For Canadian Athletes to participate in international competitions requires an incredible amount of effort, determination and time. Along with this, it also requires an incredible amount of money. With the vast majority of an athletes’ time dedicated to training, it has become increasingly difficult for them to raise enough money to send themselves over seas to represent Canada. This obstacle is exactly what the Canadian Athletes Now Fund is trying to overcome.

The Canadian Athletes Now Fund (CAN Fund) was founded in 1997 under the original title, See You In Fund. See You In Sydney was the first of it’s kind, which ended up financially assisting 78 of the 311 athletes who represented Canada in 2000 in Sydney, Australia. Without this fund, a quarter of the Canadian athletes competing in Sydney would not have had adequate financial resources to train and compete. Since this time, the See You In Fund has helped send hundreds of Canadian athletes to Salt Lake City, Athens, and Torino by raising over $6 million. The CAN Fund looks at continuing all of these great successes.

The CAN Fund persists to be very active with all of their initiatives. More recently, they have started a creative campaign with the goal of recruiting 1 million Canadians to donate $8 each. If this goal can be accomplished, enough monies will be raised to put our athletes on a level playing field with the rest of the world. Monies donated to the Fund are put directly into the hands of Canadian elite athletes to support their training, coaching, nutrition and living expenses in preparation for international competition. You can click on the image to donate and support our Canadian athletes.

Conrad Leinemann, a Canadian Olympic beach volleyball athlete, is best known for winning the gold medal at the 1999 Pan-Am Games and for having the fastest serve in the world being clocked at an incredible 104.4 km. Conrad is also a passionate ambassador for the CAN Fund. You will be able to meet him at the upcoming NSP Spring Meltdown Party on April 18th at the Courthouse. Conrad will be there speaking with people about the CAN Fund and the new $8 Ask campaign. He will also be helping with a silent auction which will have a number of great items to bid on.

This summer when you are watching our Canadian athletes compete in Beijing, wouldn't you want to say that you helped them get there? With their hard work and our support, there will be no limits to Canada's success!