Even though she can’t compete on Fight Night, Erica Tennenbaum is a true Champion for Charity
By Jeff Hicks
CAMBRIDGE —
The stick was too sharp.
So Erica Tennenbaum, a gung-ho golfer on a leisurely stroll along the Grand River shores of Galt Country Club, decided to break the pointy end off before flinging the broken branch for her beloved labradoodle, Miss Charlie.
Only one problem.
Miss Charlie, green eyes fixated, was already charging toward the stick in Tennenbaum’s hand. Unsuspecting owner and stick-obsessed dog collided hard.
“Miss Charlie gave me the black eye a day before we starting training,” said Tennenbaum, a portfolio manager for RBC Dominion Securities for three decades and one of Mandy Bujold’s Champions for Charity raising funds for McMaster Children’s Hospital Foundation in Hamilton.
“Charlie definitely made me look the part — showing up for the first day of training with a beautiful shiner. She prepared me for my boxing journey.”
Unfortunately, It’s a journey that won’t be completed in the ring at Tapestry Hall on April 12h.
A blood clot was sapping the strength from the jab of this Crouching Tiger Woods.
Once the upper-arm ailment was discovered, it was a slip-and-duck deal-breaker.
Doctor approval for her ring debut in The Brawl at Tapestry Hall could not be granted.
No brawl. No bout. No clout. Just a clot. And, of course, medication.
“It’s a tough pill to swallow — pun intended,” Tennenbaum said.
Maybe Tennenbaum will be a ringside spectator on Fight Night.
But she’s still a true Champion for Charity. Her professional life is all about putting up good numbers. Her fundraising tally is impressive too.
Tennenbaum has raised $8,450 for McMaster and helped the Vegas-style event, which features community members making their fundraising boxing debut, collect over $300,000 for the children’s hospital.
“It’s definitely a disappointment when you can’t finish it. Although the entire experience — your team, the coaches, everyone’s hard work and training — has been absolutely unforgettable.”
Still, this just isn’t fair.
A dozen weeks of intense training with no pugilistic payoff.
Before that, she barely broke a sweat on a three-day, 42-km trek in Torres Del Payne national park in Chile. OK, maybe a little sweat in South America.
She’d run marathons in Belgium, Berlin and Hawaii too.
She was so ready for this win-win event, a knockout combination of hands-up heart and chin-down charity.
Tennenbaum, past-president of the Rotary Club of Cambridge Preston-Hespeler and a Rotarian for nearly 30 years, really believes in putting in the work and giving back.
She has won the Keith Taylor Ward for excellence in community contribution. She’ll be there on Fight Night cheering on her Red Team fill-in and fighters as they take on the Blue Team boxers.
She had signed up to box. Apologetic and always-smiling Erica. Kind and empathetic. Her colleagues, and everyone who knows her, couldn’t believe it.
“All my friends and family thought I was bananas,” she said.
“No one wants to see me get punched.”
But Tennenbaum has long been a hard-hitter when it comes to community and philanthropy.
She was integral in the Best Bites program that saw Rotary raise $75,000 a year for Cambridge Memorial Hospital for two decades. She went to Tanzania to help build a school where kids were taught to speak the official language of Swahili.
Raising money for McMaster as a Champion for Charity is another knockout achievement.
“I have a few friends whose kids have used the service in Mac,” she said.
“They’ve been cared for so well. The nurses and staff there are so kind. The toys and engagement the kids get is amazing.”
If only Tennenbaum could box in Cambridge on April 12th. Then, the win-win experience of personal growth and helping McMaster would be complete.
But 98-per cent of the Champions for Charity adventure is accomplished.
Tennenbaum is upbeat and grateful.
“I’ve enjoyed the journey so much,” she said.
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