TORONTO – Toronto entrepreneur Evan Carmichael is laying down a challenge for local businesses to raise $1 million to support the displaced families in Alberta. The owner of Toronto Dance Salsa, Carmichael recently hosted a fundraising dance-a-thon that raised $1,000. But he’s hoping to have a much greater impact.
“Ontario has almost one million businesses,” says Carmichael. “If just another 499 of them raised $1,000 each we’d be at $1 million because the federal government is matching all proceeds. This is our chance to have an impact and help our fellow Canadians at a time when they desperately need it.”
Asked why he’s issuing the challenge Carmichael responded, “We’re not a big company. We’re just a local salsa school that is trying to make people’s lives happier through dance. But just because we’re small, it doesn’t mean we can’t have an impact. If we as small businesses got together we could make a meaningful difference in the lives of many people.”
“Entrepreneurs know how hard it is to run a business and just stay afloat,” he continued. “Now imagine that everything you worked so hard to build gets swept away by a wildfire. And you didn’t just lose your business. You lost your house. You lost all your possessions. You lost irreplaceable memories. I used to get upset if I didn’t save a file and my computer rebooted. This really puts things in perspective how fortunate we are… and we should all do our part to help those who could use a hand up.”
“The deadline for the government to match donations is May 31st and there is no financial cap on the federal government’s contribution. We still have time to make this happen,” concluded Carmichael.
About Toronto Dance Salsa
Toronto Dance Salsa is Canada’s largest salsa dance school. It specializes in turning absolute beginners into dancers. It introduces students to the fundamentals of salsa, bachata, merengue, kizomba, and tango, and also offers workout classes like Zumba. Its new semester of classes is beginning now.
