groundupfoundation

A World of Difference: Celebrating Our Volunteers During National Volunteer Week

Fri, 02 May 2025 17:42:10 GMT

An Appreciation Post For Our Volunteers

At Ground-Up Foundation, our mission is built on the power of people. This National Volunteer Week , we want to take a moment to thank every single person who has given their time, energy, and heart to help us bring clean water and hope to communities in need.

Whether you’ve served on our board , supported our fundraising events , or been on the ground installing water tanks —you are the heartbeat of our organization. To our board members , thank you for your leadership, your guidance, and for showing up month after month with unwavering dedication and vision. To our on-the-ground volunteers , thank you for rolling up your sleeves—literally—to help install water solutions, organize fundraisers, and bring our mission to life in real time. To the businesses and community groups who’ve donated time, resources, and energy—your support has multiplied our impact in ways we could never have imagined.

Why Volunteering Matters

Volunteering doesn’t just make an impact locally—it makes waves around the world. When someone chooses to give their time to Ground-Up, they’re not only helping us provide access to clean water, they’re helping to improve health, support education, and restore dignity to communities who have gone too long without the basics.

Every tank installed is a ripple effect of compassion.
Every dollar raised is a signal of hope.
Every hour volunteered is a testament to what we can do when we come together.

Thank You for Building from the Ground Up

The impact we’ve made—together—is nothing short of remarkable. But there is still more to do, and we know we’ll continue to rise to the challenge because of people like you.

To every single volunteer who has stood beside us: thank you . You are not just helping Ground-Up—you are changing lives.

If you’ve ever wondered whether your time makes a difference, let us be clear: it absolutely does .

Here’s to you, the volunteers. Not just this week—but every week.

National Volunteer Week

Thu, 13 Mar 2025 14:37:25 GMT

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:

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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.

World Water Day Media Coverage

Thu, 13 Mar 2025 14:29:28 GMT

Recognizing World Water Day

On March 22nd, Kam and Shaylene were interviewed by Global News Edmonton, CTV News Edmonton, and CBC Radio.

They talked about the importance of access to water around the world and were grateful to be featured on each of these platforms for World Water Day.

If you didn’t have a chance to see the interviews, you can view them here.

Global News Edmonton

CTV News Edmonton

Interview at 32:45

2024 Update

Thu, 13 Mar 2025 14:24:05 GMT

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

We have officially been certified as an NGO alongside our registered charity designation in Canada. This year, we have continued to maintain our output in installing 5 new tanks to schools in Morogoro, Tanzania.

As of February 2024, we have installed 26 tanks which have provided access to over 26,000 students and faculty in the Morogoro region of Tanzania.

Now that we are certified as an NGO, we look forward to continuing our growth as we move forward throughout the years.

As always, we would like to extend a massive thank you to our donors and supporters who make all of this possible. Without the generous support of those who believe in our cause, we would not have been able to make such an impact to this community.

With the sincerest gratitude, thank you.

We look forward to continuing to share our journey with you.

2023 Update

shaylene@bloomsocialco.net (Shaylene Flanagan) — Thu, 13 Mar 2025 14:12:50 GMT

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.

2022 Update

Thu, 13 Mar 2025 14:08:45 GMT

Another successful year!

The last couple of years have been a whirlwind for our team, and while the world closed down and came to a halt, we did our best to continue our efforts.

in 2021, we held a fundraiser so we could continue to expand our water tank installation and maintenance in Tanzanian schools and orphanages. From friends, family, and other private donors, we raised enough money to install 5 more tanks!

As of February 2022, we have 14 operational tanks, which provide water to over 9,000 students!

We also recognized that we needed some on-the-ground help, so we hired two local employees to look after the day-to-day tasks in Africa.

These employees help us to maintain the tanks, to ensure they’re always in good working order, and to manage any repairs that need to be completed. They also help us to find new schools and orphanages that could benefit from having a water tank installed.

We are so grateful to have them as part of the team and we are confident we could not continue to do this work without their excellent and appreciated help.

We would also like to take this opportunity to thank our generous donors for their continued support. Each donation launches us one step further in the right direction.

We can’t wait to see what the rest of this year brings and to continue providing water to those who need it.

Riyaz Haji - How it all Started

Thu, 13 Mar 2025 14:05:19 GMT

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.

There are a few key players working together to make this magic happen, but perhaps the most important person is Riyaz Haji. Riyaz is one of our founding partners, Kam Haji’s, father. Riyaz lived in Tanzania for 40 years; it’s the place he calls home, and even after moving to Canada with his family, he travels back for a few months every year.

Riyaz is very well versed in Tanzanian business matters; he has run a variety of businesses including a garage, a transportation business, and rice mills. If it weren’t for his help or his local connections, we wouldn’t be able to continue the work we are doing.

So, how did this all come about?

in 2018, Kam and Riyaz were on a flight to Dubai discussing ways they’d like to give back to their community and Riyaz suggested water. From there, the idea took off and turned into our beloved foundation, Ground-Up. While most of us are in Canada full time, Riyaz dedicated his trips to Tanzania to sourcing out contractors, looking for schools to donate to, and maintaining working relationships with the locals.

We’re so grateful for all of the time and effort Riyaz has put into Ground-Up; he’s such an important part of our mission and he’s made all of our progress possible!

Thank you!

2020 Impact

Thu, 13 Mar 2025 14:03:28 GMT

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

In October of 2019, we hosted our first annual fundraiser and we couldn’t have been happier with the results! We raised over $8000.00 and, with that, we were able to install FIVE tanks!

