20 Champions for Charity get the call to box for McMaster Children’s Hospital Foundation
By Jeff Hicks
KITCHENER —
Anne Filiatrault had painted herself into a unfamiliar corner. The Blue Team corner.
“Oh, my gawd!” thought the 55-year-old landscape artist and illustrator as she read her email invitation to become of Mandy Bujold’s Champions for Charity boxers on April 4, 2025.
“Here we go.”
A morning fitness class at the Sydfit Health Centre in Kitchener had temporarily settled her nerves. But with her laptop open and phone unholstered, she hit the canvas like never before when the email news arrived.
Oil painting had given way to the sweet science.
She had made the coveted Champions for Charity cut.
Seventy One tried out. Twenty community professional and business leaders — split into the Blue Team and the Red Team — were called by email to The Brawl at Tapestry Hall.
Ten handpicked bouts — sanctioned by Boxing Ontario and safe under the guidance of former boxing champ Syd Vanderpool and national women’s champ Kaitlyn Clark — featuring boxing newcomers, all for charities helping kids.
The first two Champions for Charity events raised more than $500,000 for McMaster Children’s Hospital Foundation. The fundraising goal for the third is another $500,000 to bring the staggering three-event total to a million dollars.
But first, the boxers will endure three months of boxing training and fundraise with ferocity before dancing around the ring on April 4.
Painters and saucy chefs.
Chief executives and power plant designers.
Realtors and carpet moguls.
Financial planners and landscaping goalies.
Farm-tastic female entrepreneurs and magnificent mining mentors.
The main ballroom is already sold out for this action-packed charity spectacle.
Additional seats for the Black Tie Night of Vegas-style boxing and fine dining will be available online on January 15 at 10 a.m.
“I felt every emotion under the sun,” said Jaime Wilson, recalling when the 48-year-old Vice President of Philanthropy at St. Mary’s General Hospital got the email saying she was a Champion for Charity.”
“I was a little terrified. It’s the unknown. I’ve done some physical and mental challenges but I’ve never boxed in a ring with hundreds of people watching.”
Climbing Kilimanjaro is one thing. Ski-traversing to the magnetic North Pole is another.
But getting punched in the face in front of a crowd? That’s nasty.
Bujold, a two-time Olympic boxer, knows this well. Fear makes perfect sense.
“If you’re not nervous right now, there’s probably a problem,” said Bujold, an 11-time fly weight champ. “It’s good to have those feelings — and to trust that our team is going to teach you what you need to know.”
To be safe. To learn about yourself. To raise money to help kids and families in this community.
It’s all on the card for April 4.
“That’s the exciting part — to see what I’m made of,” Wilson said. “I really want to raise a lot of money. I’m really committed to making a difference.”
Kyle Jackson, a 42-year-old production planner for Thermon Canada, was excited to learn he would be a Champion for Charity. The father of three keeps in good shape, but has never boxed — until the Champions for Charity called.
“It’s such a great cause,” Jackson, who works for a global leader in the nuclear and industrial heating sector. “It was an added driver. I wanted to pursue it and take on the challenge.”
For 20 Champions for Charity, the challenge begins.
From brushwork to footwork, a work of community art is in the making.
“I feel good about it,” Filiatrault said.
www.champsforcharity.ca
