Seek 2 Thrive benefits homelessness, local youth athletics
Article content
In the three months since Tillsonburg's Patrick MacDougall launched his Seek 2 Thrive initiative, he has so far made three major donations.
"The first one that went out was to oneROOF (Youth Services) in Kitchener," said MacDougall.
A 17-bed emergency co-ed shelter, oneROOF (http://oneroof.org/) is committed to the safety, support and overall well-being of youth (12-25 years old) experiencing or at-risk of homelessness in the Kitchener-Waterloo region.
"We donated hygiene products, clothes, food, stuff like that."
The next donation went to Tillsonburg Minor Baseball Inc.
"Practice equipment, baseballs for tournaments they have in the summer, stuff like that."
And just last week a donation was made to Women's Community House in London, a shelter where 'emergency assistance and support is provided to abused women and their children in a time of physical and emotional crisis' (http://shelterlondon.org/).
MacDougall got the idea to sell T-shirts (https://www.seek2thrive.ca/) and donate the profits from every blue or red T-shirt to its own respective cause. Blue-shirt profits go towards homelessness and red shirts to youth athletics in town.
"The two main sort of driving factors were... one, that I saw just an obvious need for something like this and I thought it was a good idea. And the second is that I have a real interest in entrepreneurial ventures. I like the idea of entrepreneurship and I thought the best way to learn about that would just be get in the real world, rather than learn from school or something like that. So this was sort of a low risk way to try that."
Initially he sold about 30 T-shirts. A portion of funds cover the cost of the T-shirts, a small portion goes towards growth and expanding Seek 2 Thrive, and the rest is donated.
"It all started on March 1st, so I'm glad to be where I'm at now," said MacDougall, who was selling his Seek 2 Thrive T-shirts Sunday morning at the 7th annual Tillsonburg MSC Trail Walk and Run at Coronation Park.
The project is absolutely not about putting money into MacDougall's pocket.
"That is not the point of it," he stressed. "The point is it's just a learning experience. I just wanted to get in the real world and I thought that would be the best way to learn.
"The biggest thing I've learned is that it's a lot of work - like a job would be - but I like every part of it more than I would at a part-time job."
One of his biggest challenges has been marketing.
"I knew my biggest challenge would just be letting people know what it is. And getting it out to more people. This (Trail Walk & Run) is one of the ways that I'm able to do that. Social media's been good too, I've been able to update everyone exactly where their money went."
MacDougall plans to continue his Seek 2 Thrive initiative through the summer as long as there is a demand. When he returns to school in the fall, he will consider doing something a little different.