The Aussie X

Aussie X nominated for a Great Grants Award

emile — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 17:27:13 +0000

We are so pumped about the news. We have been nominated out of over 4500 grant receiving organizations for our Youth at Risk Trillium Project.

Three Toronto Organizations Named Finalists for 2012 Great Grants Awards

Canada NewsWire

TORONTO, Feb. 22, 2012

Ontario Trillium Foundation recognizes projects’ outstanding impact

TORONTO, Feb. 22, 2012 /CNW/ -

NEWS

The Ontario Trillium Foundation today announced that FoodShare Toronto, Jumblies Studio, and Youth At Risk are finalists for the prestigious 2012 Great Grants Awards. The awards recognize Ontario organizations that have demonstrated exceptional results, innovation and a lasting impact on the communities they serve.

The three not-for-profit organizations have been selected as finalists in the environment, arts and culture, and sport and recreation categories respectively. A total of eight 2012 Great Grants Awards recipients will be recognized in the presence of Hon. Michael Chan, Ontario Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport, at a ceremony in Toronto on March 23.

FINALIST PROFILES

FoodShare Toronto

					Helping kids understand how the food on their plate actually got there, and why they should care, was the focus of the Field to Table Schools initiative, which promoted food literacy and agricultural awareness among Toronto students. Children and youth learned about how their food is produced, distributed, prepared and consumed. Students, parents and community volunteers participated in growing, cooking, composting and learning about food so as to be better equipped to make healthy food choices. Students from Junior Kindergarten to Grade 12 were provided easy to implement ideas and resources focussed on the full food cycle, from planting and harvesting to sharing, eating and composting. In the fall of the initiative’s fourth year, more than 3,400 students participated in 76 workshops and 64,000 people participated in the Great Big Crunch, a celebration of Nutrition Month, which was marked by simultaneous bites, in perfect unison, of locally grown apples.

					FoodShare Toronto was awarded a Community grant of $300,000 over four years in 2006.

Jumblies Studio c/o Jumblies Theatre

					Like individuals, even organizations benefit from mentorship. This OTF arts grant to Jumblies Studio provides mentorship and training programs for emerging community arts leaders. Community-engaged art-making is a collaborative creative process between the community and professional practicing artists from various disciplines and backgrounds who learn from each other and spark new works. Through its unique pairing of community engagement and artistic expression, Jumblies assists community members to weave their diverse stories and perspectives into creative events that use theatre, puppetry, music, dance, writing, story-telling and a range of presentation techniques. The programs build knowledge and skills about the principles and practices of community arts: project development, creative process, arts-based research, group facilitation, aesthetics and ethics, managing conflict and challenges, and working with diversity of culture, age and ability.

					Jumblies Studio was awarded a Community grant of $255,000 over four years in 2007.

Youth At Risk c/o Ontario Australian Football League

					It’s not every day that an OTF grant recipient gets in front of 1.5 million TV viewers. Back in 2009, Aussie X was part of a collaborative that was awarded funding to work with the Toronto Police Service, schools and the city’s parks and recreation department to teach Australian football rules to youth in three Toronto at-risk neighbourhoods. The Ontario Australian Football League’s initiative, Youth At Risk, uses sports to develop life skills and build confidence. The Aussie tradition of mateship – helping out your classmates – has transformed the way students interact. Wildly successful, the school clinics and summer skills camps generated the first Junior Australian Football league in Ontario in the summer of 2011. Fast forward to November 2011. when Aussie X founders were on the set of CBC TV’s popular Dragons’ Den. They were successful in their request for a $150,000 investment in their company to further expand a corporate teambuilding enterprise, as the revenue-generating side of the business, with a view to being able to offer more school programs at less cost to participating schools.

					Youth At Risk was awarded a Community grant of $151,200 over three years in 2009.

QUOTES

“We are very proud of Jumblies Studio, FoodShare and Youth at Risk, and are excited that, with these nominations, their work in the community will now be acknowledged across Ontario. Their efforts go to the heart of the Foundation’s own work: to support good ideas and help foster community connections that improve people’s quality of life.”

