Montréal, 04 December 2014 - Thanks to a fundraising drive last spring by hundreds of firefighters across the Island and administrative employees of the Service de sécurité incendie de Montréal (SIM), thousands of elementary school students will be able to enjoy sports equipment donated to their schools.

All in all, 43 boxes full of balls, ball-hockey equipment, yoga material, frisbees and lots of other sporting goods will be delivered to the sponsored schools, with the goal of encouraging students to be more physically active. Each box contains $1500 of sports equipment, which should brighten the eyes of lots of youngsters in Greater Montréal.

In May of this year, the SIM announced that it would be joining forces with the Grand défi Pierre Lavoie (GDPL), a first for the organization. This partnership would allow the GDPL to reach more Montréal youths, since SIM employees would sponsor schools and encourage them to engage in more sports as a way of earning energy cubes.

For SIM management, this first year of involvement with elementary schools in the Montréal agglomeration was a real success. “Our firefighters have every reason to be proud! Not only did they manage to raise all this money, but they visited the schools to make connections with neighbourhood youths. I also congratulate the employees of all the SIM units who helped out with this project,” says Director François Massé.

The SIM thanks its valued partners who made this project possible and contributed to its success right from the start: the Association des Pompiers de Montréal and the Centre de services financiers des pompiers, Caisse du Réseau municipal.