The Annual Festival of Giving in Chatham-Kent. April 8, 2017.
(Photo by Brett Thompson)
The annual Festival of Giving in Chatham-Kent raised enough money to fill up a treasure chest and then some this year.
The Shipwrecked-themed event on Saturday drew more than 1,000 people, raising a total of $268,000 for the Children's Treatment Centre Foundation of Chatham-Kent.
Executive Director Mike Genge says that's $18,000 more than their stated $250,000 goal and around $25,000 more than they took in last year.
"It's all about coming up with a new theme every year," says Genge. "I guess our pirate theme was a big hit this year because we had a ton of people dressed up and everybody came prepared, it was incredible."
Genge says the money will help to support some of the recreation, music, and social work programs at the treatment centre that are only partially funded by the government.
"Things like challenger baseball, our sledge hockey team, and our Life Links program that we do with older kids," says Genge. "Kids that are in high school to 21 years old, we help them and we do projects with them."
Genge says it usually takes about five months to pull the event together, adding that the foundation has a great group of volunteers who come together to help them out.
The Annual Festival of Giving in Chatham-Kent. April 8, 2017.
(Photo by Brett Thompson)
