Trans Canada Trail Blazer (Page 2)

A trail board member in Montreal and a volunteer look after the spelling and ensure that the office runs smoothly. "The administrative side isn't John's greatest love," laughs another Foundation board member, Charlottetown-based Donald Deacon.

That assistance has allowed Bellini to focus his passion for the project and his marketing skills on attracting founding sponsors like Chrysler Canada, Canada Trust and TV sports channel TSN/RDS. Each one bought about $500,000 a year in advertis-ing in the trail's communications pieces, which have included a yearly 10-page tabloid insert in news-papers across the country, a one-hour television special and supplements in Canadian Geographic, Maclean's and L'Actualité.

Deacon is very impressed. "It blows the mind that he's been able to raise so much money from sponsors," the former Bay Street investment broker says with amazement.

But Bellini has learned how these things work. As he explains it, corporations "will give you money to advertise, but they won't give you money to build a bridge. The real money is in the marketing budget and not in the charity budget of a sponsor." Those dollars allowed the Foundation to break even on publications and gave them the profile and exposure needed to solicit donations from the public to actually build the trail.

Thanks to that publicity, more than 85,000 Canadians have purchased sections of the trail (at $40 per metre) and total donations by the end of July amounted to $8.3 million. Individuals and companies can buy a piece of the trail in a region of their choice and have their names inscribed in pavilions built along that part of the route.

"People are sceptical about giving money for any cause," Bellini comments. "We were and still are marketing a vision and people need to know that vision will become a reality." Somewhere around 70% of the trail has already been completed, but money continues to be raised to complete the rest.

"You can't talk about the Trans Canada Trail without asking the question of who is going to build it," Bellini says. Volunteers in each community have been building and will be responsible for maintaining the trails in their area. "The trails are owned and operated by the communities," he says, adding that the Foundation is an umbrella group which coordinates local efforts.

Bellini still remembers the moment early on when he realized he would have to be able to straddle both the corporate and grassroots worlds to get the trail built. He had come from the formal atmosphere of the business environment, where meetings tended to be highly structured and took place in conference rooms well stocked with flip charts and overhead projectors.

It was while he was in Prince Edward Island that the contrast struck him. "I was in the Kraft boardroom on a Friday morning, dressed in a suit and tie and talking about how they could leverage the trail for corporate gain," he recalls. That afternoon he flew to Charlottetown and drove to Summerside to stay in the B&B of a woman who had organized a meeting about the trail in her livingroom.

"Here you are, ready to jump into a business pitch and then you look around the room and realize that these people could be my mother and my aunt and uncle," he explains. "First of all, it's a social get-together." Suddenly, the suit and tie he was wearing seemed out of place. "I never did it again," he laughs. "It was a mental lapse. You do that once but then you learn. In hindsight, though, they probably thought I was serious and this was a sign of respect."

What it taught him was that "the building of the trail had to come from the ground up. The trail serves the community and not the other way around. It has to be what the people in a community want it to be and it has to be a part of their lives. At the end of the day it has to be their trail."

Bellini has been effective at motivating local volunteers, as Deacon can attest. "He's very generous about showing appreciation for their contributions." Deacon was part of a group in P.E.I. that wanted to convert old rail lines on the island into hiking trails. He remembers how Bellini managed to convince his reluctant group to become part of the Trans Canada Trail.