here - Tamarack CCI

W. Edmund Clark, the President and Chief Executive Officer of the T D Bank Financial Group,
has been a key corporate champion for the Homeward Bound program. He personally donates
significant time and money to the program, and has played a leadership role in recruiting other
corporations into the collaboration.
Canadian Pacific Hotels Adopt-a-Shelter Program 12
In 1997, Canadian Pacific (CP) Hotels joined together to introduce a first-of-its-kind national
program – the Adopt-a-Shelter Program where each of the Canadian Pacific Hotels, 26
Canadian properties in total, would partner with one or more shelters.
The program was initiated by A nn Layton, vice-president Public A ffair and Communications
for Canadian Pacific Hotels. A fter visiting the warehouse of the Royal York Hotel in Toronto
hoping to find a piece of old carpet for her basement, Layton found rooms filled with beds,
linens, small appliances, and dishes – literally piles of materials no longer usable in the hotel’s
guest rooms. Recognizing that there were many needs in the community, and several
organizations that could put the storage items to good use, Layton suggested that the company
find a way to offer the items to shelters and second-stage housing projects.
Canadian Pacific Hotels developed the Adopt-a-Shelter Program as a result. In this program,
each hotel selected a shelter, based on criteria provided by CP Hotels, and for a minimum of
three years provided items such as sheets, towels, lamps, beds, dressers, dishes or curtains that
were no longer used by the hotel.
Canadian Pacific Hotels across the country embraced the Adopt-a-Shelter with enthusiasm and
creativity. Employees got involved at several levels based on the needs of the individual shelter.
Some examples of the types of work done by the CP Hotel employees include:
The Canadian Pacific Charitable Foundation, in support of Canadian Pacific Hotel
employee efforts with the Adopt-a-Shelter Program and their concern for the issue of
domestic violence, donated $165,000 over three years to the Canadian Women’s
Foundation. From these funds, the C WF administers the newly established Canadian
Pacific Violence Prevention Fund to support violence prevention, counseling and
educational programs.
Employees at the Hotel Beausejour in Moncton collected furniture and linens from the
hotel and perishable foods from their own kitchens for the Crossroads for Women
shelter. A t Christmas, employees collected a sleigh-full of gifts for the women and
children of their adopted shelter.
The Royal York Hotel in Toronto partnered with the Emily Stowe Shelter for Women.
In addition to goods, employees donated their time in a variety of ways. The Human
Resource Department offered career-counseling seminars, the A ccounting Department
helped the women in transition develop budgets and the Maintenance Department
helped with ongoing repairs needed at the shelter.
Collaborating with Business for Social Transformation
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