Community Tour event set to follow from June 27-28 in downtown Drummondville in conjunction with the
200th anniversary celebration
DRUMMONDVILLE, Q.C.,
June 23, 2015 /PRNewswire/ - CN (TSX:
CNR) (NYSE: CNI) and Golf Canada announced the continuation of the
CN Future Links Community Tour on Friday with a visit to the city
of Drummondville during its
200th anniversary as part of CN's dedication to the
community and to junior golf.
(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150623/225035)
"Golf is an excellent sport for our young students to get
involved with and we are thrilled to have CN engage with our
community through the CN Future Links program," said Johanne Marceau, General Director of the
Corporation des fêtes du 200e de Drummondville. "We are extremely excited
for our 200th anniversary and are thankful to have CN
share in the celebration through the Community Tour."
Close to 50 students from Frédéric-Tétreau Elementary celebrated
with a CN Future Links Field Trip event at the Drummondville Golf
& Curling Club in honour of CN's recent adoption of 15 local
schools in the Drummondville
region. Students received lessons in safety, putting, driving and
chipping from Head PGA of Canada Professional, Claude Gamache.
As part of CN's focus towards safety, each of the schools
adopted into the Golf in Schools program (valued at
$475) will receive an
all-encompassing rail safety demonstration from CN's partner,
Operation Lifesaver, a national organization dedicated to keeping
Canadian kids and the public safe around all rail tracks.
The celebration at Drummondville Golf & Curling Club marks
over 150 schools adopted through CN's school adoption program since
2013, reinforcing their vision of helping communities share in the
health and safety values associated with junior golf. The
Drummondville region was the
second of three communities visited in 2015 by the CN Future
Links Community Tour, a nation-wide event that brings the
values of junior golf to regions across Canada—Kamloops, B.C. was
the first stop earlier this month.
"Junior golf has provided us a valuable platform to make a
significant impact in key communities like Drummondville that are along CN's network,"
said Claude Mongeau, CN President and Chief Executive Officer. "CN
is pleased to be part of Drummondville`s 200th
anniversary festivities and to take an active role in helping Golf
Canada and the PGA of Canada share the values of golf across the
country."
As a follow up to Friday's school adoption, the CN Future Links
Community Tour is gearing up to unfold from June 27-28 in the heart of Drummondville at 150 Rue Brock (parking lot
3), engaging community youth and attendees in various golf
activities in addition to rail safety tips from CN Police.
"CN continues to move the needle in terms of initiating creative
ways to expose golf to Canada's
youth," said Jeff Thompson, Golf
Canada's Chief Sport Officer. "The Community Tour is a very
exciting national initiative for introducing golf in fun,
community-based festival environments across the country—an
engaging approach for taking the sport directly to youth."
Current CN Future Links programming includes the Learn to
Play program as well as mobile clinics, PGA Jr. League,
Girls Club, Field Trip and the CN Future Links
Championships. As part of its investment in Canadian junior
golf, CN is also a proud supporter of Golf in Schools.
In 2014, CN Future Links junior golf activities were conducted
at 455 golf facilities with more than 7,000 juniors registered in
the Learn to Play program. In addition, 160 golf facilities
took part in the Junior Skills Challenge running more than 3,200
juniors through qualifying events. More than 56,000 youngsters
participated in more than 1,200 mobile golf clinics across the
country. Since 2006, more than 1.2 million children have been
introduced to golf through the CN Future Links program.
ABOUT CN
CN is a true backbone of the economy, transporting more than
C$250 billion worth of goods annually
for a wide range of business sectors, ranging from resource
products to manufactured products to consumer goods, across a rail
network spanning Canada and
mid-America, from the Atlantic and Pacific oceans to the
Gulf of Mexico. CN - Canadian
National Railway Company, along with its operating railway
subsidiaries -- serves the ports of Vancouver, Prince
Rupert, B.C., Montreal,
Halifax, New Orleans, and Mobile, Ala., and the metropolitan areas of
Toronto, Chicago, Detroit, Duluth,
Minn./Superior, Wis.,
Green Bay, Wis., Minneapolis/St. Paul, Memphis, and Jackson, Miss., with connections to all points
in North America. For more
information on CN, visit the company's website at www.cn.ca. (TSX:
CNR) (NYSE: CNI).
ABOUT CN FUTURE LINKS
CN Future Links is Canada's
national junior golf program conducted by Golf Canada, the PGA of
Canada and Canada's provincial golf associations. The
program is designed to forge a link between Canada's youth and golf to ensure the future
of the game in Canada. Since the
inception of the program in 1996, more than 1.2 million young
Canadians have taken part in CN Future Links. A number of new
initiatives, including Field Trips and Learn to Play, have
succeeded through CN's sponsorship of the program. For more
information, visit www.cnfuturelinks.com.
Golf Canada's CN Future Links
program is proudly sponsored by CN, Acura, Cobra Puma Golf and
supported by ClubLink, Heritage Canada and the National Golf Course
Owners Association (NGCOA).
ABOUT OPERATION LIFESAVER
Established in Canada in 1981,
Operation Lifesaver is a national public-rail safety program
sponsored by Transport Canada and the Railway Association of
Canada. Through partnerships with
provincial safety councils, police, railways, the trucking industry
and community groups, Operation Lifesaver is dedicated to saving
lives by educating Canadians about the hazards surrounding
highway/railway crossings and trespassing on railway property.
Operation Lifesaver spreads its motto of "Look, Listen and Live"
through its many year-long initiatives that complement PRSW,
including interactive kids websites, online new and
professional driver education modules, and social media outreach
on Twitter and Facebook. Additionally, OL's network
of volunteers conducts more than 500 rail safety presentations and
activities across Canada each
year.
About the PGA of Canada—THE LIFEBLOOD OF THE GAME OF
GOLF:
Established in 1911, the PGA of Canada is the second oldest and third largest
professional golf association in the world. The PGA of Canada is a non-profit Association comprised
of 3,700 golf professionals across the country. The Association's
mandate is to develop, promote and support our Members as experts
in the game and business of golf and, in so doing, serve both its
Members' needs and those of the golfing public through the
Association's varied programs and events. The Association consists
of the National Office located in Acton,
Ont., and nine Zone Offices across the country.
www.pgaofcanada.com
GOLF CANADA - LOVE THE GAME.
GROW THE GAME.
Golf Canada is the National Sports
Organization and governing body for golf in Canada representing close to 310,000 golfers
at more than 1,400 member clubs across the country. A proud member
of the Canadian Olympic Committee, Golf Canada's mission is to grow
participation, excellence and passion in the sport while upholding
the integrity and traditions of the game. By investing in the
growth of the sport and introducing more participants of all ages
to the game, our goal is to be relevant to and respected by all
Canadian golf enthusiasts from coast to coast. For more information
about what Golf Canada is doing to support golf in your community,
visit www.golfcanada.ca.
SOURCE CN