CORPORATE GIVING

Giving the Gift of Time

Buying a clock for a special somebody is giving a timepiece as a gift; whether it’s a Baby Animal Belly for a nursery, an office clock for a great boss or employee, or for your spouse. What if you could give time as a gift?Many companies give to charity as part of a marketing exercise. Other companies give because their leaders have been touched by personal experience. The Canadian Clock Company is one of the companies that gives because I am not only the owner and president of the Canadian Clock Company, but I’m also a witness to so many people who’ve battled illness—some have won, others have lost.You’ll no doubt have noticed that many of our clocks carry a guarantee to donate to the Canadian Cancer Society, the Alzheimer Society of Canada, the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario, the Heart & Stroke Foundation, and the Humane Society of Canada.

Every one of these diseases has reached into my life to change it forever. I have never suffered from those diseases, but like so many others, I have suffered because of them, as they have taken the bodies, the minds, the lives, and the presence of loved ones, whether they’re family or friends.As a child, our home was also the home of a foster child who passed away before his tenth birthday from a brain tumour. My neighbour and childhood friend lost both his parents by the time he was 24—one to cancer, the other to a stroke. My own grandfather’s mind clouded over as he gradually forgot who we were, who he was, and in time simply forgot to live.

Those are the losses that remind me that I must give—that we all must give—to support those who are fighting for their lives, and to support those who research the best ways for them to fight for their lives.

My own mother struggled with cancer, and two women—both neighbours of mine—had to make the incredibly hard decision to give up a part of themselves that they’d come to see as defining their femininity.

And as a pet owner, I know how much our animal friends mean to us—in fact, how much a pet can help us through hardships such as illness, and how so many of us rely on them for quiet companionship.
Those are the victories that remind me that as fragile as we are, there is a reason to give and a reason to never give up.

Those are the reasons why I believe that every dollar helps buy more time. Another week for the treatments to work, another year under the sun. Another lifetime to spend with those we love.

When you buy a clock from the Canadian Clock Company, you aren’t simply having your money donated to charity as a way to incentivize you to buy. Rather, charity is based on giving what you have. I’ll level with you: I’m running a business. I’m running it because I love clocks, because I love the opportunity to make things that are as beautiful as they are practical, and, at the end of the day, I do it to put food on my family’s table. I’m giving away part of what the Canadian Clock Company trades with you. And I’m happy to do it.

I don’t advertise those charities to get you to buy from me. I advertise those charities to remind you that there are other worthy causes out there that you can support, and to make us all wonder if we’ve done enough to support our fellow men and women.

We’ve all suffered (and suffered enough) from illness, disease, and loss. I shared my stories with you because tragically, there’s simply nothing personal about them: We all have the same stories. The names, ages, and illnesses are different, the times and places may change, but they’re stories of mourning and hope and loss and victory.

Let’s tip the scales in favour of hope and victory.

J. D’Haze
Owner & President,
Canadian Clock Co.