Community Challenges

United against poverty 

The entrepreneur-athletes of the 21st Élite cohort decided to support the Centre d'organisation mauricien de services et d'éducation populaire (COMSEP), a community organization bringing together people and families living in poverty who are organizing to improve their living conditions. They renovated a living environment from A to Z where children can thrive and learn in an inspiring, functional and modern setting, which will have a significant impact on the course of many lives.

Touched, even overwhelmed, by the dedication of the COMSEP team and the encounters they had, the cohort gave itself a second mandate: to make the dreams of children requiring COMSEP services come true.

Building for youth

The entrepreneur-athletes from cohort 20 decided to help out at Fondation du Centre Jeunesse de Québec. Their project consisted in building two spaces for young people aged between 12 and 18, housed in a rehabilitation center, where they can enjoy a warm and secure environment.

Support for young people

The C19 entrepreneur-athletes decided to help Espace HOPE. If offers a living environment in the middle of nature, favouring an open, human-focused approach to differences, with the mission of developing each person's full potential by enabling them simply to be. People are at the heart of our concerns. 

The aim is to offer time, expertise, money, support and marketing assistance for the development of this project.

Feeding children from 0 to 5 years old with the Banque Alimentaire de Memphrémagog (BAM) - $120,000

The project consists of raising funds to keep the food bank's shelves stocked and ready to meet the needs of its growing clientele, especially children aged 0-5 years. The funds will also be used to improve the BAM's facilities in order to optimize their operations, allowing them to reach more clients, further and more adequately.

We have observed that families with children between the ages of 0 and 5 are less well supported in terms of their nutritional needs. In fact, children entering school have access to certain services, but those who are not yet in school do not have this access and yet need it to help them in their development. We then looked for ways to reach these families who are sometimes far away or without resources to give them access to this food bank.

Renovation of the maison Parenfants in Mascouche - $250,000

On the morning of September 3, renovation work finally began on the premises of Parenfants de Mascouche. The work represents an investment of $250,000 for the organization. The project was made possible thanks to the 17th cohort of the Programme Élite at the École d'Entrepreneurship de Beauce.

Support and funding forSchool Notre-Dame (Lévis) - $150,000

The Élite C16 cohort got involved with Notre-Dame Elementary School in Lévis to offer students and the community an educational, inclusive and entertaining outdoor living environment. Close to $150,000 was raised through a fundraising campaign. The entrepreneurs held an individual collection, a benefit show in January 2020, with Gregory Charles as guest of honor, and a silent auction.

Les Fantastiques de Magog - $250,000

The members of C15 chose to help Les Fantastiques de Magog, a center for adults living with intellectual disabilities. The centerpiece of this project is a large covered terrace. C15 also created a second plateau at ground level, providing easier access for all to the various play areas. Adjacent to this plateau, under the terrace, a shed will be built to store the games, and an adapted bathroom will eventually be installed there. Lastly, paths will be laid out in the wooded areas to make the most of the area's natural beauty.

Laura Lémerveil Centre - $75,000

The 24 entrepreneurs of the Élite C14 cohort chose to help the Laura Lémerveil organization in Quebec City as part of their community challenge. The organization's mission is to help disabled children blossom and achieve their full potential.

C14 Élite cohort set a goal of raising $65,000 through a capital campaign that began in May 2018. During late 2018 and early 2019, several tenant improvements were made at Laura Lémerveil, such as the installation of a portable lift.

Center d'Entraide L'Horizon de Rivière-du-Loup - $250,000

The C13 cohort chose to renovate the premises of the Centre d'Entraide l'Horizon de Rivière-du-Loup. This organization helps the adult population living in difficult situations related to mental health.

On The Tip of the Toes - $178,000

C12 chose to help Fondation On The Tip of the Toes. The aim of this organization is to help young cancer sufferers across Quebec regain their well-being by taking on the challenge of an exceptional therapeutic adventure expedition. Supervised by medical and outdoor experts, the expeditions also aim to change the image of the disease among participants and the general public alike.

Major fundraising campaign for the services of the Deuil Jeunesse organization + Fundraising for an additional permanent resource - $51,000

The mission of Deuil Jeunesse is to help youth and adults who are experiencing the serious illness or death of a loved one or losses through parental separation, abandonment or adoption. The organization was founded in 2011 and is supported by its founder and president, Josée Masson.

Several services are offered by the organization: awareness, support, information and intervention with its clients. Deuil Jeunesse also offers its expertise to professional organizations and stakeholders, both in Quebec and internationally. The Élite C11 cohort has committed to organizing a major fundraising campaign over a period of more than 10 months to help Deuil Jeunesse. A portion of the funds raised will be applied to the addition of an additional resource to the permanent staff to help meet the needs and growth of the organization.

