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Everlast donates $75K to Habitat for Humanity

Donation will be used to help complete future builds.
Habitat Cheque
Everlast president Mike Bruno (left) presents a cheque to Lana Vukelic, Habitat for Humanity CEO, on Thursday, Dec. 12, 2019. (Leith Dunick, tbnewswatch.com)

THUNDER BAY – What better way to welcome Habitat for Humanity Thunder Bay’s new chief executive officer back to the city than with a $75,000 cheque?

It’s a great way to start her new role, Lana Vukelic said on Thursday, accepting the donation from Everlast, a window and door company that in October 2018 set up a distribution centre in Thunder Bay, expanding on the Etobicoke, Ont. roots.

“Everlast is just an amazing company,” Vukelic said. “They’ve generously donated so much, including many windows and more recently, on a build we’re working on, on Leith Street.

“It is a duplex and a two-family home and these folks have given us all the windows. What a great partnership. We’re thrilled and we’re very, very thankful.”

Mike Bruno, president of Everlast, said he saw how much of an impact his company could have during the groundbreaking for that house earlier this year, when he donated laptop computers to the children who were going to live in the new home.

“We made it our mandate coming into Thunder Bay, coming in from Toronto, that we were going to be involved in the community. When we went to do the dig and were able to give kids stuff that a lot of us take for granted, the response that I had was probably one of the most fulfilling days of my life,” Bruno said.

“From that point on, we made it our mandate to contribute a percentage of our sales to Habitat for Humanity throughout the year.”
Bruno said even he was shocked at how much they’d be giving.

“When I got the call last week, telling me the numbers that came in, I had no idea what we’d done. This wasn’t about hitting a certain target, this was just about ensuring we were giving back to the community, as well as giving back to Habitat,” Bruno said, adding they’ve also sponsored other organizations, including minor baseball.

Habitat for Humanity builds homes for low-income families, offering them a low-interest mortgage they can afford.



Leith Dunick

About the Author: Leith Dunick

A proud Nova Scotian who has called Thunder Bay home since 2002, Leith is Dougall Media's director of news, but still likes to tell your stories too. Wants his Expos back and to see Neil Young at least one more time. Twitter: @LeithDunick
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