FocalOttawa Pays Tribute to Intergenerational Day

On Saturday October 24th , 2020 at 7:50 a.m., 9 Kiwanis Key Club members, a Xennial volunteer, and a Baby Boomer member of the Kiwanis Club of Ottawa, met for the first time as a group. Three hours later FocalOttawa was intergenerationally co-created. Two principal goals were established that day, one, to help the local economy amidst the COVID-19 pandemic and two, to support a local charity. 77 days later $5,000 was presented to Bridges Over Barriers, and to date $12,000 has been raised in total. All money was raised by high school students amidst exams, summatives and a very different school year. As an initiative, FocalOttawa embodies the benefits of incorporating intergenerational collaboration into organizational practices. On June 1st , iGenOTTAWA aims to bring awareness to the positive values of having relationships between younger and older generations through the celebration of Intergenerational Day. On this day, people of different generations are encouraged to interact and share experiences so as to avoid intergenerational divides. Intergenerational relationships encourage us to appreciate all that can be learned from people with different perspectives and life experience. This is one of the reasons why FocalOttawa has been successful in supporting the local community.

FocalOttawa supports local business and community by granting these organizations publicity on their website and social media. Through the website, customers can access products directly from the sponsoring businesses. While purchasing these products, supporting businesses may offer a percentage of the sales to FocalOttawa, ultimately being donated to Bridges Over Barriers, whose primary mission is to support disadvantaged school children. In accordance with the celebration of Intergenerational Day, FocalOttawa aims to launch a self-care and kindness initiative for all generations to participate in. Self-care and kindness are equally important for every generation and providing opportunities to practice this for all generations encourages intergenerational unity.

Since FocalOttawa’s inception just over 220 days ago, after an early morning meeting on October 23, 2020, our organization has received the generous support of 21 unique Ottawan businesses, whom we have the honour of calling Focal’s Sponsors. From the very beginning of our journey, BMO Nesbitt Burns has also endorsed FocalOttawa, and it is with great humility that we acknowledge BMO Nesbitt Burns as Focal’s Presenting Sponsor. Without the generosity and encouragement of our Sponsors and Presenting Sponsor, $12,000 would not have been raised up-to-date for Bridges Over Barriers. It is ultimately due to our sponsors and Bridges Over Barriers that we can assuredly uphold our mission to help students in need across our collective community.