TULLOCH Fights Cancer Raises $118,000 and Wins Industry Award
2026 Ontario Engineering Project Awards - People First Award
TULLOCH Fights Cancer has received an ACEC-Ontario Ontario Engineering Project Award in the People First category, recognizing an employee-driven initiative that has raised more than $118,000 for individuals, families, and organizations affected by cancer.
The annual TULLOCH Fights Cancer Euchre Tournament brings employees together across offices and project locations for an afternoon of fundraising, storytelling, and friendly competition. Since beginning in 2020, the event has grown into one of TULLOCH’s most meaningful traditions and a clear expression of the company’s people-first culture.
A Company Tradition Built Around Care
TULLOCH Fights Cancer began after a cancer diagnosis directly affected a member of the extended TULLOCH community.
The diagnosis brought the realities of treatment, travel, financial pressure, and emotional uncertainty into sharp focus. TULLOCH wanted to provide meaningful support that went beyond words while creating a way for employees to stand together during an extremely difficult time.
COVID-19 intensified the challenge. Hospital capacity, travel restrictions, isolation, and changing public health requirements made an already difficult situation even harder.
At the same time, TULLOCH shifted rapidly to virtual work. Offices closed, teams dispersed, and the in-person traditions that had helped connect employees were put on hold. With the familiar rhythms of office life suddenly gone, leadership had to find new ways to keep TULLOCH’s people-first culture active and visible.
The answer came from a familiar company tradition: euchre.
Card games had long been part of TULLOCH team gatherings. In November 2020, that tradition was reimagined as a virtual fundraising tournament that employees could join from offices, homes, and project locations.
What began as a direct response to one family’s experience became a repeatable way to rally around employees, relatives, friends, and community organizations affected by cancer.
More Than $118,000 Raised Since 2020
Over six annual tournaments, TULLOCH Fights Cancer has raised more than $118,000, with annual totals generally ranging from $18,000 to $22,000.
Employees contribute through donations and fundraising, with TULLOCH matching and often exceeding the amount raised. Funds have supported individuals facing cancer as well as healthcare and charitable organizations, including:
- Canadian Cancer Society
- Princess Margaret Cancer Centre
- Sault Area Hospital
- Hospice Huntsville
- Enliven Cancer Care Muskoka
- Terry Fox Foundation
The initiative is part of TULLOCH’s broader Community Commitment Program, through which the company reinvests 10% of annual profits into programs and organizations that matter to employees, clients, and communities.
A Firm-Wide Event That Connects Employees
Approximately 250 employees participate in the tournament each year as players, viewers, donors, presenters, or volunteers.
The event combines a live euchre bracket with company updates, project presentations, fundraising progress, and messages of encouragement. Preliminary games take place in virtual breakout rooms before employees gather to watch the final match and the presentation of the TULLOCH Euchre Championship Belt.
Delivering the event across multiple offices and remote project locations requires close coordination between TULLOCH’s Administration, Information Technology, Marketing, and leadership teams.
Microsoft Teams hosts the company-wide broadcast and multiple breakout rooms, while an online card platform allows participants to play and interact in real time. Live bracket management, technical support, contingency planning, presentations, videos, and fundraising updates keep the event moving throughout the afternoon.
The format has been refined each year to improve communication, accessibility, and participation across the company.
Putting People First During the Workday
TULLOCH holds the tournament during regular working hours.
That decision is intentional. Supporting employees and their families is not treated as an activity that must happen outside the workday. Project schedules and workloads are adjusted so employees can participate in a meaningful company-wide tradition.
The tournament also gives employees and leaders an opportunity to connect in a more personal setting. Senior leaders host and participate in the event, while teams across the company share project achievements, community initiatives, and messages of support.
By bringing fundraising, employee connection, and company communication into one shared experience, TULLOCH Fights Cancer shows how workplace culture can be reinforced through visible and consistent action.
Applying Planning and Coordination to a Different Kind of Challenge
The tournament reflects many of the same strengths TULLOCH applies to complex engineering, geomatics, environmental, planning, and construction assignments.
Each year requires detailed planning, clear communication, technical coordination, schedule management, and real-time problem-solving. Multiple teams work together to keep dozens of virtual matches moving while maintaining an engaging company-wide program.
The event has also created a practical internal framework for delivering large-scale virtual gatherings. Instructions, backup plans, technical assistance, presentation materials, and communication processes are reviewed and improved after each tournament.
This structured approach has helped turn a one-time response into a dependable annual tradition.
Recognized for Putting People First
The ACEC-Ontario People First category recognizes initiatives that address a meaningful organizational challenge, involve employees, demonstrate innovation, create measurable outcomes, and leave a lasting benefit for an organization and its broader community.
TULLOCH Fights Cancer reflects each of those principles.
The initiative was created to help employees, families, and friends facing cancer during a period of heightened isolation and uncertainty. It has delivered direct financial and emotional assistance, strengthened relationships across a geographically dispersed workforce, and supported cancer-focused healthcare and charitable organizations.
It has also reinforced a broader message across TULLOCH: people are not separate from project delivery or business performance. They are central to both.
Continuing the TULLOCH Fights Cancer Tradition
Six years after the first tournament, TULLOCH Fights Cancer is no longer viewed as a one-time event. It has become an ongoing commitment.
Employees know the tournament will return each year. Families know they will not be forgotten after the immediate crisis has passed. The consistency of the initiative has become part of its value.
TULLOCH plans to continue the annual tournament while exploring opportunities to involve more community partners without losing the personal focus that has defined it.
The purpose will remain unchanged. When cancer affects someone connected to the TULLOCH community, employees will come together with practical assistance, financial support, and a clear message that they do not have to face it alone.
This ACEC-Ontario recognition belongs to every employee, volunteer, donor, participant, and community partner who has helped make TULLOCH Fights Cancer an enduring part of the company’s culture.
Learn More:
https://acecontario.ca/2026/05/08/2026-ontario-engineering-project-award-winners/