Bahadur Madhani, OTF Grant Review Team Chair for Toronto

“An inspiring experience, creatively, emotionally and spiritually. I’ve been exposed to people and ideas that have changed the way I think about art and community.”

Testimony from a participant in a Jumblies Studio activity

“Our mission is to use Australia’s unique sports and culture to level the playing field for kids and inspire healthy lifestyles, laughter and confidence. We are so proud to have achieved this through our Ontario Trillium Foundation grant where we impacted over 11,000 kids in youth-at-risk zones across the GTA.”

Emile Studham, Founding Director, Aussie X

QUICK FACTS

Ontario Trillium Foundation Great Grants Award finalists were selected from among some 4,500 groups that received OTF support between April 2006 and December 2010
Eight Great Grants Awards will be presented on March 23 in Toronto:

- One award for each of OTF’s four funded sectors: arts and culture, sports and recreation, environment, and human and social services
- The Minister’s Award
- The Chair’s Award
- The CEO’s Award
- The People’s Choice Award

OTF grants funding to approximately 1,500 organizations each year.

Watch Aussie X on Dragons’ Den

kaelab — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 21:56:50 +0000

Aussie X launches Corporate Team Building with MASSIVE success….

kaelab — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 22:16:10 +0000

Learn about our new CORPORATE TEAM BUILDING EVENTS!!!

Partners Testimonials

Aussie X — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 18:07:57 +0000

Ontario Trillium Foundation

The Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF) is the grant provider for the Aussie X Youth @ Risk project which currently runs in two Toronto Police Department ‘At-Risk’ zones.

RBC

As a major supporter of cricket in Canada, Aussie X has become the primary service provider for RBC’s cricket projects.
As a result of this partnership, 10 schools within the Surrey School Board in Vancouver, BC were able to participate in a 4-day Cricket program ending with a huge inter-school tournament.

In Ontario, Aussie X delivered a unique experience for 10 schools in the GTA. Each school was able to enjoy a half day program of cricket with 30 students, a workshop for the teaching staff, and a parent/teacher evening to end the program with a bang!

Aussie X also delivered cricket sessions with two international cricket players – Wasim Akram (ex-Pakistan Team Captain) and Sunil Joshi (ex-Indian spin bowler). These cricket stars were flown into Toronto to support the opening of two new cricket locations and run training sessions with Canadian youth.

The Dragons’ Den

Aussie X — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 14:46:40 +0000

Download the Dragons Den Press Release

For media inquiries, interviews or appearance requests please contact:
Jennifer Love at Duet Public Relations.
jennifer@duetpublicrelations.com
416.271.5477

Australian Expats Pitch Dragons Booming School Program

Aussie X — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 02:14:32 +0000

Australian Expats Pitch Dragons Booming School Program that Empowers Canadian Kids Through Aussie Sports

Aussie X Faces the Dragons Den, more photos below

In a new episode of The Dragons’ Den airing Wednesday November 9, 2011 at 8:00 p.m. EST on CBC Television an Australian gym teacher, an Australian television actress and a Bay Street investment consultant will pitch Aussie X: a booming school program that teaches Canadian youth the life-changing power of sport and community through Australian rules football (“footy”), cricket and netball.

To date, over 110,000 Canadian students have participated in Aussie X’s in-school and camp sports programs, with specialized programs for youth living in at-risk areas.

“Our goal is to use Australia’s unique sports and culture to level the playing field for kids and inspire healthy lifestyles, laughter and confidence. We definitely achieved this with the Dragons during our pitch,” said Kaela Bree, partner, Aussie X.

During the episode taping, the Aussie X team had all of the Dragons, affectionately nicknamed “Robbo” (Robert Herjavec), “Jimbo” (Jim Treliving), “Brucey” (Bruce Croxon), “Big Croc” (Kevin O’Leary) and “Dicko” (Arlene Dickinson) playing footy and cricket. The Dragons quickly discovered the fun – and value – of the program; Aussie X boasts an annual growth of 190 percent.

