When Ottawa Diplomatic Association members and their friends get together for an event, it very often has a side benefit for the community in which they are posted.
The ODA tennis tournament, for example, which took place at the end of May, was expected to end up with a surplus of about $1,000. Each time an event raises extra money, it goes into a charitable donation fund and at the end of the year, at the annual ODA ball, the organisation announces the amount it raised and to which charity the money will go. This year, that money will go to the Michaëlle Jean Foundation.
The foundation’s mission is to support arts initiatives that change young people’s lives and the underserved communities in which they live.
The tennis tournament, held at the Rockcliffe Lawn Tennis Club, is intended to be a fun event. It’s open to “pretty well everyone,” in the words of Haitian Ambassador Frantz Liautaud, the ODA’s outgoing vice-president, who organised it this year, for the second year in a row, and has volunteered to do it again in 2015, though he won’t be sitting on the ODA board the next year.
“This year, we had 39 players registered, which is a lot more than last year,” he said, and added that each player received a medal for their participation.
Each player pays $5 to participate in the doubles tournament that runs three hours on a Saturday afternoon and ends with an awards presentation ceremony and a barbecue. In addition, the organisers charged $25 a plate for the barbecue, $5 more than their costs so the extra $5 could go to the charity fund.
“We also have a sponsorship with Ogilvie Motors Ltd., which is a distributor of Mercedes in Ottawa,” Mr. Liautaud said. “Last year, they were sponsors, as well.”