Building Compassionate Communities
About Us
The Preyra Foundation has been created as a living legacy to honour and promote core values championed by Lina and Cecil Preyra. They immigrated to Canada in 1968 with a dream of creating a better life for their children.
In 2018 the family, along with many friends and supporters, got together to celebrate the 50th anniversary of their arrival in Canada. The highlight of the celebration was a decision to create a charitable foundation to carry on Lina and Cecil’s legacy of community service.
Even though Lina and Cecil worked full time, they dedicated themselves to volunteer work, helping out newcomers, organizing neighbourhood gatherings and creating welcoming spaces that brought many diverse groups together.
The Preyra Foundation is committed to continuing Lina and Cecil’s inspiring example of love and service, kindness and compassion, fairness and equality, as the cornerstone of all our endeavours.
Our Vision
The Preyra Foundation envisions a Canada where every person has the support, encouragement and opportunities to thrive and in turn invest in the success of the next generation.
Our Mission
The Preyra Foundation is dedicated to empowering and supporting vulnerable individuals, in all their diversity, at pivotal times in their lives.
Our Values
The Preyra Foundation was established on the fundamental values instilled in us by Cecil & Lina Preyra.
We honour their memory striving to stay true to their values of integrity, personal responsibility, respect, and the importance of seeing the humanity in all people.
We celebrate and embrace the importance of collective action, and are committed to being part of a larger community that shares our vision of a more empowering and equitable society.
The Preyra Foundation serves as a daily reminder to live the values Lina and Cecil endorsed, and strive toward becoming our best selves.
How We Work
The Preyra Foundation works directly or in partnership with high-impact registered Canadian charities with annual budgets under $5M and low administrative overheads. We maintain a rigorous process to review and monitor the performance of all our grants. Every three years we identify three charitable sectors that will receive the majority of our support. For 2021 – 2023 our three main areas of support are: youth mental health and wellness; public education and skills development for “special needs” school-age students facing economic, physical, emotional, or academic hardships; and newly landed immigrants and refugees. It is not our intention to provide ongoing support for any charity or initiative.
