On July 16, 2012 The two organizations signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in which TOTA names the BC Hospitality Foundation as its main charitable beneficiary and pledges to provide major promotion about the Foundation’s charitable and fundraising initiatives to the 6,000 stakeholders involved in the Thompson Okanagan’s tourism industry. BCHF Chair Bing Smith and TOTA Chair Ingrid Jarrett signed the MOU in Coquitlam at the Foundation’s annual golf tournament.
TOTA President & CEO Glenn Mandziuk says, “The MOU represents an exciting and significant step for the Thompson Okanagan’s tourism industry. We are delighted to partner with the BCFH to promote awareness and foster development of its important work. We have a common interest with the Foundation to support and help the people in our industry who provide such wonderful hospitality to visitors from around the world, and we are proud to have selected BCHF as our primary charitable cause. We will work actively to promote awareness about the Foundation to everyone in our region.”
BCHF Chair Bing Smith states, “We are delighted to form this new partnership with TOTA. Building relationships with other organizations that share our concern for the well being of hospitality industry members is an important part of our mission of ‘working together to help our own’.”
Mandziuk notes that publicity for the BCHF will be included on TOTA’s website, in its many print materials, and in its online Thompson Okanagan Tourism News Centre. He says the MOU also gives TOTA membership on the BCHF’s Thompson Okanagan Advisory Committee, which develops awareness in the region about BCHF’s fundraising initiatives and ensures that hospitality industry employees in the Thomson Okanagan are considered for the Foundation’s assistance for extraordinary costs as the result of injury or illness.
The MOU directs that a new TOTA Scholarship will be presented by the BCHF to a student during TOTA’s annual Thompson Okanagan Tourism Industry Summit. TOTA will also become a ‘Big Spender’ sponsor of the Foundation’s annual ‘Tip Out To Help’ fundraising program, which encourages tourism and hospitality workers across the province to contribute to a ‘virtual tip jar’ – an October initiative that raised nearly $120,000 in its first year, 2011.