Latest / Coffee In The Park with Jennifer and Cam / A Coffee with Aariz Mawji, Founder & Director of the Ben Stelter School Fundraiser!

Transcript

A Coffee with Aariz Mawji, Founder & Director of the Ben Stelter School Fundraiser! · Coffee In The Park with Jennifer and Cam

• 0:00
  Hi, I'm Aariz Mawji and you're listening to Coffee In The Park with Jennifer and Cam.
• 0:19
  So, Halloween is coming up.
• 0:21
  On Friday.
• 0:21
  On Friday.
• 0:22
  Hard to believe.
• 0:23
  You know, are you dressing up and going trick or treating?
• 0:25
  Absolutely not, no.
• 0:27
  Are you, are you, do you, let me ask you this question.
• 0:30
  Do you turn your lights out and go for dinner and not give away candy?
• 0:33
  No, no, I do give away candy.
• 0:36
  It's just where we're situated.
• 0:38
  We usually don't have a lot of kids.
• 0:40
  Yeah, well, I turn my lights out.
• 0:43
  I know, you go for dinner.
• 0:44
  I know, we don't have any kids, so I just turn my lights out and go for dinner.
• 0:48
  Well, that's an interesting thing you're doing, though, because I saw a stat today on Halloween candy and it has gone up in price.
• 0:55
  Inflation has caused Halloween candy to go up by 20%.
• 0:59
  No, not 20%.
• 1:01
  20%, but the packaging is smaller.
• 1:07
  That's right.
• 1:07
  So people are buying more because they feel they need to hand out more because everything has gotten smaller.
• 1:12
  Okay, can I just say, true confession here, I bought a box of Cheezies the other day because I really like them, the Humpty and they're not a sponsor of ours, but the Humpty Cheezies, the Halloween ones and the bags are like, they're like...
• 1:24
  Full of air.
• 1:25
  Well, yeah, they're so little and there's like four Cheezies in there.
• 1:28
  That's why I'm not giving away Halloween candy.
• 1:30
  I don't want to be a cheapskate.
• 1:32
  Anyways, welcome everybody to another edition of Coffee In The Park with Jennifer and Cam.
• 1:37
  We are so excited that you've joined us today and Jennifer, today we're not coming to you live from the coffee shop.
• 1:45
  We are not, we are once again, Cam, on remote location at Wing Snob.
• 1:52
  That's right, we're at a beautiful Wing Snob in Rabbit Hill, which reminds us that Wing Snob, one of our sponsors, and hey, listen, if you've never been to a Wing Snob, you need to check it out.
• 2:01
  They are the best wings you are ever going to have.
• 2:04
  Sixteen sauces, four rubs, absolutely amazing wings.
• 2:09
  Fresh, never frozen.
• 2:11
  Fresh, never frozen.
• 2:12
  Over ten locations in Edmonton and area.
• 2:14
  And we highly encourage you, if you have not been to a Wing Snob, you need to go.
• 2:19
  I agree.
• 2:20
  Wing Snob is absolutely awesome.
• 2:21
  They're amazing.
• 2:22
  They got cornbread.
• 2:23
  They got parmesan fries.
• 2:24
  Actually just sitting here talking about it makes me very hungry.
• 2:27
  Cam, we'll order some wings after this episode.
• 2:29
  Okay, we'll order some wings and we'll have a great little feast afterwards.
• 2:32
  But hey, you got to check out Wing Snob at www.wingsnob.ca.
• 2:37
  And if the Oilers are playing tonight, if you're in Edmonton, are they playing tonight?
• 2:40
  Yes, they are.
• 2:41
  If the Oilers are playing tonight in Edmonton, then you can, I think they have an Oilers pack.
• 2:46
  On game days.
• 2:46
  On game days.
• 2:47
  Yes.
• 2:47
  Something like that.
• 2:48
  So yeah, check out Wing Snob.
• 2:50
  I'm telling you folks, best wings you ever had.
• 2:51
  And we also want to tell you about our other sponsors, Mprint.
• 2:56
  Mprint Sign and Print Solutions in Acheson.
• 2:58
  Cam, they are the preferred printer of Coffee In The Park podcast.
• 3:02
  That's right.
• 3:03
  And they are amazing.
• 3:04
  They will do everything from your business cards to brochures and pamphlets and booklets, right up to actually wrapping your vehicle.
• 3:12
  Say it again.
• 3:13
  Wrapping your vehicle.
• 3:15
  And what else?
• 3:16
  A helicopter.
• 3:17
  A helicopter.
• 3:18
  They wrapped that.
• 3:18
  We say that on every show.
• 3:20
  They wrapped a helicopter.
• 3:21
  You know what?
• 3:21
  We're just going to have to get a photo from Jan and post it up.
• 3:23
  I want to ride in the helicopter.
• 3:25
  That's all I want.
• 3:26
  Anyway, it's pretty cool.
• 3:27
  So listen, whatever your printing needs are, no matter how big or how small, Mprint in Acheson, Don and Jan, they are amazing people.
• 3:34
  Want to thank them for sponsoring us and they do such an amazing job.
• 3:38
  I'm very excited about our guest today.
• 3:42
  I am.
• 3:44
  Cam, you know what?
• 3:45
  They can say a lot about today's youth, but I'm telling you, our guest today, I think is going to inspire so many young or old.
• 3:55
  I agree.
• 3:56
  I'm really excited for that reason because this young man is absolutely amazing.
• 4:00
  So why don't you introduce him and let's get into it.
• 4:03
  Absolutely.
• 4:03
  Our guest today is Aariz Mawji.
• 4:07
  Did I say that correctly?
• 4:08
  Yeah, you did.
• 4:08
  I did, okay.
