It is that time of year again- McHappy Day is May 8th.

McHappy Day raises millions of dollars for Canadian children’s charities including Ronald McDonald House. Did you know over 10,000 Canadian families have stayed in one of the 14 houses across Canada in the past year? The largest house is here in Toronto and even has a school for the young children.

McDonald’s Canada covers all of the administrative and operating costs for Ronald McDonald House Charities, making it possible for 100% of every directly donated dollar to go to Ronald McDonald Houses and their programs. In addition, since 2004, McDonald’s restaurants have donated 10 cents from every Happy Meal sold to RMHC (over $34 million to date!), and coin boxes can be found in local McDonald’s collecting for RMHC and other local charities.

Last year over 8 million dollars was raised! What can we do to help out this year?

Buy a Big Mac, McHappy Meal, or MCafe product on May 8th and $1 of your purchase goes to support a great cause.

Want to know how it all got started? Watch The History of Smiles.

Invite your friends and family to join you and I hope we see you there.

Running a small business is never easy, but it is usually an adventure filled with many challenges and rewards. “The Challenge” is a contest sponsored by TELUS and designed for small and medium-sized Canadian businesses. The great news: you could win a $100,000 grant.

The recent press release announcing the third annual contest shows how interested this Canadian based company is in supporting small business.

“Supporting small business growth in Canada is a key priority for TELUS. This contest brings together a community of entrepreneurs to talk about their biggest pain points and receive advice from experienced business experts,” said Jim Senko, vice-president of Small and Medium Business Marketing at TELUS. “As entrepreneurial spirit continues to drive the Canadian economy, we’re excited to partner with The Globe and Mail for a third year in a row to help Canadian entrepreneurs reach success.”

The idea of the contest is to have Canadian Entrepreneurs submit, what they believe to be, their biggest business challenge. Entries should be submitted at TheGlobeandMail.com and entrants are being asked to submit the following in under 800 words:

• A challenge their business is currently experiencing (200 words);
• A proposed solution to this challenge and how the $100,000 prize would help overcome that challenge (200 words);
• An explanation of the results they expect to achieve (200 words);
• A description of how their business incorporates the following values into their business: 1) community investment/commitment to charities, 2) customer service and 3) innovation (200 words)

Submissions should be made by May 27th. Judges will then narrow down the competition to four semi-finalists. These semi-finalists will be asked to present their ideas to the panel at TELUS in Toronto in June before a final winner will be announced in September. Canadians can follow the contest on Twitter via @TELUSBusiness and @GlobeSmallBiz using the hashtag #smallbizchallenge, on LinkedIn and on Facebook at Facebook.com/TELUSBusiness.

Judges for the contest include:

• Chris Griffiths – Director, Fine Tune Consulting, a boutique business consulting practice, and long-time entrepreneur
• Carolyn Lawrence – President and CEO, Women of Influence
• Donna Marie Antoniadis – Co-founder, She’s Connected
• Sally Daub – President and CEO, ViXS Systems
• Jim Senko – Vice -President, SMB and Enterprise Marketing, TELUS
• Hugh Johnson – Vice-President, Small Medium Business, TELUS
• Terry Brodie – Reporter and editor, Report on Small Business, The Globe and Mail
• Steve Tustin – Editor, Custom Content Group, The Globe and Mail
• Sean Stanleigh – Editor, Report on Small Business, The Globe and Mail

For more information on the contest visit the TELUS press release and the contest entry page.

Recently Canada Beef headed down to Las Vegas to get up close and personal as they put it with North American meat processers with North American meat processors, independent retailers and beef buyers at NAMA Meat Expo’13.

Over 2,700 retailers, meat processors, wholesalers and industry partners from around North America and well beyond gathered. While there Canada Beef was recognized as the NAMA’s Education and Vision Partner. Canada’s two largest beef packers were also there along with several other delegates as exhibitors and committee members. Canada Beef was able to provide there partners with great resources and insights all around the Canadian Beef Advantage.

Canada Beef’s Senior Director, Market Development U.S., Jeff Trafford
was asked to deliver relevant educational content during two forums.

“This was a key opportunity to demonstrate actual case studies of Canadian beef research and
how Canada Beefis an expert at analyzing, summarizing and extrapolating priority
opportunities, and then acting upon the discoveries within specific research to the benefit of
Canadian beef customers,” says Trafford. “I was also able to highlight recent research* around
shopper acceptance of Canadian beef in America’s meat case. This positive and sometimes
astounding research lent validity to the value of the CBA to U.S. retailers.”
Trafford’s second presentation was a specialty meeting aboutthe CBA amidst the bustle of the
trade show, while delegates mingled among the show’s exhibits. Jeff said
“This presentation drew the attention of both passers-by and buyers who had made a point of
joining the session to gain understanding of Canadian beef supply and positioning options,”
notes Trafford. “It was an intimate dialogue on how and why Canadian beef is an integral
component of the North American beef supply chain. I was able to mingle with the audience
and, by learning a little bit about their businesses before and during the meeting, tailor the
benefits aspect of the presentation that is always so important to keep it relevant.”

At the end of the expo the 600 delegates where even able to taste Canadian Beef, when all were served Canadian Grade AAA chuck eye in demi glace.

By attending and partnering with events like this Canada Beef  has many opportunities for networking and strengthening relationships with beef buyers and sharing how Canadian beef can support their operations and customers.

For more information check out the Canadian Beef site.