

“With the amount of donations coming in we will have no problem following our existing guidelines, and we might be in a position to help a few more children,” Harrison explains.

“We are tipping 122 grant applications this year. Last year (we had) over $580,000 in grant applications that landed on our desk we had to turn away 52. This year we won’t be in that position to turn away any grant applications.”

Hildebrandt says he will always be a police officer at heart, despite leaving the force years ago, and that is what lead him to the Cops For Kids foundation.

“We have been able to see first hand some of the people they’ve helped sponsor and support through their grants and hopefully our amount can help some of those grants move forward and continue.”

While the Cops For Kids signature event is a 1,000 km ride that takes place in Sept. the foundation needs financial assistance year round. Funds donated to Cops for Kids will support ongoing requests from families who require transportation and accommodation during a child’s medical treatment, medications, specialized therapies, learning tools and mobility aids.

For more information on Cops For Kids click here.



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