2026 Update

An Appreciation Post For Our Volunteers

One of our founders, Shaylene, was asked to write a feature about Ground-Up Foundation for National Volunteer Week that would be featured on e=mc² events website and social media channels. She wrote a summary of our story and how it ties into the theme of this year’s National Volunteer Week, “every moment matters.” Here is an excerpt of what she wrote: -------- This story actually begins with one of my partners, Kam Haji. Kam is from Tanzania and travels there on an annual basis. In 2018, he knew it was time for him to give back to his community and he worked alongside his dad to source and install a water tank at a local school. He quickly saw the impact this water tank had on the students, the faculty, and the surrounding community, and an opportunity to do even more. When he traveled back to Canada, he connected with Garet Stewart and me [Shaylene Flanagan] and presented the opportunity to partner up and see how we could grow the cause together. After an inspirational brainstorming session [over a few shared drinks and appies] we came up with the name Ground-Up Foundation. Ground-Up is rooted in “building better futures from the ground-up”. The name itself was inspired by the water sources we would rely on, which come from underground piping, but it was also about the bigger picture. We saw this cause as a chance to make a tangible difference in these communities and dreamt of all the different ways we could holistically impact these lives. By providing access to one of life’s most basic needs, we created a chance for students to more easily access education and we instilled a sense of pride in their community. This was about changing futures, and it started from the ground up. Recognizing that we needed one primary focus, we honed in on water and we continued to install tanks in the Morogoro region. We quickly claimed our name and incorporated the charity and we began engaging our friends and family. This led to the planning of our first fundraising event which took place less than one year after inception [fall 2019]. The first event was hosted at the same local pub we had our initial brainstorm in and we saw a flood of donations from friends, family, and generous strangers who were inspired by our cause. We have big dreams for the future and we can’t wait to see our organization grow as time goes on. This cause is humbling and incredible and consistently reminds me not to take anything in life for granted. The theme of this year’s volunteer week, “every moment matters” is a direct tie to our initiative. Ground-Up Foundation was born from the desire to give back and thrives on the inspiration to move forward. Throughout the last 6 years we have seen and created countless moments that matter; we have impacted 26,000 students that matter; and we have counted every drop that matters.

Recognizing World Water Day

2024 has been a year of challenges, growth, and excitement. 

This last year has been a huge success for us. As the world opened back up and people resumed life as normal, we hosted a hugely successful fundraiser that allowed us to install 7 new tanks this year. Our original plan was to install 6 tanks, but we had a special request from a school that was in great need of a water tank, putting our final number up to 21 tanks installed. Our on-the-ground team continued their work throughout the year to ensure the current water tanks were being maintained properly and they scouted out our new locations. Our team in Tanzania does a fantastic job of working with the schools and orphanages, sending steady updates to let us know if we need to make changes or improvements. As of February 2023, we have 21 operational tanks, which provide water to over 20,000 students. We are so grateful to our generous donors who make all of this possible. We thank you for your donations and support, without it, we would not be able to continue our cause and see the year-over-year growth that we have.  We look forward to continuing our efforts this year, we will be hosting another fundraiser as we head into the fall and our Tanzania team will continue to look for schools and orphanages to support in 2024.

Another successful year!

We’ve spent a lot of time talking about our progress over the years, but we don’t think we’ve spent enough time telling you how it all started.

This year has been such an exciting year for Ground-Up as we experienced some major growth and new experiences.

Have you ever been at a place in your life where you just don’t know what to do next?  I think we all have! But that’s the thing about this life — we’re faced with big decisions all the time. We deal with impeccable hardships that we must learn how to overcome, but we keep going. We find ways to deal with our problems, to solve them and to make our lives better. We’re on the road to greatness and nothing will get in our way. This is one of our favourite quotes and these words of encouragement apply to our cause in such a relevant way. Imagine being a small child between the ages of 6-10. You have to walk countless miles to school each day with less than ideal footwear in extremely trying weather. It’s so hot outside that with every step, you’re dreaming of jumping into a refreshing body of water, letting it cool you from the tips of your toes to the top of your head (it’s hard to relate if you live in Canada, especially this year, but you get where we’re going here). For the kids who inspired our cause, this is only a dream. They make that walk to and from school each day carrying heavy jugs of unsafe drinking water that must last them the walk to school, the entire day at school, and the long walk home. Not only are they without a lake to jump into at the end of the day, but the water in these jugs is unclean and has a very high risk of making them sick — but they still push through. This kind of resilience is admirable. So for now, we want you to imagine facing this uphill battle each day. We want you to think about the strength it takes to talk yourself into making this journey and apply it to your own struggles. If you’re in the middle of a hard decision, you’re not sure what to do next, you have no idea how you’re going to do it, think about these kids and let their fire fuel you. You’ve got this and so do they.