Since 2008, Aussie X has executed its program in several Canadian cities in Ontario and British Columbia. In 2011, the charitable arm of Aussie X travelled to Kenya, where it ran sport and life skill programs for over 3,200 kids in need. This year, Aussie X has already engaged over 60,000 individual kids in 130 schools and 60 camps.

In addition to its in-school and camp programs, Aussie X runs effective corporate team-building programs across Canada. Through a partnership with RBC, Aussie X runs a cricket program targeting Canada’s new immigrants, which creates a sense of community through a familiar sport.

The Aussie X’s Australian rules football youth-at-risk project is proudly supported by The Ontario Trillium Foundation and The Toronto Police. This year, the Aussie X’s youth-at-risk project has been nominated for a Great Grants award by The Ontario Trillium Foundation.

For more information, please visit: http://www.theaussiex.com and www.facebook.com/theaussiex

Dragons’ Den is the top-rated Canadian entertainment program on television, with more than one and a half million Canadians tuning in each week.

Available for interviews:
Emile Studham, Founder, Aussie X
Kaela Bree, Partner, Aussie X
Marko Sheard, Partner, Aussie X
Diane Buckner, Host, The Dragons’ Den
The Dragons’ Den Dragons

110,000 participants through Aussie X

Aussie X — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 16:52:02 +0000

Aussie X is proud to announce that since its beginning on June 6th, 2008, it has taught over 110,000 participants throughout Ontario and British Columbia.

With Aussie X-traordinary relationships with The Ontario Trillium Foundation and RBC, Aussie X has grown from strength to strength since its creation in a basement in the Bloor and Lansdown area of Toronto.

On Wednesday October 28th, the children of Silverthorn Public School tipped Aussie X over the 100,000 participant mark and capped off this wonderful achievement by running an awesome student based exhibition for all parents who attended Silverthorn’s Open House evening!

Changing Lives in Nairobi, Kenya

Aussie X — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 16:49:30 +0000

On 11th July 2011 – Kaela, you visited the orphanage together with your colleagues Doug , Emile – Dragon, Lydia and Lexy. This was one of the memorable days for all of us, a great experience and your visit was unique in a way. Just to make you understand what I mean by the word ‘Unique’ .

Your visit with your sport program – we are looking forward to you coming back and teaching us about the sports that you play. The other schools had great feedback about your program. We hope you can come back and give us the same experience.
Your visit to classrooms: This was very unique for you are among the few visitors who take time to understand what happens in the classrooms and also see for yourself the learning environment. The children were excited as you spoke to them and asked them different questions. You made them laugh and enjoy their time with you. The teachers were equally happy to see you in the classrooms with the children. This was a big encouragement and motivation to all of them.
Taking photos: Our children enjoyed taking photos with you and I am sure you can remember how happy they were.
Special presentation: The climax of your visit was when we gathered in the chapel and you all spoke to the children giving them some advise. They children of St. Nicholas like the song you sung and they were really entertained by your team. They also did their presentation which I am sure you enjoyed.

“You are great people,all the games you taught us ,all that time you spared to be with us, all the appreciation and love you gave us, no words can express how much we appreciate. May the good lord bless you and continue expanding your territories.We sleep-dream and imagine you came back here at rafiki .By the way i still use the key holder and the aussiex bangle is always on my wrist we seriously miss you people.”

Mercy Ruiyi

Hi Kaela,

l just want to appreciate your coming to Gitiba school to introduce your new game, Footy. We were very happy, we loved the sport and the children were delighted. They smiled and spoke about Aussie X for many weeks after the program. We are praying for you to come back to our school and teach us more about the sport. We are always open and welcome to you friendly people to teach us sport and importance of healthy living. Have a lovely time in Kenya and please keep in touch.

