A local propane business is celebrating a milestone by helping the community.
Dowler-Karn, a distributor of gasoline, propane and other energy products, is celebrating its 75th anniversary by teaming up with the Esso community program.
They are setting aside money to help a variety of charities and non-profits across Windsor-Essex in the Fueling Communities Giveaway.
Dan Kelly, the chief financial officer of the St. Thomas-based Dowler-Karn, told BlackburnNewsWindsor.com that they had originally set aside $75,000 for this purpose, but a tremendous response resulted in the company rethinking that approach.
"We ended up receiving an overwhelming response of more than $1.2 million in requests from 140 organizations, and we decided to increase that $75,000 to a total of $125,000," said Kelly.
They have accepted requests from 47 of those organizations so far. Two of them, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Windsor-Essex and the John McGivney Centre, were on hand at Dowler-Karn in Tecumseh Thursday morning for a cheque presentation. Kelly said they were invited to show a focus on charities helping children.
"Big Brothers Big Sisters has been doing such amazing work for a lot of years, and the John McGivney Centre provides some incredible support for children of special needs," said Kelly.
BBBS has received $2,000 and the McGivney Centre $10,000.
The Dowler-Karn website has complete information about the Community Grant Program. The company has a dozen locations across southern Ontario.
