Saturday, September 18th Drive-By Construction Parade for CHEO Kids
OCA is partnering with NCHCA for a drive-by construction parade at the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) on Saturday, September 18, 2021 starting at 10 a.m.

The drive-by parade is being organized in conjunction with a $150,000 fundraising drive titled "CONSTRUCTION COMMUNITY CARES" in support of the CHEO Foundation. It is not a requirement to donate funds to participate in the parade.

OCA and NCHCA are calling on our members to join in and donate their time and feature construction vehicles and equipment in the parade.

We look forward to bringing smiles to the faces of children and their families in support of palliative care at CHEO and the Roger Neilson House.

A predetermined parade route off Smyth Road onto Ring Road is planned to make it easy for equipment to drive through and for families to watch from the windows of the hospital, Rotel, Ronald McDonald House, and Roger Neilson House, and from the sidewalks along Ring Road.

The goal is to bring together as many different pieces and sizes of equipment, vehicles, trucks in the parade. The sky is the limit as to variety as illustrated below (there is a maximum height restriction of 30 feet) and to what you can arrange for a drive-by.

To join the parade please email Kathryn Sutherland of the NCHCA at ksutherland@nchca.ca as she is the central organizer of the parade.
$150,000 Fund Raising Challenge for CHEO
To make a donation and help us to meet our goal of $150,000 - Click HERE to go to the Construction Community Cares fundraising site.

We encourage you, your colleagues and your company to make a donation of any amount and help us to show that the Construction Community Cares!

Already $70,000 has been committed and all donations will be profiled in future OCA and NCHCA communications.

REASONS TO DONATE TO CHEO & RODGER NEILSON HOUSE

Click HERE to read a backgrounder which highlights the current fundraising needs of Roger Neilson House.

2 Heart touching videos profiling the Otto and Guilhuis family experience at Rodger Neilson House.
  • Click HERE to watch the video tribute to Maddy Otto.
  • Click HERE to watch the video tribute to Sara Guilhuis.

We thank you in advance for your generosity!
A Look Back to 2006 and Construction Industry leadership in making Rodger's House a reality
Many readers will know that the history of building Rodger's House as there was a tremendous charitable commitment of labour, materials and money from around a hundred OCA member firms. The effort was led by former OCA Chair Roly Hein, CEO of RE Hein Construction who charmed and cajoled firms to help out to the tune of $2 million dollars. Roly unfortunately passed away too young at age 67 in 2013.

OCA featured an article on the 2006 opening of Rodger's House. The article identifies the construction team which included Chad Shella, Victor Deveau, Johannes Ziebarth, Glen Morley, Eugene Melnyk, Ken Hoppner Roly Hein, Richard Gratton as well as the hundreds of firms who made a contribution.
To download the article CLICK HERE.