This might as well have been called Sir Richard Branson Day in Vancouver.

The founder of Virgin Group came to the city to announce grants of $26,550 to Project Limelight Society and $25,000 for the Broadway Youth Resource Centre, accompanied by Virgin Unite ambassador Cory Monteith.

The money came from the sale of Virgin Mobile's Samsung Gravity 3 RE*Generation phone.

Branson and Monteith, a star on the hit TV series Glee, announced last year in Montreal that $15 from the sale of each phone would go to charity. Since 2008, Virgin Mobile's fundraising programs have raised more than $1.5 million for youth at-risk programs.

Project Limelight was created by two sisters, Maureen Webb and Donalda Weaver, to offer performing-arts skills to young people living in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.

The Broadway Resource Centre has been helping kids at risk in Vancouver since 1999.

Today, Branson also joined SFU chancellor Carole Taylor to speak at a Vancouver Board of Trade event.