• 4:10
  Welcome, Aariz.
• 4:11
  Good to have you.
• 4:12
  Thanks for having me.
• 4:13
  Super excited.
• 4:14
  And you rolled down here on your scooter.
• 4:17
  On your electric scooter.
• 4:17
  Your electric scooter.
• 4:18
  That's correct.
• 4:19
  And sorry, we were talking earlier.
• 4:21
  How fast does this scooter go?
• 4:22
  32 kilometers an hour.
• 4:24
  32.
• 4:25
  Have you ever got stopped for like a speeding ticket or anything? No, not yet.
• 4:27
  Like, do you have to slow down in a school zone or anything like that? Not yet.
• 4:31
  That's pretty cool.
• 4:32
  And you rode all, you said it took you about 10 minutes on your electric scooter.
• 4:36
  Pretty cool.
• 4:38
  How old are you?
• 4:39
  I'm 15.
• 4:39
  15.
• 4:40
  15 years old, folks.
• 4:41
  Amazing.
• 4:42
  I know.
• 4:43
  And born in?
• 4:44
  Edmonton.
• 4:45
  Edmonton.
• 4:45
  So you're a homegrown boy.
• 4:47
  Pretty awesome.
• 4:48
  And that's pretty cool.
• 4:49
  And what high school are you going to?
• 4:51
  Because we'll talk about that in a minute.
• 4:52
  Lillian Osborne.
• 4:54
  Hey, Lillian Osborne.
• 4:56
  I don't think we've had any guests from Lillian Osborne.
• 4:58
  No, shout out to Lillian Osborne.
• 5:00
  What's your mascot?
• 5:01
  A mascot?
• 5:02
  Do you have a school mascot?
• 5:04
  No.
• 5:04
  No?
• 5:05
  Not that I know of.
• 5:08
  Oh, that's pretty cool.
• 5:09
  All right.
• 5:09
  So you're in grade?
• 5:11
  Eleven.
• 5:12
  Grade eleven.
• 5:13
  Awesome.
• 5:13
  Hard year.
• 5:14
  Hard.
• 5:14
  Is it?
• 5:15
  Yeah.
• 5:16
  Do you think this is the hardest year, or do you think next year, grade twelve, will be even harder?
• 5:20
  Grade eleven is usually the hardest.
• 5:21
  That's what I hear.
• 5:22
  That's the university.
• 5:23
  This is the one.
• 5:24
  Yeah.
• 5:24
  And obviously, do you have aspirations?
• 5:27
  University, that kind of stuff or?
• 5:29
  Yeah.
• 5:29
  But right now, just take it where I am, do the best I can in the jobs I have now.
• 5:38
  So tell us, a 15-year-old, grade eleven student, hobbies.
• 5:44
  What do you do for fun?
• 5:45
  What I do for fun?
• 5:46
  I like hanging out with my friends.
• 5:48
  I like watching the Oilers.
• 5:51
  I like the NFL too.
• 5:52
  My favorite team is the Bills.
• 5:55
  Oh, Bills?
• 5:56
  Yeah.
• 5:56
  Okay, I like you already except for that part right there because I'm a Hawks fan.
• 6:00
  So Seahawks, here we go.
• 6:02
  All right, NFL.
• 6:03
  I love it.
• 6:03
  Yeah.
• 6:04
  That's cool.
• 6:04
  And cheering on the Blue Jays right now.
• 6:06
  Yeah, that's right.
• 6:08
  Not a great night last night.
• 6:09
  Late night.
• 6:09
  Yeah.
• 6:10
  If you're listening to us, last night, the Blue Jays played in LA, Dodgers, third game of the World Series.
• 6:17
  It went to 18.
• 6:19
  18 innings.
• 6:20
  Did you stay up for the whole? Yeah! You did?
• 6:22
  Yeah.
• 6:23
  I had to go to bed early.
• 6:24
  That shows you how old I am right there.
• 6:27
  I had to go to bed early, but I was listening on my radio, so I knew it about 1 a.m.
• 6:31
  that they lost.
• 6:32
  But yeah, well, that's kind of cool.
• 6:34
  That's really awesome.
• 6:36
  We were reading.
• 6:38
  You do have some pretty other cool hobbies and jobs, and you come from a tech family.
• 6:44
  Your mom and dad are quite involved in tech.
• 6:47
  And my brother, yeah.
• 6:48
  Oh, and your brother, okay.
• 6:49
  How old is your brother? Older or Younger?
• 6:49
  Yeah, he's 20, sorry.
• 6:51
  Oh, okay.
• 6:53
  All right.
• 6:53
  And so yeah, all the normal 15-year-old things.
• 6:57
  But then, you have some other cool stuff that you do.
• 7:02
  Tell us a little bit about that.
• 7:04
  Yeah, so I'm a sales AI engineer, I guess you can say, at a tech company.
• 7:11
  And I am a charity founder and nonprofit executive.
• 7:16
  So, I run the Ben Stelter School Fundraiser.
• 7:18
  We've got 67 schools in the entire city.
• 7:22
  Okay, we'll talk about that in a minute, because I want to go back.
• 7:25
  You're an AI, sorry, you're an AI generator salesperson?
• 7:33
  Close enough.
• 7:35
  Sorry, you're talking to- Explain that to us.
• 7:38
  Yeah, you better explain that to us.
• 7:40
  What do you do?
• 7:41
  Yeah, what do you do, yeah.
• 7:42
  So, I build AI sales solution systems for my company, so I help the company sell their product using AI, and I have more of a data background, so I find their target audience, and I target them, and I help build personalized messaging to target them, yeah.
• 8:04
  Cam, I think we need to talk to him after about Coffee In The Park.
