COVER STORY
RONALD MCDONALD IN
STRIKES BIG
CANADA
Ed Sousa, Classic Bowl and Bowl Canada help to keep Canadian families in medical crisis close to each other and the care they need through the support of Ronald McDonald House Charities. By Robert Sax
E
d Sousa loves football, especially the Pittsburgh Steelers. Not only are they his favorite team, but on a beautiful afternoon in October 2010, the “Stillers” inspired him to become a charity fundraising powerhouse in the Canadian bowling industry. During the game, Ed noticed that the players were sporting pink mouth guards, pink-accented boots and pink towels, all in support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Ed had lost his mother and a young nephew to cancer and had been searching
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for a big idea he could use to raise money to fund research to fight the disease. “I came to the office on Monday and called a friend of mine, who's in the shoe manufacturing business in China,” says Sousa. “I said ‘Colin, I'm going to start this campaign for breast cancer research, and I need pink bowling shoes.’” The following January, Sousa launched the Knock Down Ed, Marloe, Taryn, Mike, Cash & Ronald McDonald. Photo by Kathryn Harrod .
COVER STORY Cancer campaign at Classic Bowl, the 60-lane center he manages in Mississauga, Ontario near Toronto. That month he rented pink bowling shoes to every customer and donated the proceeds to the Canadian Cancer Society. To date, this now-annual campaign has raised more than C$400,000, the highest total donation yet raised by the Canadian bowling industry for a charity campaign. Sousa has gone on to run additional fundraising campaigns for other causes including Movember (men’s cancers) and Wounded Warriors Canada. That’s an impressive record for a man who reluctantly got into the bowling business at age 16 when his friend’s dad opened up a 32-lane, ten-pin center in Brampton, Ontario. Sousa’s friend suggested they go work there, but he was more interested in playing football. "My friend said, ‘Try it out. If we don't like it, we can always quit,’" recalls Sousa. “So I started as a little pin chaser, a would-be mechanic, and it was great. We had a little mechanics’ room where I could do my homework.” After high school ,Sousa got a business degree in marketing, a skill that has helped him succeed as a proprietor and a fundraiser. The center ownership group that he had been working for part-time asked if he wanted to run the facility. “All of a sudden, it's like 25 years later and to me this industry is by far the best industry to be a part of,” says Sousa, who joined Classic Bowl in 2001 after stints at several other bowling centers. In 2016, Sousa teamed up with Ronald McDonald, the internationally-known spokesclown for McDonald’s restaurants. His goal was to raise money to support Ronald McDonald House in Toronto, one of several special guest houses across Canada that the McDonald’s charity maintains for children with cancer and their families. Sousa’s late nephew Greg had spent a lot of time there during his five-year battle with leukemia, and Sousa knew what a valuable source of support it was for Greg and his family. Sousa took his cue from the annual McHappy Day fundraiser, when McDonald's restaurants in Canada join with their communities to raise money to help children in need across the country. He created McBowl, a fundraiser based on his previous successful events, and took his plan to Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) in Toronto for approval. Although RMCH had never held a bowling event, they agreed to sanction McBowl because of Sousa’s passion for the cause and his successful track record with previous events. The first McBowl was held exclusively at Classic Bowl in 2016 and featured bowling tournaments and kids’ and family activities. For fellow football fans, Sousa brought in the Grey Cup, Canada’s professional football trophy, and let visitors be photographed with it if they donated five dollars. Sousa also staged two full-blown concerts at Classic Bowl and charged a modest admission. Two classic Canadian bands, Honeymoon Suite and the Spoons, rocked out on
a stage set up over the lanes. “We had over 800 people attend the concert, and we literally had to turn away hundreds at the door,” says Sousa. “One person drove down from Elliot Lake, which is a nine-hour drive.” The first McBowl raised $22,000, “which is incredible for a first year event that is managed by volunteers,” says Mary Proulx, director of development and communications for RMHC. That summer Sousa pitched Bowl Canada, the trade association, about turning McBowl into a nationwide program. He told executive director Paul Oliveira that McBowl was "an opportunity for our industry … to branch this out across Canada because there are Ronald McDonald Houses in every province in Canada.” Shortly thereafter, at their national annual meeting, the group voted unanimously to support Sousa in expanding McBowl in 2017. “We want to associate our industry with top brands,” says Oliveira. “McDonald’s is a strong brand that means a lot to communities across Canada, and bowling’s association with RMHC reinforces the concept that bowling centres are caring and contributing members of their local communities.”
Groovin' with the Spoons. IBI
August 2017
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COVER STORY
Pattykakes about to paint Luca & Barbara. Photo by Kathryn Harrod.
For the second annual McBowl event at Classic Bowl last May 2017, Ronald McDonald himself appeared to roll a few frames, high-five other bowlers and pose for photos with families and kids. Participants could also purchase official McBowl logo merchandise, created by Sousa that included balls, shirts, teddy bears and yes, bowling shoes in the familiar red and yellow McDonald’s colors. The merchandise is also now available online, and there are additional merchandise lines for his other campaigns. Since McHappy Day last May, more than ten centers across Canada have held McBowl events. Sousa hopes to raise “over six figures” from centers large and small; one twelve-lane center in Cornwall, Ontario, raised over $10,000. “In Alberta, the same thing, they raised $10,400,” says Sousa. “A lot of these centers have never participated in anything [like this] but they felt the partnership was so important, and the [fact] that the funds stay locally.” In the province of Alberta, for example, the money raised goes to support the Ronald McDonald House in Edmonton, the provincial capital. Oliveira says that early reports from participating Bowl Canada members indicate that the relationships created with RMHC houses across the country have been very positive. “The bonus to it all is the opportunity for the proprietor to create a relationship with their local McDonald’s restaurant owners,” he says. “Great stories are coming in about their support of McBowl ... the owners are getting to know a little more about the bowling community.”
As talented and dedicated as Sousa is as a fundraiser, he readily acknowledges all the help he has had from his volunteers, supporters and partners. He is especially grateful for the generosity of Karl Fay and Karl Fay Investments, the company that owns Classic Bowl. Since Sousa began putting on fundraisers, KFI has underwritten the cost of the events. The first McBowl, with its two live concerts, cost the company in the six figures. “To set up the stage alone in our facility was about $20,000,” says Sousa. “Whatever I could say about Karl Fay and his entire family simply wouldn't do them justice.” “[McBowl] is definitely one of the most significant volunteer-produced events to date for our charity. It is also the event with the greatest potential to grow, because everywhere there is a
Carmelita, Round-a-bout The Balloon Clown & Rita. Photo by Kathryn Harrod.
Ronald McDonald House, and there are supporters who are bowlers,” says Proulx. Will McBowl spread to the United States? If it does, Sousa will be especially pleased that it started in Canada. When pitching it to his fellow proprietors, he urged them to overcome the supposed “Canadian inferiority complex” and compete with their neighbors south of the border. “Don’t wait for the Americans to tell us that it’s a good idea,” he said. Ed Sousa may be a proud fan of an American football team, but he’s an even prouder Canadian.❖
Robert Sax is a writer and PR consultant in Los Angeles. He grew up in Toronto, Canada, the home of five-pin bowling.
Classic Bowl staff, Kris, Evan, Jonathan, Tahir, Rose, Nick & Michael. Photo by Kathryn Harrod. 30
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