ILAC is presenting all its teachers and counsellors with brand new jackets featuring the word “Canada” across the front and the ILAC logo on the back. The stylish jackets are ILAC’s way of showing its appreciation to staff and instructors who have helped make ILAC the most awarded English language school in Canada.
Bernardo Riveros, one of the directors at ILAC, first bought 49 jackets for the marketing team to wear at international events.
“After we had the logo embroidered on the back everyone at the school fell in love with the jackets,” says Bernardo. “I got in touch with the manufacturer directly and we were able to buy another 300.”
It wasn’t until Bernardo made the second order that he learned that the Mondetta Clothing Company that produces the jackets reflects the ideals and goals of the ILAC Foundation.
Mondetta was started by two families who fled to Canada after being forced out of Uganda almost 40 years ago. They arrived penniless in Manitoba and experienced first-hand the multiculturalism that made them feel welcome in their new country. Over the next 25 years, Mondetta adopted a “spirit of unification” and has been advocating for global harmony ever since.
Today, the Mondetta Charity Foundation (MCF) works in East Africa, specifically Uganda and Kenya, attempting to address problems such as poverty and AIDS. Currently, MCF supports a primary school in the slum of Kamwokya in Kampala and helps finance an orphanage in the coastal town of Lamu, where many children have lost parents to HIV/AIDS.
In the end, ILAC purchased 350 Mondetta jackets that will be handed out to staff and teachers, as well as a select group of agents and partners.
“We wanted to give back to our teachers and staff,” says Bernardo. “But by doing so we are also supporting an organization that shares the same values as ILAC”.
The Mondetta unisex soccer jackets are made of hand-crafted felt appliqué and feature a Canadian flag patch on the right sleeve.
To learn more about the ILAC Foundation, go to http://www.ilac.com/foundation/