• 8:07
  Are you sure you're 15, right?
• 8:09
  You're 15, right?
• 8:10
  Okay.
• 8:11
  I can check my birth certificate.
• 8:12
  Yeah, I can check my... because this is pretty amazing to me.
• 8:15
  Okay, but I read though that even at a really young age, like I think maybe you were seven, eight, you really had that entrepreneurial drive.
• 8:24
  Yeah.
• 8:26
  I started a failed car washing business when I was seven.
• 8:33
  How does it fail?
• 8:35
  What was the reason for the failure of the car wash business?
• 8:39
  Probably because I didn't know how to wash the car.
• 8:41
  Okay.
• 8:42
  Because you hadn't created a program yet, an AI generated car washing program.
• 8:48
  Yeah.
• 8:49
  I'm a sales guy, and I had all the selling for the product and all the marketing, just not the skill of washing the car yet.
• 8:55
  Okay.
• 8:55
  Now, I love that because not many people would admit that.
• 8:59
  You're willing to admit that, but yeah.
• 9:01
  And you know where your skill set lies, so that's pretty cool.
• 9:04
  So, AI generating, obviously, this is the wave of the future.
• 9:10
  This is where we're heading.
• 9:11
  Yeah.
• 9:12
  Tech sales is a big industry nowadays.
• 9:14
  Robots, all that kind of stuff.
• 9:16
  We know.
• 9:18
  Cam wants to know what a chatbot is.
• 9:19
  Explain to him what a chatbot is.
• 9:21
  Yeah.
• 9:22
  What is a chatbot?
• 9:24
  A chatbot is pretty much anything that you communicate with that is a computer.
• 9:30
  Like, it could be ChatGPT, but it's more considered generative AI or any of those customer service agents.
• 9:37
  You're kind of chatting to, maybe you missed your flight and you're chatting to the airline agent.
• 9:44
  That's a chatbot.
• 9:45
  Okay, and this is amazing to me.
• 9:49
  15, I'm not going to say how old I am and I know none of this.
• 9:53
  I just know how to work my computer every now and then.
• 9:56
  Did you learn all this on your own or how did you learn all this?
• 9:59
  Mostly self-taught.
• 10:00
  Self-taught.
• 10:00
  I have a mentor out of Calgary.
• 10:02
  His name is Hanif and he's the CEO of the company that I work at.
• 10:05
  He's a big part in helping me learn these AI skills.
• 10:09
  I taught kids AI in an AI course and I did some prompt engineering as well, like building AI prompts.
• 10:17
  Yeah.
• 10:18
  I was about 13 then.
• 10:22
  I was about 13 then.
• 10:23
  Yeah, but mostly self-taught.
• 10:26
  Yeah.
• 10:26
  Just I learned by experiencing things.
• 10:29
  Right.
• 10:29
  This is amazing.
• 10:31
  You're amazing.
• 10:32
  This is absolutely incredible.
• 10:34
  He's smart.
• 10:36
  You think?
• 10:36
  Well, I think.
• 10:37
  I'm sitting here going this.
• 10:39
  I've never.
• 10:40
  This is really cool.
• 10:41
  And so your grade 11, next year, grade 12, what do you want to do when you're done high school and I imagine go on to university or?
• 10:51
  Yeah.
• 10:51
  Well, I think all things in consideration, but bottom line is I want to build something that is going to make an impact.
• 10:57
  So that's really cool.
• 10:59
  That man, we need to keep in touch with you for a very long time because I have a feeling we're going to hear your name a lot in the future and I think that's really awesome.
• 11:09
  But okay, let's get into it a little bit because this is what really excites us about what you're doing and I am amazed.
• 11:15
  You are a brilliant young man, but yet you seem like a pretty normal 15-year-old, ride a scooter, you like the NFL, that's important.
• 11:24
  Love the Oilers, that's cool.
• 11:26
  Yeah.
• 11:26
  All that kind of stuff.
• 11:27
  I won my fantasy last week, so.
• 11:29
  You won your fantasy.
• 11:32
  Okay, we won't talk about that because mine tanked, but anyways, we won't get into that.
• 11:36
  Cam, maybe he used AI to help him.
• 11:38
  You and I will talk after.
• 11:39
  I want to know what you're using to win your fantasy.
• 11:42
  Yeah, I wouldn't count on me.
• 11:44
  I'm like three and five.
• 11:45
  Okay, well, you're doing better than me.
• 11:48
  So, it was a bad, it's been a bad year.
• 11:51
  I made some dumb choices, but anyway.
• 11:53
  Okay, so yeah, so pretty cool.
• 11:55
  You're doing all this, you're hanging with your friends, which I think is pretty cool.
• 11:58
  But you're doing something absolutely amazing, and you kind of touched on it earlier a little bit.
• 12:04
  Yeah, so talk a little bit about how you got involved and why you wanted to start the Ben Stelter School Fundraiser.
• 12:10
  Like how did the charity aspect start for you, especially at a young age?
• 12:14
  Yeah, so the charity was honestly the beginning of everything.
• 12:17
  It was, grade eight was a huge year for me.
• 12:19
  I started the Ben Stelter School Fundraiser in my own school, and we raised about $11,000, and it just went really well.
• 12:25
  It was the biggest school, the biggest fundraiser in the school's history, and it was only a week long.
• 12:30
  So those good numbers, right?
• 12:32
  That inspired me.
• 12:33
  Before we go further, we should tell our audience about Ben Stelter, because they may not know.
• 12:39
  And so we had Mike and Lea Stelter.
• 12:42
  Ben Stelter was a young man here in the city of Edmonton, and he had brain cancer.
• 12:50
  The name is hard to... Glioblastoma There it is, right there.
• 12:53
  I could never say that.
