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Saskatchewan Roughriders

Riders Unveil New Community Brand and Release Fiscal Year Community Impact

April 28, 2015 - Canadian Football League (CFL)
Saskatchewan Roughriders News Release


The Saskatchewan Roughrider Football Club today has launched a new community theme, "Pass It On," which aims to redefine and elevate the impact that Roughriders community initiatives have in Saskatchewan. "Pass It On" will be represented across all of the community programs and partner organizations that the Roughriders are involved with. In 2014-15, the commitment provided by the Rider organization had a direct financial impact to not-for-profit and various charitable organizations of $1.1-million.

"The work we do in communities across this province is one of the most important things we do as an organization," said Saskatchewan Roughriders Vice President of Business Development and Marketing, Gregg Sauter. "Giving back is at the core of our culture and our values as a football club. We could not be prouder of the incredible partners we have at both the grassroots and corporate level that allow us to have such a positive impact on individuals and communities across the province."

"Our partnership with the Saskatchewan Roughriders is critical in our efforts to provide bullying prevention education to schools and communities across the province," said Cindy Fuchs, provincial director of the Canadian Red Cross in Saskatchewan. "Players like Scott McHenry, Dan Clark and Neal Hughes have reached over 50,000 students in the last five years."

"Partnering with the Saskatchewan Roughriders has helped making an amazing impact on women facing a life-threatening diagnosis of cancer," said Jonathan Huntington, Manager, Community Investment at Cameco.

"The partnership between the Saskatchewan Roughriders and Football Saskatchewan has enabled us to provide our members more opportunities to grow the sport of football across the entire province while enhancing the quality of the game for all those involved," said Director of Football Operations for Football Saskatchewan, Mike Thomas. "Through the Centennial Legacy and Grey Cup Legacy Grant Programs, amateur football in Saskatchewan is thriving thanks to the great efforts of our Saskatchewan Roughriders!"

The pillars of "Pass It On" community initiatives fall under three categories:

Health:

Bleed Green - a fantastic partnership with Canadian Blood Services to raise awareness on the need of giving blood. In 2014 Rider fans donated 1,611 units of blood, 124% of the yearly pledge.

Cameco Touchdown for Dreams - The Riders CFL pink initiative grants dreams to Saskatchewan women with a life-threatening diagnosis of cancer. With the help of Cameco and the Saskatchewan Cancer Agency, Cameco Touchdown for Dreams has granted more than 15 wishes in the last three years.

Children's Hospital Foundation of Saskatchewan - The club supports the CHFS through a partnership with Federated Co-op's "Game Day Approved" branded merchandise where a portion of profits are donated to the CHFS. $526-thousand has been donated since the program began in 2010. The Riders also partnered with the Craven Country Jamboree to raise $10-thousand for the CHFS.

Education:

Imagine No Bullying - Saskatchewan Roughrider players tour the province delivering the Canadian Red Cross' "Beyond the Hurt" anti-bullying presentations to schools. In 2015, Dan Clark, Scott McHenry and Neal Hughes visited thousands of students at 48 Saskatchewan schools travelling over 8500kms.

Rider Reading Month - Rider Reading Month is a new initiative that encourages students to dedicate at least 15 minutes per day to developing and improving their reading skills and earn a chance to have Rider players visit their classroom. 648 classes and over 14-thousand students participated in Rider Reading Month.

Amateur Sport:

Centennial Legacy Fund - Following the 2010 Saskatchewan Roughrider Centennial celebrations, the Club established a legacy fund to help support amateur football throughout the province. The $650-thousand profit from the Club's Centennial initiatives has been allocated to the Saskatchewan Roughrider Centennial Legacy Fund. Over the four years of the program, there have been 50 grants totalling $606-thousand to help support $2.4-million in capital improvement projects.

Grey Cup Legacy - The semi-temporary seats, boxes and structures in the north and south end zones of Mosaic Stadium will be made available for sport, culture or community organizations that have a use for them. The Saskatchewan Roughriders will dismantle and donate the seats, frames and structure to awarded organizations. The prospective organization is then responsible for the transport and reconstruction of the project. The donations will be announced during the 2015 season.

Regina Rams 50/50 - The Roughriders continue their ongoing support of amateur football in Saskatchewan through the University of Regina Rams 50/50 draw. Through this program, hundreds of thousands of dollars has been raised in support of the; University of Regina Rams, University of Saskatchewan Huskies, Regina Thunder, Saskatoon Hilltops, Football Saskatchewan, Saskatoon Valkyries, Regina Riot and the Centennial Legacy Fund.

KidSport - This long-standing partnership has raised over $one-million for KidSport to help provide support to children in order to remove financial barriers that prevent them from playing organized sport.

Along with these major programs, the Saskatchewan Roughriders provide support to hundreds of other charities and causes through donations and appearance requests. In 2014-15, players made 410 appearances across the province. Our players traveled a combined total of 67,500 kilometres and spent 1,413 hours getting to know our fans in over 50 communities throughout Saskatchewan.

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The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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