Mary Tidlund: Making a difference around the world
This is in part the story of a remarkable life. After 15 years in the oil and gas industry, Mary Tidlund’s company went bankrupt in the oil bust of 1995.This was a dark period for Tidlund who had blazed trails at the first woman of colour to be president and CEO for an oil business listed on the Toronto stock exchange. She then travelled the world as she pondered her next step and met women with no rights and often no income either. She founded the Mary A. Tidlund Charitable Foundation, which is based in Canmore in 1998 to help the women she had met. Mary had been adopted at the age of seven by generous parents who fostered over 40 children. Her parents showed her how to give back. Now, the foundation operates in 15 different countries around the world. They do medical work, education and alleviation of poverty. One of her proudest accomplishments was a micro-credit loan program in Angola which had grown to be more than 7,000 people accessing over one million dollars.
The Mary Tidlund Charitable Foundation also provides a bridge for volunteers and philanthropists to realize their dreams of making the world a better place one community and one met need at a time.
Learn more at the foundation’s website.
http://www.tidlundfoundation.com