Ontario Construction News staff writer
Members of two Ottawa construction associations raised $104,465 for the Childrens’ Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) and brought smiles with a Sept. 18 drive-by parade of heavy construction equipment.
The National Capital Heavy Construction Association (NCHCA) and the Ottawa Construction Association (OCA) encouraged members to bring some 40 pieces of construction equipment – some hauled on flatbed trailers – to the hospital for the Construction Community Cares for the CHEO celebration.
CHEO Foundation president and CEO Kevin Keohane expressed his gratitude for the two associations’ support at a ceremonial cheque presentation before the drive-by celebration.
The event also supported Roger Neilson House, a hospice for pediatric palliative care. Roly Hein, one of OCA’s former board chairs, helped build the house on the CHEO site in 2006.
“Both of you are involved in helping to build the infrastructure and better facilities that allow all of us to live a better life in this community,” said Keohane. “But you do so much more. You take that other step further. That philanthropy and generosity that comes out of the construction industry in Ottawa is really, really something special, and something for which you don’t get enough credit.”
Volunteer fundraiser Paul McCarney, president and CEO of Clean Water Works, originated the idea for the parade of trucks and heavy equipment.
“We jumped on it instantly,” Steve McEachen, a NCHCA board president and general manager of Aecon Construction Ontario East, told Ottawa Business Journal (OBJ). “We did a call-out to our members to get people to participate. I think it was in two days that the list was full.”
Participating companies included: D-Squared Construction Ltd., JD Brule Inc., Clean Water Works Inc., Marathon Underground Constructors Corporation, D&G Landscaping Inc., Inflector Environmental Services, Aecon Construction Ontario East Ltd., Flynn Canada Ltd., J.R. Brisson Ltd., Ken White Construction Ltd., Munro Group Inc., Louis W. Bray Construction Limited, EllisDon, M. Sullivan & Sons Ltd., MacEwen Petroleum Inc., Cooper Equipment Rentals, Matt Creamer Contracting Inc., ASL, Jara Sweeping, R.W. Tomlinson Ltd., Battlefield Equipment Rentals Inc., Taggart Construction Limited, S&R Mechanical, GPS to Go, Clarmo & Winter Trucking, PCL, Climate Works, Thomas Cavanagh Construction, Green Tech Ag & Turf, Thunderbolt Contracting Ltd., and Goldie Mohr Ltd.