The Globe and Mail - 24.10.2019

B14 O THEGLOBEANDMAIL| THURSDAY,OCTOBER24,2019

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matchup,oneofthe

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ledtheOttawaRough

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[PHOTOOFTHEDAY]

W

hen softball player and
Olympic 2022 hopeful
Natalie Wideman was
handed a cheque and told the
money came from women she
did not know, she was speechless.
“I instantly broke down cry-
ing,” said the 27-year-old from
Mississauga.
“In our generation, there’s so
much stuff being put on women,
comparing each other to each
other and judging each other’s
choices.
“Women helping women is
just really, really, special to me.”
Wideman wants to be Canada’s
catcher in Tokyo next year when
women’s softball returns to the

Summer Olympics.

She says the $6,000 she re-

ceived from Canadian Athletes

Now, or Canfund, through a cam-

paign of professional women

supporting their athlete counter-

parts, is crucial to her goal.

“Getting the cheque just gives

me the opportunity to advance

my training that much more go-

ing into Tokyo 2020, whether that

means me being able to fly an ex-

tra time out to see my head coach

in Halifax or I get the opportunity

to go to Florida to see one of my

hitting coaches, or extra physio

appointments to make sure my

body is taken care of or not stress-

ing out about nutrition because

you know, as athletes we eat non-

stop and it gets expensive,” Wide-

man explained.

Jane Roos is the fundraising

juggernaut behind Canfund,

which says it has put over $40-

million in the pockets of Canada’s

athletes since 2003 and sent

cheques to 80 per cent who com-

peted in Olympic Games from

2004 to 2018.

The high-performance athlete

community views Roos as a hero-

ine. The money she raises all from

the private sector helps fill the fi-

nancial gaps in their lives.

In Canfund’s round of applica-

tions in 2018, a record 941 athletes

applied. Athletes can start apply-

ing again Thursday and Roos ex-

pects another record.

After the 2016 Rio Olympics,

where women earned 16 of Cana-

da’s 22 medals, Roos saw an im-

balance in her donor list.

“I thought ‘Wow, it’s signifi-

cantly male,’ ” Roos said.

So she set out to establish con-

nections between women in the

work force and female athletes.

“We raise money for men,

women, able-bodied, Paralym-

pic,” Roos said. “What this did

was create another funding arm

that wasn’t there.”

The 150 Women campaign –

named for the minimum dona-

tion of $150 – has cut $6,000

cheques to 109 female athletes in

two years. Eight of them have

won Olympic gold.

Donors range in age from 18 to

82 with $50,000 the highest single

donation so far, Roos said. A fe-

male judge contributed $5,000.

“When we call an athlete and

say, ‘Not only are you a Canfund

recipient, your money came from

women,’ there is a huge kind of

pause,” Roos said.

“I think when women get

funded by women, they believe in

themselves more a bit. I can’t ex-

plain it.”

Said Wideman: “It hit me like a

ton of bricks. More spectacular

than the actual cheque was these

women really wanted me to expe-

rience all these great things and

they wanted me to feel supported

on this journey.”

Canfund currently has a donor

matching every contribution up

to $3-million.

Toronto intellectual property

lawyer May Cheng gave $1,500 in

2018 and has committed to an-

other $2,000 donation in 2019.

CANFUND,B19

‘Womenhelpingwomen’:Canfundconnectsworkforce,femaleathletes

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