The PPCLI Foundation has had a relatively short, but highly successful, existence since its formation in 2010. In four years of operation since receiving our charitable status in 2011 we have raised in excess of $2 million in cash and in-kind. These funds have been judiciously applied to several worthwhile causes.
In setting its priorities the Foundation is guided by a very active membership led by a group of trustees who together have almost accumulated almost three hundred years of service with the Regiment. Our Patron, the Right Honorable Adrienne Clarkson, our Colonel in Chief takes an active interest in our activities as do our Vice Patrons, the Honorary Colonels of the Army, PPCLI and Loyal Edmonton Regiment, as well as the Lieutenant Governors of our four western provinces.
Our trustees are all active supporters of the Foundation both financially and with their time. We rely almost exclusively on the voluntary work of our members to raise funds and deliver services. In our initial period, between 2011 and 2014 the PPCLI Foundation raised in excess for $1.8 million nearly $1.5 million in cash and more than $300,000 in-kind) in support of youth education, in support of soldiers, veterans and their families and to enable events and activities in commemoration of 100 years of service by Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry (PPCLI).
These funds were used to:
- Assist with publication of the Centennial book The Patricias: A Century of Service by Dr. David J. Bercuson
- Conduct Forging a Nation: Canada Goes to War, the Centennial Art Exhibition at the Founder’s Gallery at The Military Museums, Calgary and at Enterprise Square Galleries at the University of Alberta, Edmonton
- Contribute to the Amputee Coalition of Canada to assist programs for military amputees and their families.
- “The continued financial contribution of the PPCLI Foundation to the Amputee Coalition of Canada (ACC) supports funding of Canadian amputee research through our Canadian Amputee Research Awards. The generous support of the PPCLI Foundation also directly supports the Canada amputee population through our coast-to-coast network of Peer Visitors and supports those with limb loss learning valuable new skills through our Promoting Amputee Life Skills (PALS) program.” Marc Tomlinson, President Amputee Coalition of Canada
- Enable several events as a part of the Edmonton Commemoration of the 100th Anniversary, 7-10 August 2014, including a public Centennial Parade and the dedication of Patricia Park
- Create an endowment based on a gift by the Loewen and Perret families in memory of family members who served in the First and Second World Wars
- Support the construction and dedication of Patricia Park in Griesbach Village, Edmonton with its memorial and wall of honour
- Purchase of markers placed on the Italian island of Sicily to mark the 70th Anniversary of Operation Husky and to mark locations where 30 members of PPCLI died in action in the Second World War.
- Contribute to obtaining the Memorial (often referred to as a Silver) Cross originally presented to the mother of Sergeant Robert Spall, a First World War Patricia and Victoria Cross winner.
- Support the Memorial Baton Relay run by soldiers from 2nd Battalion through 23 communities across Canada from Edmonton to Ottawa between 10-18 September 2014. The Baton contained the names of 1,866 Patricias who have paid the ultimate sacrifice in Canada’s wars.
- Enable several events as a part of the Ottawa Commemoration of the 100th Anniversary, 18-21 September 2014, including the dedication of the refurbished monument at Lansdowne Park, a public joint Centennial Parade on Parliament Hill with the Royal 22nd Regiment, and the exercise of the Freedom of the City of Ottawa.
- In May 2015, conduct the Frezenberg Commemoration Youth Education Program: the participation of 11 youth and two supervisors in the commemoration of the 100th Anniversary of the Battle of Frezenberg and its associated tour of battlefields in Flanders and France.
Today, our Sustaining the Legacy Campaign is a call to action to sustain that level of support and continue the legacy of of service to Canada. For more than a century, soldiers of Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry (PPCLI) have served Canada and Canadians with distinction. Building on this service the PPCLI Foundation is establishing a Centennial Legacy Fund that can sustain our two main priorities at an annual cost of $300,000.