Maxence Renaud, active and committed real estate broker: quite a challenge for his 50th birthday
Maxence Renaud, real estate broker with groupe sutton - centre ouest, has taken on quite a challenge for his 50th birthday: 137 burpees once a day for a year. His ultimate goal is 50,000 burpees and $ 5,000 raised for the United Nations Refugee Agency.
What is the United Nations Refugee Agency?
The United Nations Refugee Agency is an agency with a mandate to assist refugees, forcibly displaced communities and stateless people by saving lives, protecting rights and building better futures.
The Canada office offers several assistance programs for refugees arriving in the country according to crisis situations around the world. For example, aid was sent to Afghanistan after recent events. Other programs have been set up for the education of children and for the vaccination of refugees upon their arrival in Canada, among others.
50,000 burpees in one year
A few days before his 49th birthday, during a week's family vacation in a chalet, Maxence found himself with time to reflect on what he wanted to do for his 50th birthday on August 27th, 2022. He did not like the idea of just giving himself a gift or having a '50s crisis' party as he said with a laugh. He was looking to do something meaningful, not just for himself, but for others.
Already exercising every day, he wanted to give himself an achievable but stimulating challenge. This is where he set his goals on doing 137 burpees every day for 365 days to reach 50,000 burpees on August 27th, 2022, on his 50th birthday. He set up this fundraiser to raise $ 5,000 for the United Nations Refugee Agency.
While this is his first fundraiser, it is not his first major challenge. In 2008, he wanted to push his limits by training for marathons. He participated in the marathons of Montreal, Miami, Ottawa and New York with more than respectable times. Thus, this new challenge certainly does not scare him.
After a little over a month since the challenge has been launched, Maxence is still just as motivated. He admits it's not easy every day, but he's happy and proud when it's done. He also posts a video of his 137 burpees on Instagram every day to prove he did them right and keep his followers up to date.
From sending emails to his entourage to an interview with a local newspaper, he promotes his cause in order to increase its visibility to reach as many people as possible.
Why the United Nations Refugee Agency?
It was while reading a New York Times article about Mexican families crossing the US borders that it all started. The article included a photo of a mother holding her two children in the rain, in the middle of the night, not knowing where she was going, after walking for days. Maxence, empathetic, put himself in the mother's shoes, having three children of his own.
He says it's important to talk about it, to think about it every day to help them. We are not aware of everything that is going on "because we are stuck with the routine and the comfort and the luxury," he said. It’s not easy to leave your home, your country, and find yourself without really knowing what the future holds. “We don't really realize the situation in which all these people are, who are displaced either because of political problems, sometimes economic problems, sometimes because of the climate. "
Maxence has dedicated himself to this cause in order to make people aware that they are human beings like us. He wants to make a difference for all these refugee people and families in order to make their situation less precarious.
Maxence Renaud, the broker
In parallel with his fundraising, Maxence Renaud exercises his profession of real estate broker with passion. He joined the groupe sutton - centre ouest agency in 2004 and works with his wife, Chloé Chapoulie, also a real estate broker, to provide the best possible service to their clients.
He chose Sutton at the time for the professional and friendly approach of Jerry Trudeau, head of groupe sutton - centre ouest. He found the other brokers to be friendly and open and still enjoys the office and the team today.
Despite his busy schedule, he manages to balance his time well between his professional life, his personal life and his daily burpees!
At the time of the interview, after 35 days of fundraising, he had done 4,795 burpees and raised $ 712.
We wish him all the best and good luck for the remaining months!
To follow his daily exploits, subscribe to his Instagram page: @ 50kforfifty. You can also donate online easily: 50kforfifty fundraiser.
