Toronto retiree makes surprise $1M donation to Hamilton non-profit to support learning centre in Liberia

A Hamilton non-profit has received a major boost for a "first-of-its-kind learning centre" it has built in the West African country of Liberia — a surprise gift of $1 million to help expand the facility.

Empowerment Squared held its annual celebrations on May 24 and invited Tony Anderson — one of its major donors — to thank him for his support over the years, including donations made to Phase 1 of the learning centre, Leo Nupolu Johnson, the organization's founder and chief empowerment officer said.

"Shockingly, [I'm] still recovering from that, he pulled out a cheque of $1 million in support of the effort, given the milestone that we have been able to achieve," Johnson told CBC Hamilton on Tuesday.

"It was incredible… I said nothing for five minutes. Unusually, I'm not someone without words. That's the first time in my life I've been standing on a podium and couldn't find words to say.

"This was not normal by any stretch of the imagination and completely unexpected. We called Tony just to thank him for his support and to present a plaque," Johnson added. 

Anderson — a retiree from Toronto, who lived and worked in Liberia in his late 20s with his wife and two young children — said they "saw what living conditions were" in the country.

Johnson, who's originally from Liberia, had a dream of building a library in his homeland, which he fled as a refugee to escape war. He said his understanding of a library, at the time, was a 40-foot shipping container with books in it, which was what he knew growing up. 

Liberia has had years of civil war that left an estimated 250,000 dead during conflicts from 1989 to 1997 and 1999 to 2003.

Johnson said when he came to Canada and went to the Hamilton Public Library, he was "stunned" by what he saw, and his vision to build a library back home moved from $20,000 to around $2 million.

"The founding of Empowerment Squared had part of that vision embedded in it," he said. "We went to Liberia in 2010 and spent six years conducting research around what a library would look like 'cause there was nothing in the country, and it grew to what became a learning centre as a result of what people told us from the research."

He said Empowerment Squared started to fundraise for the project in 2016, receiving "a lot of donations" from Canada and the United States, and was able to complete Phase 1 in 2024, with a grand opening held in December.

Johnson said the completed Phase 1 includes a dedicated children's library, an adult resource library, small business incubation spaces, co-working spaces and will also have a radio station. He said it's "the most environmentally friendly building in the country," runs on 100 per cent solar energy, includes a rainwater collection system, and was built with earth compressed bricks.

The centre is currently serving around 250,000 people, Johnson said.

Our time in Liberia kind of affected us- Tony Anderson, Toronto retiree

Anderson said while he and his wife always wanted to help Liberia during the three years in which they lived there, it was not possible for them.

"Our time in Liberia kind of affected us … so we had always wanted to give back to Liberia [but] we were a young family just starting out and so we didn't have the wherewithal," Anderson told CBC Hamilton on Tuesday.

"I was lucky enough to get into a job that, overall, I was in for 25 years and it turned out very well at the end of it financially … we had suddenly had the financial wherewithal to make a difference.

"I was employee number three in a startup company and I don't know if I would have had the guts at age 40 to make that move [without] the self-confidence and so on that I got from Liberia. My job [and] exposure in Liberia kind of helped me make that move," he added.

But Anderson said they could not find a cause to support. That changed about six years ago when Johnson made a pitch to his Rotary Club.

The organization runs programming in Hamilton as well — it also received a boost this week with the Ontario government announcing Monday that it is investing over $287,000 to their Babb Ubuntu Athletic Centre, a multipurpose community recreation facility in the city. 

After hearing about the organization a few years ago, Anderson said he went to Hamilton a few days later and was "impressed" with Johnson and his board of directors at Empowerment Squared and decided to support their project in Liberia.

"We started out by giving just over $10,000, then as the project developed and it started being built, we continued giving money and we were over $500,000 on the first phase of the Librarian Learning Centre," Anderson said.

"My wife and I talked about it and thought well, you know they're starting into Phase 2, which is mostly sports related to get young people involved and thought well let's step up this time and we gave a cheque for one million bucks."

According to Johnson, the $1-million donation is a major boost for Phase 2 of the centre, which would be an indoor recreational facility — like a gymnasium — and a convention centre.

"It accelerates [our plan] because our total cost of Phase 2 is $1.5 million, so we already have $1 million in the bank…We are way, way much closer now to the entire goal of Phase 2," Johnson said.

"Now that we have this fundraising boost, we are hopeful that it will inspire many others including some of our previous downers to help us get to our goal of $1.5 million sooner rather than later."