Tony Nyanjui
Teacher incharge – Gitiba Yellow House
Gibita School

Success with the Junior Australian Football League

Aussie X — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 16:52:23 +0000

In April 2009, The Ontario Australian Football League in conjunction with Aussie X were awarded an Ontario Trillium Foundation grant to build Junior Australian Rules Football (Footy) leagues within 3 ‘At-Risk’ zones of the Toronto Police Department.

Jane and Finch – Division 31
Humber South – Division 22
The Danforth – Division 55

The project is also partnered with the Toronto Police Department and works closely with major schools in each zone. Each school in the project enjoys an Aussie X In-school Footy program and then the students are offered the chance to play in an inter-school tournament against other schools in their zone. From this point on we find a bunch of children interested in further play. These children are then offered the opportunity to play on a weekly basis throughout June and July.

The OAFL and Aussie X are proud to announce that the first ever junior league of Australian Rules Football was created this year in the Humber South zone whereby 40 children registered and played Friday night’s at the Humber South field over an 8 week period.

All children only had to pay a $20 registration fee due to the generous funding from the Trillium Foundation and in its first year, 40 young boys and girls from Lanor JMS, Second Street JMS and John English JMS within the Humber South region registered to PLAY FOOTY!

Aussie X partners with RBC

Aussie X — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 20:43:18 +0000

To provide a bit of background on our cricket program, in 2011, RBC continued the RBC Wicket Cricket in school programming with the Surrey School Board. For the third year, 10 schools within Surrey received 4 weeks of cricket coaching for all the Grades 4 through 7 students and cricket-themed family-fun-night sessions, courtesy of RBC. The coaching ended on June 3rd with a fun, friendly RBC Wicket Cricket Carnival where each school played friendly matches against the other schools to showcase all their new cricket skills.

2011 was the first year that we engaged Aussie X to provide the coaching. In the previous two years we had some concerns with the level of professionalism from another provider, and when we started to source other coaching options, Aussie X came highly recommended to us from within the School Board. After interviewing Emile and seeing him in action with the kids, there was no doubt that they provided the high level of professionalism and engagement that meets our RBC’s standards.

What motivated you to start the initial program?

With so many newcomers to Canada being from cricket-loving nations, it makes good physical and cultural sense to embrace all that cricket has to offer.
Here’s why:

Canada’s cultural communities value and appreciate cultural recognition.
Public school boards, corporations and organizations support Canada’s evolving demographics by embracing activities that are part of the history, heritage and identity of cultures around the world.
Cricket is growing in popularity around the world, including in Canada. Youth cricket is the best way to capitalize on the trend.
A formal school cricket program will mirror what is happening informally across Canada as youth play cricket whenever and wherever they can.
Cricket supports learning outcomes beyond physical education: self-confidence, interpersonal skills, teamwork, integrity and fair play are encouraged and taught with an organized cricket program.
Cricket is accessible to students regardless of social class, gender or ethnic background.

What do you and RBC get out of a project such as this?

Our objectives at RBC are to connect with the elementary schools and communities, while at the same time offering quality physical education. Our 5 year project with the City of Surrey has help RBC with:

Celebrating cultures through cricket and engaging new Canadians through positive social activities.
Providing social cohesion for cultural communities through cricket
Providing children of New Canadians healthy, exciting recreational pursuits through cricket.
Building meaningful connections with multicultural communities through cricket.

How is Aussie X aligned with with achieving ‘Brand Differentiation’ and your brand’s goals?

Aussie X’s program, including well trained coaches, has ensured that the program meets all the professional standards that RBC expects, which in turn protects our brand reputation. The level of training the children received, and the excitement that was created in the parents and children help ensure RBC was recognized for supporting the community.

After this past year with Aussie X and seeing the level of interaction between the coaches and the children, there was no doubt that Aussie X would be providing the next two years of coaching as part of our contract with the Surrey School Board

Carmen Ryujin
Manager
Cultural and Community Markets
Royal Bank of Canada