• 12:54
  And he made quite an impact in the city of Edmonton.
• 12:57
  The Oilers, Connor McDavid, and the Oilers got on board with him.
• 13:01
  And it was an amazing story.
• 13:03
  And they started raising money for cancer, for treatment and stuff like that.
• 13:08
  And Ben was amazing.
• 13:10
  Did you ever have the opportunity to meet Ben?
• 13:12
  Yeah, so I knew him for quite a while, and obviously his story is very inspiring.
• 13:18
  I think the main takeaway from Ben that I have that kind of inspires me is just how positive he is and how whenever things were just going really bad, and stuff he couldn't control, he still kept a smile on his face and lived his best life.
• 13:34
  So I think that's the really inspiring part.
• 13:37
  And then unfortunately, Ben passed away.
• 13:40
  Yeah.
• 13:41
  How old?
• 13:41
  I think he was six.
• 13:43
  Was he six?
• 13:43
  Yeah.
• 13:46
  And his legacy, his spirit lives on.
• 13:51
  His mom and dad, we've had them on past podcast, raising money for cancer, some specific things.
• 13:57
  We'll get into that in just a minute about cancer.
• 13:59
  And then now you've come along and you've taken up the cause as well.
• 14:04
  And you're doing incredible things.
• 14:05
  Tell us what you're doing for the Ben Stelter Foundation.
• 14:09
  No, yeah, I mean, you know, I was pretty close with the Foundation since its founding.
• 14:15
  And I've known Mike and Lea for a long time.
• 14:19
  They're very nice people.
• 14:22
  Mike is a great charity director.
• 14:24
  He's a very inspiring leader.
• 14:26
  And he's doing a great job and just wanted to get involved.
• 14:29
  I thought that because it's raising money for childhood cancer, I thought, okay, let's bring this to the classroom.
• 14:36
  That might be a good idea.
• 14:37
  So, I pitched it to my principal and I started that in 2023.
• 14:43
  And then after that, we spread from one school to five schools.
• 14:47
  Wow.
• 14:48
  Then to ten schools the next year.
• 14:50
  And now we're in 67.
• 14:52
  67 schools.
• 14:55
  Yeah.
• 14:55
  Across Alberta, just Edmonton.
• 14:58
  Just Edmonton.
• 14:59
  Yeah, mostly just Edmonton.
• 15:00
  Are you kidding?
• 15:01
  So, you started with your class.
• 15:04
  And now it's grown to 67 schools.
• 15:07
  Yeah.
• 15:07
  That's amazing.
• 15:08
  So, how is it that you guys raise money?
• 15:11
  What do you do?
• 15:12
  What do the students do?
• 15:13
  They can do all types of different things.
• 15:14
  You know, of course, my job is just kind of is running the competition and helping them raise the most money they can.
• 15:20
  So, it's a competition.
• 15:22
  School against school, that kind of thing.
• 15:24
  Yeah.
• 15:25
  They're all trying to win a visit from Connor McDavid.
• 15:28
  Really?
• 15:29
  So, whoever raises the most money, Connor McDavid is going to come to...
• 15:33
  Well, not quite.
• 15:35
  We do have a prize for raising the most money.
• 15:37
  However, the McDavid Prize, the way it goes is actually each $1,000 they raise, they get a ballot.
• 15:43
  Oh, okay.
• 15:45
  There's a draw at the end.
• 15:46
  Right.
• 15:47
  And the school who has the most, obviously raises the most money, the most ballots, if they get chosen, Connor McDavid comes to their school.
• 15:57
  Yeah.
• 15:57
  And just hangs out with them.
• 15:59
  Pretty much.
• 15:59
  Yeah.
• 15:59
  We do an assembly.
• 16:00
  You know, it's like this whole event and, you know, like, we're, you know, I'm there and there are some of the executives from my team are there, and we just kind of, right, you know, we talk to the school.
• 16:11
  The students get to ask him questions.
• 16:14
  Okay.
• 16:15
  You know, big event.
• 16:16
  So, yeah.
• 16:17
  So, for those who are listening, because we have listeners all around the world.
• 16:20
  We have listeners in every continent, except, I better say, Antarctic, even after having the penguin on.
• 16:25
  But he wasn't from the Antarctic.
• 16:27
  He was from South Africa.
• 16:28
  But anyway, so, for people who may not know who Connor, I find it hard to believe that somebody wouldn't know who Connor McDavid is.
• 16:35
  But you may be listening to us and have no idea who Connor McDavid is.
• 16:39
  Connor McDavid is only one of the world's greatest hockey players.
• 16:43
  If not, I'm going to say the second greatest, because Wayne Gretzky, to me, is the first.
• 16:47
  But he is absolutely amazing.
• 16:49
  Plays for the Edmonton Oilers.
• 16:51
  Record holder.
• 16:52
  Every record holder.
• 16:53
  He's an amazing guy.
• 16:54
  Does an incredible job.
• 16:55
  And how, so how did you get connected with Connor McDavid to do this?
• 17:00
  Like through the foundation.
• 17:01
  So McDavid has always been very close to Ben.
• 17:05
  And when the foundation started, he, you know, right now he's the ambassador to the Ben Stelter Foundation.
• 17:11
  He's really, really, really cares about the cause.
• 17:15
  And, you know, I knew that when we asked him, right, of course he said yes to doing this.
• 17:22
  And we're very grateful for that and all the support he gives.
• 17:25
  And, you know, all the time he's given us and, you know, it goes to great cause.
• 17:31
  So, yeah.
• 17:32
  That's fantastic.
• 17:34
  How long have you been doing this competition?
• 17:36
  Yeah, so it opened up in late 2023, like December, 2023.
