The winners of 24th CBB Kathy Ward Memorial Golf Tournament: Eric Levitt and Katie Naughton from 401 Dixie KIA, Anthony Scigliano from Kia Canada, and Vince Eastgate from RBC Automotive Finance (not pictured). Ruth McBride (right) won the CBB Industry Icon award.
Canadian Black Book ran its 24th annual Kathy Ward Memorial Golf Tournament on September 20, raising $30,000 for the Tim Hortons Foundation Camps.
The tournament hosted 92 Canadian automotive professionals at Maple Downs Golf & Country Club in Vaughan, Ont. The money raised will support disadvantaged children between the ages of 12 and 16 by offering them a chance to attend one of seven Tim Hortons Camp locations across North America.
“We have an enormous amount of gratitude to all our clients and industry friends who attended our tournament and contributed to help our charity of choice,” said Yolanda Biswah, Senior Vice President and General Manager at Canadian Black Book. “The feedback from guests was overwhelmingly positive and more importantly, we were able to come up big for the Tim Hortons Foundation Camps.”
Kathy Ward was the longtime president at CBB; she lost her battle with cancer in 2017. During lockdown, CBB said the foundation continued its camp program by setting up eCamps online—something that was “very dear” to Ward’s heart, said CBB.
The cost to send a child to a Tim Horton Children’s Foundation camp is approximately $1,000, and Ward’s goal was to send 1,000 children to camp. So far (after this year) the tournament raised more than $650,000 since it was initiated, which meets two thirds of that goal.
“My mother genuinely loved this golf tournament,” said Kathy’s son, William Dejonge-Ward. “She was an avid golfer, a true networking expert, and felt passionately about the cause. She would be ecstatic to see how this event continues in her honour.”
During the reception, post-golf tournament, the Canadian Black Book Industry Icon award was presented to Ruth McBride—previously the vice president of manufacturer partnerships for dealer products and programs at Scotiabank. She is now retired. The award is meant to recognize McBride’s 38-year career.