Expand and renovate the Grandi-Ose house - $200,000

The Centre de Loisirs Adaptés La Maison Grandi-Ose offers a respite service as well as recreational activities for children and adults with physical or intellectual disabilities, autism or similar limitations.

Offering a variety of services, this center ensures adequate support through special arrangements such as respite weekends, day camps, adapted workshops and other supplementary activities.

L'Association Lafontaine - $163,000

The C9 entrepreneur-athletes decided to help the Association d'Entraide Communautaire La Fontaine.This Sainte-Marie-based organization provides services to individuals and families of people with intellectual or physical disabilities, or autism spectrum disorders.

The cohort built a functional customer parking lot, landscaped the backyard and installed streetlights, in addition to a new kitchen.

Participatory financing platform La Ruche

With their business experience and the knowledge they acquired during their two years of training at EEB, the entrepreneurs in the Élite C8 cohort contributed to the interregional expansion of La Ruche.

As part of their community challenge to complete their program at course, the members of cohort 8 have chosen to develop the La Ruche Québec project by exporting it to the whole of Quebec. Each regional Ruche will retain the characteristics of the community-based participatory financing system created by its founders: the obligation for each project to generate regional spin-offs, start-up support from prominent, recognized personalities acting as angel advisors, and a non-profit structure.

Generous Hunters

Generous Hunters is a game meat donation program for people in need in most regions of Quebec, made possible by the harvest and generosity of hunters and the involvement of butchers. Inspired by a project that initially started in the Bas St-Laurent, the C7 entrepreneurs have invested in making it possible to deploy it throughout the province. By working together with the FédéCP and the Réseau BAQ, they were able to multiply the benefits throughout Quebec and help people in need. The most important thing for them was to ensure that the program was implemented on a solid foundation so that the partners could make it a recurring program over the years.

After the first year of Generous Hunters, hunter donations exceeded 1.6 tons of venison. This represents nearly 16,000 portions of premium meat, which were distributed by organizations helping people in need throughout Quebec. And the objectives for the next hunting seasons are even higher now that the program is deployed all around Quebec!

New building for the Leucan-CSN Summer Camp - $300,000

The Élite C6 cohort completed the Nishk project, a new building at the Leucan-CSN Summer Camp, which welcomes children with cancer and their families. Thanks to them, more families who are in great need of respite will have the chance to attend the camp.

The Coeur d'Entreprendre project

The Élite C5 cohort launched the Cœur d'entreprendre movement with the goal of helping young people who need a second chance, a fresh start and a mentor. They want to help young adults get involved and create a stronger Quebec.

Cœur d'entreprendre provides mentoring and personal support to make a significant difference in the lives of these young people. All C5 cohort members want to share their experiences, values and belief in a promising future with their mentees in order to positively influence them.

The HOME project - A new home for twelve Lac-Mégantic families - $1.8 million

Greatly affected by the tragedy of the people of Lac-Mégantic, a town located less than 100 km from our School, you, the C4 entrepreneurs-athletes, have given yourselves a community challenge on a very large scale: to build a 12-unit building reserved for the victims of Lac-Mégantic

An ambitious project. A project requiring the mobilization of all. Hundreds of hours of volunteer work. A lot of adaptation. But also a project filled with beautiful human encounters and the satisfaction of being able to tell you that you persisted despite all the pitfalls.

Suicide prevention can be a corporate responsibility too - $50,000

The entrepreneur-athletes of the Élite C3 cohort looked for a cause that would rally them all... A cause that would not sell itself and that would be useful in all regions of Quebec where they live. A cause that would make a difference in their business and in their community. Their choice was suicide prevention.

An online platform to feed more people faster - $100,000

As part of its community challenge, C2 is partnering with the Quebec Food Banks to create an online platform that allows for faster processing of perishable food donations and thus recuperate a larger portion of them.

Indeed, thanks to its ability to manage stocks in real time and to share this information with all users, this web platform allows the various "Moissons" spread throughout Quebec to avoid food losses and to ensure that all available products are known and offered according to the stocks and needs of each of its local operations. 

Les Petits Castors schoolyard revitalization - $50,000

Cohort 1 revitalized the playground atSchool Les Petits Castors School in Saint-Georges.

The project included : 

• Adding cedar chips to the playground
• New sand in the sandbox
• Lawn areas near the school
• Flower bed near cement wall
• Drainage under the swings
• Painting cement walls
• Gazebo installation
• Installation of picnic and craft tables