• 17:41
  So about like half a year since I started it, maybe a bit more.
• 17:47
  Right.
• 17:48
  And, yeah, I mean, you know, going from just one school and to now 67, I never would have imagined that that time.
• 17:57
  It's great to have the opportunity to do this.
• 18:00
  That is.
• 18:01
  And so last year's winner, I believe, was Ottewell School.
• 18:04
  Yeah.
• 18:04
  Ottewell.
• 18:05
  That was fun.
• 18:05
  Oh, yeah.
• 18:07
  That's pretty incredible.
• 18:08
  I know that because my niece goes there and my son was very jealous that Connor McDavid came to her school.
• 18:14
  That's right.
• 18:15
  Really.
• 18:16
  What did your niece think of our McDavid assembly?
• 18:19
  She thought it was great.
• 18:20
  She loved it.
• 18:21
  Awesome.
• 18:21
  Yeah.
• 18:21
  Thought it was fantastic.
• 18:23
  That's pretty cool.
• 18:24
  That's really something.
• 18:25
  And so 67 schools, how did they come on board?
• 18:29
  Did you have to sort of do a big marketing push or did they phone you and say, hey, we want to get involved in this?
• 18:35
  How did that all come to be?
• 18:36
  Well, I wish they would phone me, but that is not the reality.
• 18:39
  No, tons of marketing.
• 18:40
  Okay, folks, listen, did you hear that?
• 18:41
  He's wishing you would phone him.
• 18:43
  So yeah.
• 18:45
  You can phone me and want to participate.
• 18:47
  I'd love that.
• 18:48
  However, the truth is, yeah, lots of marketing.
• 18:52
  I recently built an advisory board of mostly principals.
• 18:58
  That was a huge help.
• 19:00
  I put together a team of 19 or 20, all across Canada.
• 19:05
  And, you know, yeah, it all comes down to the marketing, sending flyers to schools, you know, social media, all that type of stuff.
• 19:13
  Right.
• 19:14
  We try to capitalize on all of that.
• 19:16
  Right.
• 19:17
  So it's not just Edmonton, it's across Canada?
• 19:19
  Yeah.
• 19:20
  Well, that's my team.
• 19:21
  I have a team member in Mississauga, actually.
• 19:24
  Oh, okay.
• 19:25
  Because we, but for the school participation, they, in order to be eligible for that McDavid prize, they kind of have to be within city limits.
• 19:34
  That makes sense.
• 19:35
  He can't just get on a plane, fly across the country.
• 19:39
  However, we have schools as far as one in Cold Lake participating.
• 19:44
  But for some of the other prizes.
• 19:46
  Yeah.
• 19:46
  Sure.
• 19:47
  Well, they'd send one of those jets down, those fighter jets at the Cold Lake, pick them up and take them up there.
• 19:53
  But, okay, so this is really fascinating to me.
• 19:56
  So 67 schools, they're all involved, they're all going.
• 19:59
  You have an advisory board of principals.
• 20:01
  Are you the chairman of the board?
• 20:03
  Well, I lead, I guess, I wouldn't call it a chairman because they're more of an advisory board.
• 20:11
  But the way our organization is built is we have six executives, I lead the executive team.
• 20:16
  Right.
• 20:17
  I like that.
• 20:18
  A 15-year-old leading an executive team of a bunch of principals.
• 20:22
  I think that's pretty cool.
• 20:24
  Well, not principals, but actually our team, we're pretty much the only multi-school fundraiser in the entire country actually run by kids.
• 20:33
  Yeah.
• 20:35
  If you look at the major ones, it's an industry that's dominated by the big ones.
• 20:42
  Yeah.
• 20:44
  We're local and we're all kid founded, kid led.
• 20:49
  Yeah.
• 20:50
  The kids actually lead the fundraiser operationally across all schools.
• 20:55
  I think that's cool.
• 20:55
  You were telling that, when we were talking before we went on air, you said your marketing people in your team.
• 21:01
  Yeah.
• 21:01
  That's cool.
• 21:02
  And it's kids.
• 21:03
  Yeah.
• 21:03
  And they do it all.
• 21:04
  Yeah.
• 21:05
  We do it all.
• 21:06
  Yeah.
• 21:07
  We work with sponsors.
• 21:09
  You know, we work with partners, we do partnerships.
• 21:14
  I mean, we do everything, you know.
• 21:16
  Wow.
• 21:18
  This is so incredible.
• 21:19
  Yeah.
• 21:20
  And it's impressive that kids are taking the initiative and the lead to do this in our community.
• 21:26
  I think so.
• 21:26
  And it's a great example to adults.
• 21:28
  And I mean, there's lots of them, but to hear that it's a group of high school students and you're moving forward this.
• 21:34
  So 67 schools, you start when?
• 21:37
  When do you start raising funds?
• 21:40
  Well, schools start at different times.
• 21:41
  So some schools have actually already started, but I'd say the majority will start around November 18th, which is our specified main fundraising week.
• 21:49
  So that's where we kinda do the most on our part.
• 21:51
  And it goes till what's the end date?
• 21:55
  December 5th as of now may get pushed.
• 21:57
  Right.
• 21:57
  Now, again, for those who are listening, not in the city of Edmonton, we've been in a bit of a unique situation here in the city of Edmonton in that for the last three weeks, the teachers have been on strike.
• 22:09
  The province of Alberta.
• 22:11
  The teachers have been on strike.
• 22:12
  So you haven't been going to school?
• 22:14
  No.
• 22:15
  You've been?
• 22:16
  Working at home.
• 22:17
  Working at home on your job and on your charity and doing all that.
• 22:21
  You've been boting and doing that kind of stuff.
• 22:24
  I don't know.
