Paddling for a good cause is proving to be a big success for the community of Shrewsbury.
The inaugural Paddle 4 Hunger took place Saturday morning and according to organizer Mark Lucio, the event turned out even better than he imagined it would.
"I wondered how I could use my kayaks to help people," he explained. "I thought originally I was just going to have a few people paddle, raise a few dollars, but I thought well why not make an event for Rondeau Bay and try to include everyone into bringing some donations and make it a day where people can help other people."
Lucio said he would have been happy with 20 people showing up -- instead, he said about 40 people took part. Participants collected pledges in the weeks leading up the event and on Saturday morning, they hit the water of Rondeau Bay in their kayaks.
"When you're running your first event, you're a little hesitant. You don't know how many people are going to show up, you don't know how the weather's going to be, but the turnout was absolutely great. It was more than I what I expected. The donations were more than I expected," said Lucio.
The event raised a total of about $4,000 in addition to dozens of canned goods. According to Lucio, everything collected will be split between the Chatham food bank, the Word of Life soup kitchen in Blenheim and mission work that Lucio takes part in.
"This event's going to help a lot of people. The monetary donations will go to the Salvation Army food bank, it'll go to the soup kitchen and it goes to some mission work that I do down in Cuba," he explained.
Although he said it was a lot of hard work to organize, Lucio said he's considering bringing the event back in 2020.
"I think with the event being successful this year, it's going to be easier for me to get some help next year," said Lucio. "It's really about the volunteers. I had some great volunteers so hopefully, they step up the plate again next year. Usually, the second year is even bigger and better."
