One million dollar : A symbolic milestone for the Christian Vachon Foundation
PERSEVERANCE. When Christian Vachon raced around Lake Memphremagog for the first time in 2006 – solo – he was delighted to have raised $10,000 for underprivileged children. Less than ten years later and with a foundation that now bears his name, more than a million dollars have been raised and come to the aid of schoolchildren throughout the Eastern Townships.
The school season will be easier for hundreds of children thanks to the work of Christian Vachon and the Foundation that bears his name.
Over the years, Christian Vachon's historic race has been transformed into a relay event that annually brings together more than 200 teams, with the backdrop of school perseverance and financial assistance for young people in need.
The 9th edition of the Relais du lac Memphrémagog will take place on September 26 only, but it has already been sold out since the spring. “As we have been doing for a few years, we have limited the number of registrations to 200 teams and all the places have been filled in barely a month and a half,” rejoices the project manager of the Christian Vachon Foundation.
“We already knew that with $200,000, it would make us $1 million since our debut. When we tallied up all the money raised by the teams so far, we were down to $217,000 last week. I never thought we would reach such heights. It's beyond my expectations,” he says with emotion.
Increase in schools
In addition to raising significant sums year after year, the Christian Vachon Foundation continues to increase its influence. Since last year, we have gone from 50 to 57 schools, distributed among the Sommets, Hauts-Cantons and Eastern Townships school boards.
The financial assistance granted to young people includes, in particular, school supplies, extracurricular activities, clothing and lunches.
“Our offer is now available in all high schools. However, establishments remain free to join our aid program,” explains Christian Vachon.
The latter is also delighted to have improved the Foundation's sponsorship program, which now makes it possible to better target needs. “By going to our website (www.fondationchristianvachon.com), you can easily see where the demands are greatest. The donor can therefore choose to directly sponsor a young person from his neighborhood using his credit card,” explained the man who experienced learning difficulties during his youth.
“Our sponsorship system is even open to companies,” adds Mr. Vachon. At BMW Sherbrooke, for example, we will directly offer a Bronze sponsorship ($150) for each car sold between now and Christmas. The client will even have the option of upgrading their referral to Silver ($250) or Gold ($600). I invite other businesses to copy this initiative.
Soon a shop in his image
Alternating between his career as a paramedic, his (part-time) job as a firefighter and his job at the Foundation, Christian Vachon will soon be wearing another hat, that of a businessman.
The 38-year-old Magogois will soon open his own sports shop at the new Carrefour Santé Globale, in partnership with Gilles Bélanger and Frédéric Côté.
The official opening is scheduled for September 24. “The store will be called “Vivre à fond” because it represents me well and it also represents the clientele I want to reach,” he suggests.
“We will be particularly specialized in running, triathlon, ski mountaineering and yoga. I have the development of the region at heart and I want to be complementary to the other businesses that already exist,” he took care to specify.
Involved in various running competitions for nearly a quarter of a century, Christian Vachon had been thinking about slowing down for a while, especially after completing a second solo lap of the lake in 2014. “Even if I will compete less, I want to stay in touch with this environment which is my real passion. I hope to still be there for the next 25 years,” he said.