• 22:24
  I don't know what, I honestly.
• 22:28
  He's just smiling at me like, yeah, you're okay.
• 22:30
  Anyway, we just move on.
• 22:32
  Yeah.
• 22:33
  So you've been at home for three weeks.
• 22:35
  Obviously, has this been difficult?
• 22:38
  Not having the kids in school, not having stuff going on?
• 22:42
  Like, are you losing momentum, gaining momentum, staying the same?
• 22:45
  Where is it kind of at?
• 22:47
  Well, I guess you could say we're losing momentum because the schools, you know, they all have a path of development in terms of the fundraiser and that has all stopped.
• 22:57
  And so has all of our communication with the schools.
• 23:00
  So unfortunately, yeah, I mean, it negatively impacts us as, you know, as possible.
• 23:08
  But, you know, these things happen in business and in anything.
• 23:13
  And really, you know, what I kinda tell my team is there's a lot of things we can't do, right?
• 23:19
  So we can list them.
• 23:21
  But let's stop thinking about that.
• 23:22
  Let's think what is the next best thing we can actually do.
• 23:25
  Yeah.
• 23:25
  So over the past three weeks, we've been using the increased amount of time our team has to do the next best thing.
• 23:34
  And that next best thing is building, is building things for schools, for participants that will help them raise more money.
• 23:41
  Wow.
• 23:42
  Which is the business of our team.
• 23:43
  That is our job.
• 23:44
  Yeah.
• 23:45
  Right.
• 23:45
  As soon as the marketing door shuts, it's helping them raise more money.
• 23:48
  Right.
• 23:50
  I feel like I'm talking to a CEO of a corporation because this is incredible.
• 23:55
  Soon enough, I'm sure.
• 23:56
  It's soon enough.
• 23:57
  This is really incredible.
• 23:58
  And it's too bad the teachers went on strike and we're not going to talk about that or whatever, but they all need to get back to school regardless because you need to get going again and start building again and taking the principles you're using now and implementing those for new schools and students and raising money.
• 24:15
  Before the strike, do you know how much money you'd raised before the strike?
• 24:18
  We didn't.
• 24:19
  There's no schools that started fundraising before the strike.
• 24:22
  Some actually started during, so some actually did some community door to door, but obviously we wouldn't see that.
• 24:28
  We wouldn't see that.
• 24:29
  What I can say, we did sponsors and stuff, so we've technically raised over $30,000 from sponsors.
• 24:38
  But yeah, I'm super excited to see that the fundraising begin and I think the goal for us going into this strike and the end of this is just try and keep as many of our schools in as possible and we just have to make this fundraiser a lot easier for them to run, which is what we've been working on.
• 24:54
  So to date, how much money has it raised?
• 24:58
  Yeah, in the previous year, so in 2024, we raised $74,000.
• 25:02
  In 2023, we've re-raised $43,000 and when I did that thing in just my school, we raised $11,000.
• 25:10
  So yeah, we've definitely seen a lot of growth and this year with 67 schools, we have an algorithm actually to predict how much each school will raise.
• 25:21
  Our predicted revenue is in the 400s because of that increase in numbers.
• 25:27
  Right?
• 25:29
  $400,000.
• 25:30
  If we can keep it 67 schools, maybe add some more, right?
• 25:33
  That's our potential.
• 25:38
  Yeah, this is amazing.
• 25:39
  So the money that you raised, tell us a little bit about where it goes in the foundation.
• 25:45
  Is there a specific section it goes to?
• 25:48
  Are you raising money for a piece of equipment or where is the money going?
• 25:53
  Yes, the money is going to Proton Therapy.
• 25:55
  It's going to the Ben Stelter Foundation's mission to bring Proton Beam Therapy to Canada.
• 26:01
  And it's going to be built right here in Edmonton.
• 26:03
  And with all this help and support, we can get it done by 2028, build this life saving treatment and just save a lot of families from having to travel so far for this treatment and eventually having to refuse this treatment because they have to travel all the way to what's usually Jacksonville to get it.
• 26:20
  Yes, there's nobody in Canada doing this, correct?
• 26:23
  No, we'll be the first.
• 26:24
  Yeah, and it is an amazing life saving treatment that could save endless number of lives.
• 26:30
  Yeah, we're the only G7 country without it, right?
• 26:33
  And I think that this is something we really need in our own country.
• 26:37
  And we need to encourage investing in this treatment.
• 26:41
  So, you know, for the sake of our people.
• 26:44
  Sure.
• 26:45
  What's the total amount needed to make this happen in Canada?
• 26:50
  It's in the hundreds of millions, like 120 million or something.
• 26:56
  So, it is a lot, but again, we are going to get funding from a lot for this.
• 27:02
  Yeah.
• 27:03
  Well, all I got to say is when I think of a bunch of high school kids that are doing this, this young man heading this up, any companies, corporations, businesses listening to us, you need to take a lesson from this because this is incredible.
• 27:18
  What they're doing is absolutely amazing.
• 27:20
  Well, Cam, this is grassroots fundraising at its best.
• 27:23
  Absolutely.
• 27:24
  Yeah.
• 27:25
  I think this is absolutely incredible because I've read a little bit about this treatment and this therapy, and it truly is life-saving and amazing.
• 27:33
  Families can't afford to fly, like you said, where is it?
• 27:35
  They have to go to Jacksonville.
• 27:38
  It just costs, and it's not covered by health care.
• 27:42
  I understand.
• 27:43
  So the treatment is, but the expenses.
• 27:46
  Yeah, it is expensive.
• 27:47
  So it gets expensive for families.
• 27:49
  So not every family can do this.
• 27:51
  And again, they got to take time off work, right?
• 27:54
  That really comes to the issue.
