Two Humber College postgraduate students in the Fundraising and Volunteer Management (FVM) program won $10,000 for an AIDS charity in Africa, plus a trip to Spain for themselves, in a contest run by Ford Focus.
Malinda DenBok, 26, and Samantha Banks, 22, both from Toronto, posted a video in support of Living Positive Program (LPP), a charity in Kenya that runs a school program for children and women affected by HIV. The video was voted on by visitors and they were selected the winning entries. The prize package includes $10,000 for the charity, through GlobalGiving.org, plus another $3,000 that DenBok and Banks will use in Canada to raise awareness about LPP.
“LPP is an amazing charity that does so much good work and we are excited to see the effect that the $10,000 grant will have,” said DenBok. “On top of that, we look forward to further promoting the Living Positive Program through this competition and practically using what we are currently learning in school at Humber."
The Humber FVM program is an intensive year-long graduate certificate that prepares students to run special events, create mass-market campaigns, write grant proposals, approach major donors, use new media, and much more. Many of their assignments require working closely with non-profit groups, charities, and those who help the sector. In addition the students complete a ten-week full-time, on-the-job internship.
"Samantha and Malinda showed amazing initiative, and they are already putting their education to good use," said Humber professor Ken Wyman.
Winning the award happened because DenBok’s Twitter account was noticed by Ford’s marketing team.
“They contacted me because they could tell it was something I would be interested in, and Sam and I got to work right away,” said DenBok, a University of Western Ontario graduate who has raised funds for many charities, and has served in underprivileged communities. “When this opportunity came our way we were incredibly excited to get what is hopefully the first grant of our fundraising careers.”
Banks, a Concordia University graduate, has also been involved in advocacy and charity work for years. This includes serving on the board of directors for United Israel Appeal and Hillel Canada, attending conferences throughout the world that focused on interfaith and peace in the Middle East, and raising funds for cancer relief and juvenile diabetes.
"I am honoured to have worked with unbelievable people and will continue to change lives until the day people stop changing mine,” she said.
As part of their prize, they flew to Madrid, where they spent Reading Week meeting other contest winners from 13 countries. They also get the use of a 2012 Ford Focus for six weeks.
