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GM Canada Commits $5.2 Million to Make Athletes' Dreams Possible


October 2006
 Filed under: GENERAL MOTORS CORPORATE Car News | GENERAL MOTORS CORPORATE Headlines
Oshawa (Ontario), Thursday, October 12, 2006 – Arturo Elias, president of General Motors of Canada today pledged $5.2 million to help Canadian athletes and their coaches through GM’s new Making Dreams Possible initiative and Own the Podium 2010.
GM will donate $4 million to Own the Podium 2010, an initiative created to help Canada become the number one nation in terms of medals at the 2010 Olympic Games and top three at the Paralympic Games. In addition, GM has created Making Dreams Possible, a $1.2 million program which will create a competitive advantage for Canadian athletes by directly supporting coaches at the elite and local club levels.

“Creating an Olympic or Paralympic athlete is similar to building a vehicle, both need the support and expertise of a great team,” says Arturo Elias, president of GM Canada. “Making Dreams Possible is a natural extension of GM Canada’s long history of supporting Canadian athletes, but it goes one step further, by directly supporting the coaches who lead and inspire our current and future Olympians to success.”

“In the eyes of most Canadians, it is our athletes’ Olympic and Paralympic achievements that will largely define the success of the Games in 2010,” says Jack Poole, chairman, VANOC. “Making Dreams Possible and Own the Podium 2010 will help lay the groundwork for unprecedented results from our Canadian team in 2010, while generating enthusiasm and pride for Canadians from coast to coast.”

Over the next four years, GM’s Making Dreams Possible program will provide ten annual grants of $10,000 to high performance athletes and their coaches and 100 annual grants of $2,000 to coaches in local communities. These grants will be used to fund special training camps, coach travel and education activities that support development of community sport programs.

Manon Perron is the first recipient of a Making Dreams Possible elite coaching award as the coach of Joannie Rochette, 2006 Canadian Figure Skating Champion. Says Rochette, “I would not have achieved the level of success in figure skating without the support of my coach, Manon Perron. She knows I have it in me to succeed and reach the podium and she pushes me to perform my best every time I compete.”

The first recipient of a Making Dreams Possible local sport club award is the Toronto Fencing Club. Says coach David Ellis, “A coach provides more than just technical instruction for their athletes. At the community level, we set the foundation for participants to develop and grow through sport as well-rounded individuals and also, in some instances, to set the stage for Olympic aspirations.”

Making Dreams Possible is a program developed by GM in cooperation with the Coaching Association of Canada, the governing body of Canada’s coaching education program. Applications can be submitted by high performance athletes and coaches for the elite grants and head coaches, technical directors or the president of local sports clubs can apply for the local sport club coaching awards. Application forms can be found through www.thedriveison.ca.

GM’s $4 million Own the Podium commitment will be funded through a cash donation from new vehicles sold in 2007 and 2008. To give the program a head start, GM will make a retroactive contribution for ’07 models sold to date.

About GM Canada
Headquartered in Oshawa Ontario, General Motors of Canada employs more than 20,000 people nationwide. GM of Canada manufactures a variety of vehicles, engines, transmissions and other components, and markets the full range of General Motors vehicles and related services through 759 dealerships and retailers across Canada. Vehicles sold through this network include Chevrolet, Buick, Pontiac, GMC, Saturn, Hummer, Saab and Cadillac.

About VANOC
VANOC is responsible for the planning, organizing, financing and staging of the XXI Olympic Winter Games and the X Paralympic Winter Games in 2010. The 2010 Olympic Winter Games will be staged in Vancouver and Whistler from February 12 to 28, 2010. Whistler will host the Paralympic Winter Games from March 12 to 21, 2010. VANOC’s marketing program is focused on securing mutually rewarding partnerships with shared values to generate sufficient revenue to host successful Winter Games in 2010 and to leave a financial legacy for sport. In addition to Worldwide Partners: Coca-Cola, Atos Origin, GE, McDonald’s, Omega and Visa, VANOC’s National Partners are Bell Canada, RBC Financial Group, Hbc, RONA, Petro Canada and GM Canada. VANOC’s Official Supporters include the British Columbia Lottery Corporation and the Royal Canadian Mint and VANOC’s Official Suppliers include Haworth Canada and Workopolis.

About Coaching Association of Canada
The Coaching Association of Canada is a not-for-profit amateur sport organization with the mandate to improve the effectiveness of coaching across all sports and at all levels of the sport system. Visit www.coach.ca for more information about coach education and training.

Source: GM Canada

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