• 27:55
  If you have kids going to the US for months for this treatment is never going to be easy.
• 28:01
  Right.
• 28:02
  Wow.
• 28:03
  Unbelievable.
• 28:03
  So, man, today I feel like I've been totally inspired by this.
• 28:08
  This is, I wish I was back in high school because I'd want to do this in high school.
• 28:12
  This would be absolutely amazing.
• 28:15
  When Connor comes and you have a big rah, rah, rah, this is great.
• 28:19
  Does he come alone?
• 28:20
  Does some other Oilers tag along with them?
• 28:23
  Does he?
• 28:23
  No.
• 28:24
  Well, usually I'm on stage and then I just meet him and then we'll bring in the winning student leaders.
• 28:31
  Okay.
• 28:32
  Of that school on stage.
• 28:34
  We'll have a conversation with the student leaders, the ones that won the McDavid Prize.
• 28:38
  So obviously great experience for them.
• 28:41
  We'll talk to the crowd, talk about obviously the cause and then the kids get a chance to ask some of the questions.
• 28:51
  They always come up with unique ones.
• 28:52
  Sure.
• 28:53
  I bet.
• 28:53
  Kids always do.
• 28:54
  Always do.
• 28:55
  Yeah.
• 28:56
  So I want to ask you this.
• 28:58
  And because both Jennifer and I, we come from a non-profit background, raising money for non-profits.
• 29:05
  And at the core of this, so you're a smart guy.
• 29:12
  You're a motivated guy.
• 29:13
  You know how to work with teams.
• 29:15
  You're building teams around you.
• 29:17
  You got your own company.
• 29:18
  You're doing all these kinds of things.
• 29:20
  At the core, deep down in your heart, why do you want to do this?
• 29:25
  What is it that really truly motivates you to do this?
• 29:30
  Yeah, I think it comes down to people and just the work itself, the people and the cause.
• 29:35
  I just love my job at the Ben Stelter School Fundraiser.
• 29:39
  I'm very inspired.
• 29:41
  Just keep going, do the best that I can.
• 29:43
  And I just always have that motivation to be the best leader as possible.
• 29:49
  Just work as hard as I can and do whatever I can.
• 29:52
  So I always also try and keep everyone on the team happy and make sure that they're liking the experience because I built this experience for them as well, for my team members.
• 30:07
  I want them to have a good experience and I want the student leaders and what will likely be 120 student leaders and upwards of 500 team members within those participating schools.
• 30:19
  I want them all to have a good experience and that's why I built this program.
• 30:23
  So yeah, it comes down to just the people and the cause.
• 30:27
  It's fantastic.
• 30:28
  It is.
• 30:28
  It's great.
• 30:29
  So tell us now.
• 30:31
  I know you have sponsors.
• 30:33
  Is there any sponsors you want to give shout outs to or?
• 30:37
  Yeah, well, definitely a huge shout out to our title sponsor, Service Credit Union, you know, and to all the amazing community sponsors, if I can list them all without forgetting.
• 30:48
  Yeah.
• 30:49
  Having a brain freeze, Northwest Auto Group, Boston Pizza, Edmonton Elks, Edmonton Oilers, Skoll Foundation, and I'm missing someone.
• 31:03
  It'll come to you.
• 31:04
  Yeah.
• 31:04
  It'll come to me.
• 31:05
  Yeah.
• 31:06
  Tell me, who's the biggest influences in your life?
• 31:10
  Who influences you more than anybody else?
• 31:13
  Right now, at 15, who's?
• 31:14
  I don't think there's a standalone winner, obviously.
• 31:18
  Like, my family is going to be the answer.
• 31:23
  My parents, my mom and my dad, are both very inspiring people.
• 31:29
  I get the same with my brother, also very inspiring.
• 31:34
  I love having conversations with him.
• 31:38
  He's good at helping people improve.
• 31:40
  Sure.
• 31:41
  Yeah, I mean, my grandparents as well.
• 31:45
  I am very much raised by my grandparents a lot.
• 31:51
  They were a big part in my youth.
• 31:55
  I go there pretty much every single day after school.
• 31:58
  And I have dinner with them.
• 31:59
  Really?
• 32:00
  Yeah, every day.
• 32:02
  And they send us food as well.
• 32:06
  These are great grandparents, they are amazing.
• 32:08
  They are amazing.
• 32:09
  That's pretty cool.
• 32:10
  That's amazing.
• 32:10
  Super grateful.
• 32:11
  Yeah.
• 32:12
  So always just enjoying a home cooked meal with them and getting to sit with them and hear from them and all of their years of wisdom.
• 32:20
  They're all immigrants to Canada and they all have very inspiring stories.
• 32:23
  Where did your family come from?
• 32:25
  My dad's side came from Kenya and my mom's side came from Tanzania.
• 32:28
  Really?
• 32:29
  Okay.
• 32:30
  Wow.
• 32:31
  What a story.
• 32:31
  I've met your dad a few times at different things.
• 32:35
  I don't know him well, but I've heard him speak and he's incredible.
• 32:39
  He's amazing.
• 32:40
  He really is.
• 32:41
  He's done some amazing things.
• 32:42
  He's doing some amazing things.
• 32:44
  I met your mom for the first time a couple of weeks ago and she is so articulate, and it was just inspiring listening to her.
• 32:51
  So right away, I knew, I thought, okay, I know where he gets some of this from, but I love how you talk about your grandparents.
• 32:58
  Yeah, that's great.
• 32:58
  I think that's phenomenal.
• 33:01
  Because I think heritage is a really important thing, and at such a young age, you've gleaned from that, but you also see the importance of that.
• 33:07
  Yeah, definitely.
