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The BSCF is excited to announce their support for the inaugural Laugh for a Cure event on October 1st. For more details, please see the link below. We encourage you to join us and take part in this wonderful event! www.laughforacure.com
SPRING POKER 2024 – Event was “Lit”
The BSCF Spring Poker Tournament was “Lit” that is the only word that comes my mind when I think back to that evening! THANK YOU all who participated – your generosity and support never ceased to amaze me!
First, I want to thank our teams, 17 corporate tables and 18 single players, 171 souls playing their hearts out. I’d also like to thank our event sponsors, National Bank, Perry Shak RBC and TMX the mothership for funding the longest happy hour in history!
Special thanks to ITG84 for the free rebuy. What an amazing bonus that got everyone in the mood and engaged.
I also must thank our board for all their hard work putting on this event, truly a team effort with special thanks to Sarah Cooper, Roberta Pigat, Tommy Hayes, Andrew Cooke and most importantly Meena Saggar without whom we could literally not get these events off the ground!!!!
Our Spring Champion is Rikesh Modi from Oasis World Trading beating Mike Reid from Blue Shell Capital and George Polyzois from CIBC. Thank you all for sticking it out for 5 hours of playing, well done.
Rikesh will now be working with our resident poker guru Sean McNulty on finding a World Poker event to attend as our guest, we’ll all be cheering for you!
The real winner of the night was of course our Charities. Because of your generosity we will be sending two cheques for $20,000 each to Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital Foundation and Children’s Aid Foundation of Canada
Upcoming events, “The Emmet Foster Rock on Golf Tournament” benefiting Sick Kids Cardiac Unit, September 13th and the Fall Poker Tournament in November.
Thank you all again, it was a great event because of all of you!
JD
2023 YEAR END UPDATE – The Impact of Your Support – Thank you!
On behalf of the Bay Street Children’s Foundation and our fantastic Board of Directors, I would like to thank all those who participated in or donated to our 3 big events this year. With your efforts and generosity, we donated $160,000 to seven special local charities.
Just as in previous years, I am proud to share that our largest donation was to Sick Kids Cardiac Unit. The Annual Emmet Foster “Rock-On” Golf Tournament was a huge success and we were able this year to donate a total of $70,000 directly to the Sick Kids Foundation supporting the Medley Peds Study, a mobile phone-based telemonitoring program for pediatric heart disease.
The remaining $90,000 raised was split between some of our regular recipients, plus this year we added some new local charities. We supported Holland Bloorview with $35,000 for ongoing rehabilitation programs, Children’s Aid received $30,000 for post secondary scholarships, Wounded Warriors Foundation received $10,000 for family programs. In 2023 we added the following charities to our support list, Cornerstone Family, Centennial Infant and Child Centre Foundation, and Kids Help Phone all receiving $5,000 to support their ongoing efforts in our community.
To learn more about our chosen charities use the links above, and see letters attached. We are truly honoured to be partnered with these great organizations. Also, watch for our newly designed website we plan to launch early in the new year (www.baystreetkids.com). I along with the Board are very excited for 2024. Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!
2024 Events:
- Spring Poker Event, April
- Emmet Foster Rock-On Golf Tournament, September
- Fall Poker Event, November
James Duncan
*****
2023 BSCF FALL POKER TOURNAMENT – A HUGE SUCCESS – THANK YOU!!
This week’s BSCF Charity Poker event was another big success and collectively, we raised almost $50,000 to help support Holland Bloorview, Wounded Warriors, Children’s Aid, and Centennial Infant and Child Centre.
Before we sing the praises of our aspiring poker pro’s and commend those who came to The Bottom Line Tuesday night with a Clydesdale sized horseshoe where they needed it, we want to thank Wayne and his amazing staff at The Bottom Line for hosting us and keeping our drinks full, Jeff and his team of dealers and support staff at Nightlife Entertainment for facilitating all the poker tournament action, and especially thank all of the table sponsors and volunteers that helped fill the seats and keep things humming all night long.
After back-to-back tournament wins by Matt Condlln, we had a changing of the guard up top this week and the trophy now belongs to one Patrick Sweeney.
But then something very special happened. Something that truly exemplifies the spirit of kindness and generosity that events like these are built for. Immediately after winning the final hand, Patrick asked if he would be allowed to donate the prize to someone else. Without asking for anything, Patrick donated the $5000 WSOP prize package to Phylllis Virginillo of Nightlife Entertainment.
Phyllis is an avid poker player and has been organizing, dealing, announcing, and keeping all of us in line at our BSCF Charity poker tournaments for over a decade now and I don’t think she has missed one event. Hopefully she can make us proud and capture BSCF’s first WSOP tournament victory!
Full final table results below. We saw a few players on this prestigious list for the second or even third time! Congratulations to all our final table winners on besting 175 Bay Street Competitors and getting so close, yet so far.
- Patrick Sweeney
- Joanna McGuigan
- Meiwen Gouadec
- Karl McCorry
- Patrick Winogron
- Justin Oliver
- Elijah Milner
- Lawrence Ng
BUT, the good news is you will get another chance in the Spring! Keep your eyes out for updates in the new year.
*****
BSCF Mid-Year Update – Kick-off to Summer 2023!!
On behalf of the board of the BSCF, I would first like to thank everyone for their continued support. Our year-to-date donations total $40,000 shared with Kids Help Phone, Children’s Aid, Holland Bloorview and Cornerstone. We were disappointed to not be able to hold the Softball tournament again this year. But we have done good things so far this year and there is so much more to come.
Our Spring Poker Tournament was a tremendous success. Matt Condlln won the event for the second time in a row. But in a twist of events, it was the second-place winner, George Polyzois who would go on to play at the WSOP in Las Vegas.
“Well, I gave it my best shot! After 10 hours of grinding, I got cracked before any of the Day 2 payouts. I was really looking forward to donating ½ the $1M prize back to the kids. Appreciate the opportunity and look forward to the next event.” – George Polyzois
Approximately $2000 was raised in the 50/50 raffle at the IETA Annual Golf Tournament. JF Sabourin, won the draw and thank you JF for donating all the money back to the foundation.
After an amazing first half of the year. We are looking forward to finishing off the year strong with the following initiatives.
- Summer Sports Package, a premium pair of tickets to Leafs, Raptors, Jays, Argos and TFC. Please contact Meena Saggar
- The Emmet Foster Rock on Golf Tournament, September 22nd, Royal Ontario Golf Course – contact Meena Saggar, Jeff Foster or Sarah Cooper for sponsorship opportunities or to book your foursome.
- Fall Poker Tournament November 7th, 2023, The Bottom Line. -contact Meena Saggar and/or Sarah Cooper to reserve your table or sponsor.
For now, let’s enjoy the summer. We look forward to seeing you at all of our Fall events – please buy a ticket for our Summer Sports Package.
And remember it’s all for the kids!!
James Duncan