The Quebec Foundation for Athlete Excellence is no more. Make way for the Aléo Foundation. With its new brand image, the Foundation wishes to go even further in the aid and support provided to athletes.
“Our name was excessively long and apart from the employees, there are not many people who were able to say it properly from beginning to end without making a mistake,” explains Aléo’s general manager, Patricia Demers. , about the former name of the Foundation. Adding that “it didn’t describe exactly who we are and what we do”.
With Aléo, in the sense of “going higher”, the Foundation wishes to “propel the athlete beyond sport”.
Mme Demers insists on the fact that the Aléo Foundation is a “proactive, positive, qualitative movement that provides inspiration to many people”.
PHOTO KARENE-ISABELLE JEAN-BAPTISTE, SPECIAL COLLABORATION
The Quebec Foundation for Athlete Excellence becomes the Aléo Foundation.
She calls this change “the biggest project since [son] joined the Foundation 12 years ago”, and adds that “the name is easy, it will be remembered and the play on words is interesting and inspiring. We think our scholarship recipients will appropriate it and identify with it. We think that current and potential partners will find it stimulating. »
Aléo’s goal remains to help deserving athletes lead a balanced life. Mme Demers notes that she wants to continue to support scholarship recipients financially and academically, in addition to helping them make the transition to a career in a “smooth and fulfilling” way.
Two new projects
To achieve this, the Aléo Foundation has already set in motion two projects that will materialize in the coming months.
First, with “New Generation Access”, the Foundation wishes to set up a scholarship program for young people who wish to take part in a high-level sports program.
Thus, a young person who would like to be part of a provincial team, but whose family does not have the financial means to afford it, could be supported by the Foundation.
“Our goal with this program would be to be upstream,” says Mme Demers. Previously, deserving athletes were already part of elite programs. With this new initiative, the Aléo Foundation will enable young people to join these teams.
We have big ambitions for this program, because we think there are a lot of talented young people who could have access to high performance, but who don’t.
Patricia Demers, General Manager of Aléo
Then, with “Give it forward”, the Foundation wishes to build bridges between the past and the future by seeking the help of former grant recipients.
With the first stage of the project, the Foundation wishes to convince former university scholarship holders to commit for five years at the rate of $1,000 per year to support and mentor the sporting excellence of tomorrow.
A new impetus, therefore, for this foundation which has had a decisive impact on the development of sports in Quebec. The general manager is convinced that this revival will continue to make the difference: “I think we have achieved a tour de force and I can’t wait to see how it will unfold. »