• 33:09
  Just definitely very grateful to have a very supportive and great family, of course, aunts and uncles as well.
• 33:16
  Like just, we're close family, and just sitting over family dinners, and try and do as much stuff as we can.
• 33:24
  I mean, we're all going to Cabo in like two weeks, so that'll be fun.
• 33:29
  Strikes over, but you're going to Cabo.
• 33:31
  It's fall break.
• 33:32
  Oh, fall break.
• 33:33
  Yeah, okay.
• 33:33
  Fall break.
• 33:34
  Good for you guys.
• 33:36
  That's really great.
• 33:36
  Well, pretty amazing.
• 33:38
  I mean, this is amazing.
• 33:39
  It is.
• 33:41
  We have one final question that we ask all of our guests.
• 33:46
  The final question is, what is the best piece of advice you've been given up to this point in your life that you carry with you to this day?
• 33:54
  It's a hard one.
• 33:55
  I honestly don't know.
• 33:58
  I mean, there's principles I stick with a lot, and that's hard work, determination, and just not giving up.
• 34:07
  Maybe a bit to do with being negative.
• 34:11
  Sometimes I've been like that, and I've just been negative, and maybe feeling a bit down and helpless.
• 34:20
  But when stepping into this leadership role, you learn that, and my dad also tells me this a lot, negativity is really not the answer.
• 34:34
  You have to make do with what you have, do the best that you can.
• 34:40
  So for me, just stay positive, stay cool, and just stay happy and do what you can.
• 34:51
  Wow, that's amazing.
• 34:53
  15 years old, I mean, amazing advice.
• 34:56
  You're learning, but you're gleaning.
• 34:58
  But what I love is that you just want to learn.
• 35:01
  You just want to grow and develop and learn, and I think that's pretty incredible, amazing.
• 35:06
  So if people want to get involved in the Ben Stelter School Foundation, where can they go?
• 35:10
  Yeah, so you can go to benstelterfoundation.com/school-fundraiser, or just look up Ben Stelter School Fundraiser, and you'll see our website, and you'll see a sign up link to sign up your school.
• 35:23
  So if you're a teacher or a principal, you can sign up your school.
• 35:26
  If you are a student or a parent, please talk to your school teacher or your principal, and ask them to sign up, and that's a big way when a student is asking a principal for something like this to get involved, they will usually do it.
• 35:46
  For students, you can join our student leadership program by being a student leader for your school.
• 35:51
  So you're leading this fundraiser in your school, and that's a very valuable experience.
• 35:56
  Absolutely.
• 35:57
  Cool.
• 35:58
  Yeah, it is.
• 35:58
  So I like what was said, listen, mom and dad, talk to your kids about it, mom and dad, talk to your school principal about it.
• 36:07
  I think it's a great thing for kids to get involved in.
• 36:11
  Kids, if you're listening, probably not too many teenagers listen to us.
• 36:14
  Hopefully.
• 36:15
  Yeah, but maybe after this, if you are listening, hey, listen, get involved, get involved.
• 36:20
  Talk to your school, talk to your teachers, talk to your principals.
• 36:24
  And if any businesses are listening, they could always use more sponsors.
• 36:31
  Yes, no, yeah, yeah, maybe so.
• 36:34
  I think so.
• 36:35
  So jump on board and get a hold of them.
• 36:38
  And this would be something great to sponsor.
• 36:41
  So this has been fantastic.
• 36:42
  Sure has.
• 36:43
  This is really cool.
• 36:45
  So here's my question.
• 36:47
  When you announce the winning school, whatever it is, would we be allowed that day to just come and be spectators to watch this?
• 36:53
  It's on a YouTube live stream and we film it at my house so...
• 36:55
  Well, is that like, you don't want us there?
• 36:58
  Well he films it at his house, he just said.
• 36:59
  I think he said he doesn't want us there.
• 37:02
  I would just love to be a part of it and see it.
• 37:04
  Maybe we can be invited to the winning school.
• 37:06
  That's what I'm talking about.
• 37:07
  Like the winning school.
• 37:08
  When Connor comes, like, can we just come and be spectators?
• 37:12
  Because we had you on the program.
• 37:14
  And can we just come and be spectators and talk about that?
• 37:17
  Maybe see what can be done, right?
• 37:20
  I don't think he wants us there.
• 37:22
  That's the feeling I'm getting.
• 37:23
  I don't know.
• 37:24
  But anyhow, this has been really, really awesome.
• 37:27
  Thank you for doing this.
• 37:28
  And I think we're going to chow down on some wings if you got some time.
• 37:31
  And we're going to do that.
• 37:33
  So thanks everybody for listening.
• 37:34
  Really appreciate it.
• 37:35
  This has been a great show.
• 37:36
  It's been inspiring.
• 37:37
  It's awesome.
• 37:39
  I want to remind you Wing Snob, www.wingsnob.ca.
• 37:42
  Best wings you're ever going to have and we're going to eat some here pretty quick.
• 37:46
  And Mprint, amazing people.
• 37:48
  www.Mprint.ca.
• 37:50
  That's right.
• 37:51
  So, hey everybody, make sure you tell your friends about the podcast.
• 37:54
  Tell your friends, tell your neighbors, tell your enemies, tell your coworkers.
• 37:58
  If you don't have a friend, make one, just so you can tell them about the podcast.
• 38:02
  Cause that's a great way to make a friend.
• 38:03
  Just say, Hey, have you ever listened to the podcast?
• 38:05
  And subscribe, subscribe, subscribe.
• 38:08
  That's right.
• 38:08
  www.coffeeinthepark.com.
• 38:13
  Thanks everybody.
• 38:13
  See you next time.
• 38:14
  Thanks everyone.
• 38:15
  See you next week.