The two key charities we support are:

GoodLife Kids Foundation

Canadians are raising a generation of overweight and obese children. The average child today will have a lower life expectancy than their parents because of poor health habits. GoodLife Kids Foundation is helping kids change these habits before it is too late. 

Over the next year we will reach more Canadian kids than ever before through the following initiatives:

• A kid-friendly health website, with resources for teachers and parents
• A Canada-wide bilingual health promotion initiative
• The Get IN2IT™ Challenge which will give kids a fun way to succeed as they add more activity and healthier eating to their lifestyle (late fall 2007)
• Further promotion of the NE1 Can Collage Contest which was so popular that our long-term goal is to make it available to all schools across Canada

 

In May/June 2007 GoodLife Fitness members and associates raised over $78,000 for GoodLife Kids Foundation. Support like this and donations from individuals and corporate partners help us continue to develop and grow programs that will inspire kids right across Canada to want to be fit and healthy. THANK YOU!

For more information:
info@goodlifekids.com
www.goodlifekids.com

 

The Kilee Patchell-Evans Autism Research Group

The Kilee Patchell-Evans Autism Research Group is a multi-disciplinary team comprised of both clinical and basic science experts studying autism spectrum disorders. The initial formation of the group was made possible through a generous donation by David Patchell- Evans (President and CEO, GoodLife Fitness Clubs Inc.), and named in honour of his autistic child, Kilee. This commitment continues with his ongoing support now totalling $2.5 million. The group is primarily located in the Department of Psychology (Neuroscience) at The University of Western Ontario and holds strong collaborative alliances with other academic institutions in Canada and the United States. Working on the assertion that autism is treatable and ultimately, preventable, their goal is to find the basic processes underlying the cause. Their focus of study centres on the involvement of a number of environmental factors, particularly diet and the digestive system.

Leading Research

Under the leadership of director and principal investigator Dr. Derrick MacFabe, the Kilee Patchell-Evans Autism Research Group has published leading research concerning the possible role of gut bacterial metabolites in autism. The group discovered that when rodents were administered propionic acid, a compound produced by many species of digestive system bacteria, and also present in diet, they exhibited brain and behaviour changes similar to that found in persons with autism. The study attracted international attention through the biomedical journal, Behavioral Brain Research and was also named one of the "Top 50 Scientific Discoveries in Canada" in 2007 by the National Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).

Donate Online

As the group continues in their overall mission to understand the workings of the brain areas responsible for the symptoms of autism, they are eager to develop screening methods to identify infants who would be at risk for autism spectrum disorders and devise treatment strategies to prevent its occurrence or lessen its severity. Your support can help them in this ardent pursuit.

Please visit www.westernconnect.ca/patch to make a donation online.

Other charities we support:

GoodLife proudly supports community events in over 100 communities across Canada.