The year 2020-21 was certainly the most challenging and uncertain year Leucan has ever experienced since its inception, but also one of the most stimulating ones, marked by many accomplishments.
Our dedicated and creative teams—in philanthropic development, family services, communications, or administration—spared no efforts to complete their projects successfully, even through uncertainties and obstacles they had never faced before.
Hosting Leucan’s fundraising activities virtually
When the province went into lockdown, we had to pivot quickly in order to organize and host our activities virtually and enable the Association to continue to provide its services to member families.
Our flagship fundraising campaign, the Leucan Shaved Head Challenge, was the first to go fully virtual. Under the theme “Confined,connected and united for children with cancer”, an impressive number of Quebecers took on the Challenge from the comfort of home. Paired with the new sub-initiative Les Audacieuses, our re-imagined Challenge helped to raise more than $3.7 million for the cause, an increase of $500,000 over the last year.
Leucan also innovated by launching virtual money boxes for the Halloween campaign and by revamping theLeucan Ski Challenge in order to maintain both campaigns in spite of COVID-19.
The past year also saw brand-new initiatives such as Noël Gourmand Leucan, a new activity to replace the many culinary challenges typically held by the Association.
Family services offer adjustments
To comply with public health measures, Leucan also had to adjust its service offer while maintaining support to families. We hosted a number of virtual activities to break families out of their isolation. Psychological support was mostly provided by phone by Leucan’s advisers.
While the lockdown was hard on most people, it was even more difficult for families going through one of the toughest ordeals of their lives. The team of Leucan strove to respond to every request and fulfil the Association’s mandate of supporting families of cancer-stricken children.
Strangely, in spite of the lockdown and distance, the team of Leucan has never felt closer. Many a phone call were replaced by videoconferences, which enabled teams from different regions across Quebec to get to know each other better.
Restructuring of Leucan’s teams for greater cooperation
The year 2021 ended with the restructuring of our teams into three segments to foster greater cooperation between employees.
As this singular year comes to an end, Leucan takes stock of the positive impact of the changes imposed by the pandemic; changes that led the Association to review its practises and go above and beyond. It is thus with great enthusiasm and serenity that Leucan enters the next year, likelier to be easier than the last.
