All donations raised will fund On Our Own’s programs aimed at helping young parents and their children live independently in our community.

MONTREAL – THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 27^TH, 2018 – Yesterday evening at Club Soda, Joey Elias and his hand-picked roster of funny friends turned a night of laugh-out-loud entertainment into good deeds for vulnerable members of our community.

For the seventh year running, Media Experts presented Joey Elias and the Comedy All-Stars: An Evening of Hilarity in Support of On Our Own (O3), rallaying the media, advertising, and tech worlds together to raise essential funding for O3. This year’s collective effort raised $ 90,134, bringing the grand total of donations raised to date for this non-profit to over $ 385,000 – funds that allow O3 to continue making a material difference for those in need.

The lineup of entertainers included many of Montreal’s brightest comedy all-stars joining Joey onstage: the evening’s host Lawrence Corber, plus comedians Wassim El-Mounzer, Sarah Quinn, and Pantelis cracked up over 400 attendees at Club Soda.

With Media Experts footing the bill for event logistics, and the comedians donating their time and talent, 100% of the funds raised from the comedy benefit evening go to funding Montreal-based On Our Own’s three crucial initiatives for 2018: encouraging fathers to become more actively involved in the success of their young families, providing access to educational programs for children and their parents, and securing essential tools and training to grow digital literacy for the entire family.

“We believe that it is our obligation to do whatever we can as both individuals and as a powerful collective to assist those around us. To do what we can to repair the world. Helping O3 give young families a hand up during a very vulnerable moment in their life continues to be a priority for us as a team,” explains Mark Sherman, Founder and CEO of Media Experts. While these funds support critical programs for skill development, skills can only take these families so far if their access to tools is limited. “This year, in addition to fundraising, we have also secured 29 pre-owned laptops from our friends in the industry to help O3 implement a digital literacy program,” Sherman adds.

“We are humbled by the generous donation coming from this annual event, which represents the single largest infusion of funds that O3 receives per year,” says Ushana Houston, Director of O3. “These donations of money and laptops allow us to guide our moms as they further their education, develop self determination, and transition to independent living, proud of their growth and the strength of their family unit.”

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ABOUT ON OUR OWN (O3)
Since 2005, On Our Own has worked within the community to provide quality housing to young, low income, underserved families. In tandem, this empowers parents to take on present and future challenges successfully, be they financial, personal or with respect to their parenting skills.

O3 assists families in planning for their future by offering them work, training, and educational opportunities, workshops to develop life skills and programs to support and strengthen the bond between parent and child. O3’s goals include providing parents with the necessary tools to increase family stability, decrease isolation, exclusion and homelessness, and grant access to preventative services to break the cycle of poverty. O3 helps young parents take charge of their life – one child, and one family, at a time. Learn more at o3onourown.com.

About Media Experts
Founded in 1981, Media Experts is a leading Canadian media agency that delivers messaging for major Canadian brands across all media channels. We are data-driven and powered by discovery. Our approach revolves around designing effective, hard-working Mediasystems™ that drive brand engagement and deliver outstanding business results. With three offices across the country and 170 employees, we are a truly Canadian media agency, and proud to be part of the IPG Mediabrands network.

 For more information on On Our Own, please contact: 
Ushana Houston
Director, On Our Own (O3)
e: director@o3onourown.com
t: 514 369 0757

For more information on the event, please contact: 
Elizabeth McPhedran
Communications Manager, Media Experts
e: elizabethm@mediaexperts.com
t: 514 844 5050 x 804