Foundation ‘will always be part’ of Taylor’s life
Ladybug Foundation founder Hannah Taylor picked for Our Manitoba Heroes award
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This article was published 23/10/2017 (3213 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Hannah Taylor has proven that a little can go a long way in caring for others in the community.
Taylor is the founder of The Ladybug Foundation — a non-profit organization that focuses on fundraising, advocacy and education for the country’s homeless population — and a recipient of this year’s Our Manitoba Heroes awards, held at the Club Regent Event Centre on Oct. 28.
The 21-year-old from south Winnipeg established the Ladybug Foundation in 2004 when she was just eight. Even at that time, Taylor recognized the potential a small, but concerted, movement could make in changing the lives of some of the most vulnerable people in the community.
“I think that at Ladybug we’ve always had the same kind of guiding principle,” Taylor said. “When I was little, it was to share a little of what you have and care about each other always. I never thought when I started this that Ladybug would be as big as it is. I’m incredibly glad that it is because it means we can connect so many hearts in caring for the homeless and for each other.”
Since Taylor began her work, the foundation has been credited with raising over $4 million for Canadian organizations that provide shelter, food and safety for people who are homeless. A second charity founded by Taylor, The Ladybug Foundation Education Program Inc., is also helping educate and empower youth to make change in their communities.
The fourth-year political sciences student at McGill University said the work of both charities wouldn’t have been possible without the support of people back home in Winnipeg.
“I continue to feel so incredibly honoured,” Taylor said. “The Ladybug Foundation is entirely non-profit and we started in Winnipeg. The reason we exist and have been able to do the work that we do is because Winnipeg and Manitoba from the very beginning have been filled with such incredible people who are filled with generosity, giving, caring and have definitely been heroes to us.
“To be named a Manitoba Hero means so much to me because I’ve had so many opportunities to see Manitobans give from their hearts.”
Taylor said the work of the Ladybug Foundation will continue as she pursues a future in human rights law and is currently looking at ways to make the foundation more accessible for people wanting to get involved.
“I’m truly, truly passionate about this work,” she said. “It’s something that since I was really little my heart told me to do, so I think it will always be a part of my life.”