We’re so thankful to all of our donors, we absolutely could not have made such a difference without each and every one of them!

As you might already know, one of our founding partners, Kam Haji, has been working very closely with his dad, Riyaz (pictured above), to get everything in place in Tanzania. Riyaz has played such an integral role in our foundation from the beginning; he’s sourced out all of our contractors, met with and decided on which schools to donate to, and he keeps a close eye on production to ensure everything is running smoothly. Read more about this awesome guy here.

Riyaz decided on which schools to donate to in late 2019, and production began in February of 2020. Over the years, we’ve worked to develop and maintain strong relationships with local businesses in Tanzania. Our trusted team of contractors had all five tanks installed and working quickly and efficiently - they even had some additional helping hands!

We were very excited to introduce our first volunteers to the Ground-Up Foundation this year! Kaitlyn and Colton had both taken time off work to travel around the world and one of their stops was Tanzania! They stopped in Morogoro to help build the tanks and they were able to meet the students and staff! Check out their travel vlog by clicking the video.

Thank you so much for donating your time and efforts to our cause! We were so excited to have extra hands on deck!

And last, but certainly not least, we’re so excited to have finally hired an on-the-ground employee ! Our new team member, Hamisi, will be checking on our schools to ensure the tanks are running properly, he’ll be building new relationships and scoping out new opportunities, and he will be providing us with progress reports throughout the year! We’re so excited to have a trusted contact in Tanzania who is able to keep our team in Canada up to date!

This past year has been such an amazing period of growth and opportunity. Because of all of our partners, our donors, our volunteers, contractors, and every team member, we’ve been able to provide water to over 6,400 students. And we’ve just scratched the surface.

As we make our way through this year, we will be planning another fundraiser, seeking new opportunities, and looking into ways we can expand our impact even further.

If you’d like to be a part of our team, to volunteer your time, or to make a donation, please reach out! We’d love to hear from you.

Do the Things you Think you Cannot Do

Fri, 28 Feb 2025 20:30:51 GMT

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.

The Second & Third Tanks

Fri, 28 Feb 2025 20:26:40 GMT

To get a full understanding of Ground-Up, it’s important for us to start this blog post where the first one left off.

As you might recall, when Kam returned to Canada from Morogoro in 2018, he called a meeting with the Ground-Up team, asking what could become of this initiative. We were all in agreement that this had the potential to be so much more than just one act of kindness, but rather, it could be something that enriched the lives of these young students as they grow into adults, and then into parents, and then as they send their own children into school.

As the year progressed, some of the Ground-Up team agreed to visit Tanzania again in February, 2019. They had the mission to install two additional water tanks in two other schools. With resources in place, we worked with our contractors in Tanzania to get started on the second and third water tanks.

With some valuable lessons from the first tank in place, we approached these next two tanks with a revised plan. The river the first tank was drawing from dried up, so we had our team dig a well for the tank to pull from to prevent this issue from happening again.

Lessons in mind, these next two tanks pulled water directly from the pipes in the ground. The tanks are able to act as water reserves for the students to access when their otherwise rationed water is cut off.

This trip was so impactful for our team, as we were provided the opportunity to meet with and to speak to the students and staff impacted by these efforts.

As we returned, we were more inspired than ever. The whole team has plans to head back to Tanzania in 2020 to install four more tanks and to look at ways to expand our charity in a meaningful way.

We look forward to what the future will bring for Ground-Up and for these students.

The First Tank

Fri, 28 Feb 2025 20:25:28 GMT

““There are those who enter the world in such poverty that they are deprived of both the means and the motivation to improve their lot. Unless they can be touched with the spark which ignites the spirit of individual enterprise and determination, they will only sink into apathy, degradation, and despair. It is for us, who are more fortunate, to provide that spark.”” — His Highness, Aga Khan

In February 2018, one of our founding members, Kam Haji , made his annual trip to Tanzania with a specific purpose in mind. With the help of our partners, The Benefits Advisory Group, Kam was able to donate a 3000 Litre water tank along with various stationary supplies to a local school.

Kam has a strong connection to Tanzania, as this is where he was born and lived for the first part of his life. He travels back once a year and felt it was important to do something impactful and long lasting for local students, some of whom are required to travel more than 4 hours each way to and from school.

Kam chose a school that is located in the mountains of Tanzania; far-removed from the centre of the town, this school has limited access the resources, such as water and transportation.

There are certain things in life that we can take for granted in Canada, one of those things being the simple access to ample amounts of water. While Tanzania does have a water supply, it is rationed by the government, so when they run out, the students and staff are left with nothing to drink during the long hot days of travel and study.

The 3000L tank that The Benefits Advisory Group was able to donate acts as a reserve that can be accessed when the town is cut off from the water supply. Rather than having to withstand long days of learning and travel without access to clean drinking water, the students and staff now have a lasting supply they can rely on when necessary.

As you can imagine, limited access to water makes it all the more difficult for young students to make the journey to and from school each day. To ensure sustainability for the school and for the students and staff, The Benefits Advisory Group donated a 3000L water tank.

In addition to the water tank, The Benefits Advisory Group was also able to donate various stationery supplies and some additional food and drink items for the students.

We applaud the efforts of Kam, The Benefits Advisory Group , and all others who were a part of this project. Bringing water to this school will help these young students to prosper, to learn, and to be successful in all the ways they dream.

From all of us at Gold Key Benefits , thank you for setting this humbling example and for leading our team towards greatness.