Our Charities

York Vintage & YRPA Donate Equipment to Belize Police

Placencia Village, Belize, Central America

On Tuesday September 18, 2007, as the result of a generous financial donation from the York Regional Police

Association and the York Vintage Hockey Team, the Belize Police located in Placencia Village, Belize, C.A.,

were presented with police ball caps, t-shirts, Stinger flashlights and traffic vests.

York Vintage, YRPA & Innisfil Soccer Club Donate Sports

Equipment to the St.Alphonsus Catholic School in

Seine Bight Village, Belize, Central America

On Tuesday, September 11, 2007, the St.Alphonsus Catholic School were presented with basketballs,

basketball netting, soccer balls & soccer shoes, donated by the Innisfil Soccer Club, York Regional

Police Association & the York Vintage Hockey Team.

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( article from the YRPA magazine, The Association Press - Winter issue 2007 )

In April of this year, we traveled to the Central American country of Belize and stayed at Maya Beach which is on the Placencia Peninsula. This British Commonwealth, english speaking country borders the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico to the east and Guatemala to the west and is situated on the Caribbean Ocean. Belize is a ‘third world country were the average wage is about $10 Canadian per day. While we were there, we visited the local Belize Police station in the village of Placencia and had the chance to watch the officers working in the community.  

These officers work in very poor conditions with minimal equipment, yet carry out their duties in a very professional manner. They have only one police vehicle, being a pickup truck with a gas allotment. Once the gas runs out, the officers have to continue their patrol on foot, bicycles or by local bus. (If you have a problem, you sometimes have to drive down to the station and pick up the officers so they can conduct their investigation ) They are issued one shoulder patch which they pin on to their all their uniform shirts.

We spoke with the OIC, Sergeant Kent Paulino, who gave us further insight into law enforcement in a third world country, which turned out to be very ‘interesting’. Needless to say that their ‘procedures’ are much different then those of York Regional Police. We asked Sgt Paulino what supplies his officers needed and his only response was ‘police t-shirts & ball caps’ (the officers have to supply their own). The officers monthly wage is a meager $600 Cdn a month.

 We left the Belize the next day, making plans to try and fulfill Sgt Paulino’s request.

 With the generous financial charitable donations from the York Regional Police Association and the York Vintage Hockey team, we were able to purchase t-shirts with ‘POLICE’ across the back and ‘PLACENCIA POLICE’ on the front, ‘POLICE ball caps, traffic vests and Stinger flashlights.

 In September, we returned to Belize and once again stayed at Maya Beach. On Tuesday, September 18th, we visited the Placencia Police station and presented Sgt Kent Paulino #599 and two of his officers, WPC Felecia Gentle #926 and PC Marcos Choc #795 with these donations. The sergeant was amazed that a Canadian police association would even consider helping his officers and couldn’t extend enough thanks to us and towards our association for donating these items.

It was very satisfying to see the officers wearing these t-shirts and ball caps while they were working and knowing how much they appreciated receiving these donations.

We also wanted to help out the St. Alphonsus Catholic School in the small village of Seine Bight which is approximately half way down the Placencia peninsula. We decided to donate basketballs to the school as we knew this was a sport they loved playing in Placencia.

Prior to leaving for Belize, we received an email from Al Vandenberg who volunteers a great deal of his time to the Innisfil Soccer Club. As a result of Al’s interest in helping out, we received a very generous charitable donation from the Innisfil Soccer Club of soccer shoes and soccer balls.

On Tuesday, September 11, we visited the school and met with Vice Principal Lopez who arranged to have 2 classrooms of children available for the presentation of the basketballs, soccer balls and soccer shoes. When the children gathered around, it was a nice feeling to see how excited they were about receiving these donations to the school. We were told that the St.Alphonsus Catholic School were recently the #1 country champions in soccer, baseball, basketball and volleyball.

Vice Principal Lopez could not express enough her thanks for the donations to her school and the children.

Traveling to Belize, learning the culture and getting to know the local residents was a very exciting and rewarding experience. Seeing how they live and what they have and don’t have in terms of housing, finances and the everyday luxuries they exist without is very humbling. We take so much for granted in our everyday lives that we forget how nice it is to live were we do. It certainly gives you a very different perspective of living and working in Canada. If you ever have the chance to travel and spend time in a country such as Belize, take it! It’s an experience that you would never forget!

In closing, we would like to thank the York Regional Police Association and membership and the York Vintage Hockey Team for the generous charitable donation they have made.

As well, a very special thanks to the Innisfil Soccer Club and to Al Vandenberg for the sports equipment donation to the St. Alphonsus Catholic School.           

York Vintage & YRPA Support the Joseph Pokorny

Memorial Hockey Tournament

The York Vintage Hockey team travelled to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

on October 17, 2006 to play in the Joseph Pokorny Memorial Tournament.

State Trooper Joseph Pokorny was killed in the line of duty in December, 2005.

The York players presented a cheque on behalf of the York Vintage Hockey Team

and the York Regional Police Association to the daughter & son of Joseph Pokorny.

York Vintage donate a Sony T.V., dvd player & stand to the residents of the

Buckingham Manor Senior Citizens Home, Stouffville, Ont. March 29, 2005

when love is not enough...

who we are

The mission of The Jennifer Ashleigh Foundation is to improve the quality of life for chronically and seriously ill children and their families…"when love is not enough."

Norm Clements established this Foundation in 1990 in memory of his granddaughter, Jennifer Ashleigh Clements who died at age six months from a degenerative, muscular disease. Her younger sister, Danica, died in infancy of the same illness just two years later.

Norm Clements created his first sporting goods company in 1968. He called it "National Gym Clothing Limited". Originally working from the trunk of his car, the company has evolved into eighteen National Sports retail stores operating across southern Ontario today.

Norm enjoys helping others. It's who he is. Helping others …"when love is not enough" is what he set out to do in 1990 after suffering the loss of his infant granddaughter. He is no stranger to aiding those in need and comes by this sterling trait as a member of a family filled with giving from the heart. His brothers and sister have served as missionaries in Africa and South America and his kindness to others range from assisting street children in Bolivia, sponsoring drug and alcohol rehabilitation programs to his local annual Christmas dinner for the community. He is a fine example of what one person's generosity can do to effect change in the world.

His desire to help others through the creation of The Jennifer Ashleigh Foundation, allows us to act as a financial safety net - helping families when all other resources have run out. Every attempt to access support from government and other service agencies must be made by those families before JAF can consider their application.

An application does not guarantee our assistance. It guarantees careful consideration for financial aid by our granting committee. We aspire to help as many children and families as possible with our limited funds. Therefore only those we determine to be in crisis or with the most immediate need can be considered.