Healthy Communities • Support the Y • YMCA Donors
YMCA donor and partner seeks to care for those taking care of our communities
08 August 2022 - by Nicole Meredith
The YMCA of Greater Toronto is a charity, and it’s thanks to our incredible donors and volunteers that we can connect people with essential services, chances to better their lives, and a sense of community and belonging. Why I Give is a series designed to shine a spotlight on these incredible change makers, sharing what inspires them to give back and what supporting our charity means to them.
Today, Ross Hunter reflects on distribution business Avron’s 20-year relationship with the YMCA and the impact he sees their contributions making in the community.
Inspiration to give
“Avron has been working with the Y for over 20 years. During that time, we’ve provided food, arts and crafts supplies, furniture, cleaning supplies… and in the last year or two, we’ve also started providing products that support special needs.
“Before the pandemic, we’d get to see how those products were being used in the day-to-day when our team would go out to YMCAs in person. Over the two decades we’ve worked together, we’ve met with hundreds of supervisors across Canada. We’ve toured the centres, gotten to know some of the folks who are working on the front-lines and as part of that, we’ve seen some of the Y’s programs. Our hope is that our donations directly support those programs and make a positive impact on the people that the Y is helping. We see it as an extension of our business relationship; that we’re able to make contributions to the greater good.
“As a business, Avron is a seller of products. We have 10,000 different items and it’s easy to fall into the trap of being a vendor when it’s more important for us to be a partner. That’s predominantly why we like to give back: We think about the relationship beyond the buying and selling of goods and how we can support.
“When it comes to this idea of business beyond business, I think the most important thing is making an impact in our local communities: tackling the challenges of homelessness, unemployment, people who are having mental health struggles… Avron works directly with the people who are actually administering these programs — front-line workers who are supporting people who are unhoused or unemployed or facing other struggles. So we want to do anything we can to support them and that’s something I think any responsible Canadian business should do.
“The YMCA’s mission is about making a positive impact in communities and it’s completely aligned with ours here at Avron: connecting people with essential services and how we can make people’s lives better and create a sense of community and belonging.”
To hear from other YMCA donors and learn what inspires them to give to our charity, visit ymcagta.org/Our-Donors.
Ross Hunter is a General Manager at Avron, a Canadian distribution business dedicated to child care, education, and long-term care. With a Mission to care for those taking care of our communities, Avron sources and delivers products across an array of categories — including food, arts and crafts, toys, furniture, cleaning and health, and sensory equipment — for a range of care providers, including child care centres, preschools, before & after school programs, snack programs, camps, senior living homes, retirement homes, long-term residences, and continuing-care institutions.
Today, Ross Hunter reflects on distribution business Avron’s 20-year relationship with the YMCA and the impact he sees their contributions making in the community.
Inspiration to give
“Avron has been working with the Y for over 20 years. During that time, we’ve provided food, arts and crafts supplies, furniture, cleaning supplies… and in the last year or two, we’ve also started providing products that support special needs.
“Before the pandemic, we’d get to see how those products were being used in the day-to-day when our team would go out to YMCAs in person. Over the two decades we’ve worked together, we’ve met with hundreds of supervisors across Canada. We’ve toured the centres, gotten to know some of the folks who are working on the front-lines and as part of that, we’ve seen some of the Y’s programs. Our hope is that our donations directly support those programs and make a positive impact on the people that the Y is helping. We see it as an extension of our business relationship; that we’re able to make contributions to the greater good.
“As a business, Avron is a seller of products. We have 10,000 different items and it’s easy to fall into the trap of being a vendor when it’s more important for us to be a partner. That’s predominantly why we like to give back: We think about the relationship beyond the buying and selling of goods and how we can support.
“When it comes to this idea of business beyond business, I think the most important thing is making an impact in our local communities: tackling the challenges of homelessness, unemployment, people who are having mental health struggles… Avron works directly with the people who are actually administering these programs — front-line workers who are supporting people who are unhoused or unemployed or facing other struggles. So we want to do anything we can to support them and that’s something I think any responsible Canadian business should do.
“The YMCA’s mission is about making a positive impact in communities and it’s completely aligned with ours here at Avron: connecting people with essential services and how we can make people’s lives better and create a sense of community and belonging.”
To hear from other YMCA donors and learn what inspires them to give to our charity, visit ymcagta.org/Our-Donors.
Ross Hunter is a General Manager at Avron, a Canadian distribution business dedicated to child care, education, and long-term care. With a Mission to care for those taking care of our communities, Avron sources and delivers products across an array of categories — including food, arts and crafts, toys, furniture, cleaning and health, and sensory equipment — for a range of care providers, including child care centres, preschools, before & after school programs, snack programs, camps, senior living homes, retirement homes, long-term residences, and continuing-care institutions.
