Meet Chris Dietrich 

“If we all took care of the garden in our backyard, the world would be a better place.” This is the guiding philosophy of Chris Dietrich, Senior Partner at Veracity Real Estate Solutions and Coordinator for its Foundation’s annual Golf Tournament. His team lives this philosophy by dedicating proceeds from its signature golf tournament to a social service organization in their own backyard: Women’s Crisis Services of Waterloo Region (WCSWR).

You may have heard about Veracity, an Ontario-based consulting and appraising firm, but you may not have heard of Veracity Helping Hands Foundation – the philanthropic arm of the company. For the last three years, this foundation has raised thousands of dollars for Women’s Crisis Services to support the work we do in shelter and in the community. They do this by hosting a golf tournament, which is very well supported and anticipated.

This annual event debuted in 2023, even amidst criticism that it was not an ideal time to launch such an initiative, with social limitations from the pandemic still enforced. However, the team’s passion to make an impact and support the community was a driving force behind its success! So, the team hosted the first successful event in 2023, which has only gotten better since. Chris credits this success to an awesome team, great partnerships and overwhelming community support from individual donors and corporate sponsorships.

While raising money is important, raising awareness goes a long way in bolstering the work we do and amplifying our impact at WCSWR. This tournament does exactly that by bringing together community members to participate, sponsor, donate, volunteer and contribute in any way they can to support the survivors of domestic violence.

This year’s event will be held on Friday, June 13th, 2025, at Rebel Creek Golf Club, and sponsorship levels range from $250 to $1500, which has already garnered $7,000 in organic fundraising as of April 2025. This tournament is a hit because of the people it supports. Chris explains that the cause “hits home” for a lot of people, especially those who know survivors or who are survivors themselves. Personally, fathering a daughter makes him acutely aware of issues such as gender-based violence and domestic abuse because of how disproportionately women are affected. In fact, 85% of domestic abuse victims are women. He also believes that male allyship is important in the fight against domestic abuse.

Chris, like many other men, is disheartened by the frequent reports of femicides. He knows that men have a big part to play in shedding light on issues like domestic violence, by standing against violence when they see it happening and not perpetrating abusive behaviour themselves. This tournament offers not just a day of fun in lush, landscaped greenery with sublime early summer weather, but it’s an opportunity to learn more about these issues and how to support women and children in our region move beyond violence.

The Veracity Helping Hands Foundation acknowledges the strength of survivors who prioritize their safety and the safety of their children. They continue to be motivated by the phenomenal support of patrons and sponsors. According to Chris, once the foundation understood how fundraising efforts could provide safe shelter for even just one mother and child, they felt a sense of accomplishment and comfort, which validated the work of his team. We are grateful to hear the foundation’s efforts will continue to do so much more, helping even more women and children moving behind violence.