$100K Raised to Help Young Families Break the Cycle of Poverty
All donations raised will fund On Our Own’s programs aimed at helping young parents and their children live independently in our community.
Montreal – September 20, 2019 – For Immediate Release – Yesterday evening at Club Soda, Media Experts, Joey Elias and his roster of funny friends turned a night of laugh-out-loud entertainment into critical fundraising support for vulnerable members of our community.
For the eighth year running, Media Experts presented Joey Elias and the Comedy All-Stars: An Evening of Hilarity in Support of On Our Own (O3), rallying the media, advertising, and tech worlds, and Montrealers together under one roof to raise essential funding for O3. This year’s collective effort raised $ 100,800 bringing the grand total of donations raised to date for this non-profit to over $ 612,600. The funds raised will help allow O3 to continue positively impacting the lives of young women and their families in Montreal.
The lineup of entertainers included many of Montreal’s brightest comedy all-stars joining Joey onstage: the evening’s host Lawrence Corber, Maurena Taylor, Viveth K, and Josh Williams, cracked upover 300 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 2019: Financial Literacy: to empower O3 residents with the building blocks to rise from debt and form a stable financial future for their family; Nutritional Education: to encourage the adoption of healthy eating habits and smart grocery shopping choices; and Employment: to offer parents critical advice and resources needed to attain stability in the workforce.
“We are beyond grateful for the generosity of everyone involved in this fundraiser,” explains Ushana Houston, Director of On Our Own. “We’ve seen year after year how these donations help us increase our programming to remove barriers that impede breaking the cycle of poverty. This year’s fundraiser will allow us to continue guiding 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.”
“I firmly believe that companies should not only have a fiscal bottom line but a social bottom line as well,” explained Mark Sherman, Founder and CEO of Media Experts. “This ongoing fundraiser is a direct reflection of our culture of care at this agency, and a legacy I am proud to continue as it has grown to represent the single largest infusion of funds that O3 receives annually.”
Learn more about this initiative in the Montreal Gazette.
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ABOUT JOEY ELIAS
For the past 25 years Joey Elias has been a mainstay of the Montreal Comedy Scene. Joey also travels across the World headlining comedy clubs, for corporate events and to multiple war zones to bring some levity to the Soldiers serving overseas. Joey has been described as Montreal as bagels, pot holes, and corrupt Mayors.
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 media strategies 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 ABOUT ON OUR OWN, PLEASE CONTACT:
Ushana Houston Director, On Our Own (O3)
e: director@o3onourown.com
t: 514 369 0757
FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE EVENT, PLEASE CONTACT:
Elizabeth McPhedran
Sr. Communications Manager, Media Experts
e: elizabethm@mediaexperts.com
c: 514 220 1974