We recently held an open house here at The Chatham Voice, and held a fundraiser for the family of young Ebony Vandenbogaerde at the same time.
The support from local sponsors was incredible!
In fact, it was only matched by the great support of the public who stopped by!
OK, that’s a lot of exclamation points for yours truly to employ (journalists typically don’t use them), but the support is so appreciated.
We held a barbecue, as well as a gift raffle, and raised more than $650 for the family.
Furthermore, the Mocha Cruisers Shriners showed up with giant cheque in hand. They are donating $1,000 to help offset the price of assistive devices the family will need.
For those of you who don’t know, Ebony, 12, is paralyzed from the waist down after surgery to remove a tumour from her spinal chord. She’s recovering in Toronto.
The family is in need of support, and has an account set up at Heritage Savings on Merritt Avenue in Chatham to receive donations.
They also have a GoFundMe page setup in Ebony’s name.
Ebony’s sister Larissa attended our open house with her daughter Olivia. Larissa FaceTimed Ebony so we could say hello as well.
Thanks to everyone who supported our fundraiser.
This community never ceases to amaze me in how people will jump up to help someone in need or support a particular cause. When we asked businesses for support, they jumped at the opportunity to donate items or a gift card.
And thanks to all who stopped by to say hi during the open house. I was reminded numerous times by visiting readers that I have not written about Finn, our furry companion, lately. He’s fine.
The guy has gotten pretty large, as in long. When he stretches out, he can take up the width of the hallway, or the bathroom floor. Talk about a furry trip hazard.
He’s nearly five kilograms, or 11 pounds. The vet says he shouldn’t gain any more weight, but he doesn’t seem chunky to us.
Speaking of the vet, when we first got Finn, he was indifferent to his car rides to and from the vet’s. Now he just plain hates the car.
As for visiting the vet, Finn’s quite compliant and content visiting and getting prodded.
The little fella had some fleas recently, not surprising given his penchant for spending evenings and the early morning hours outside. He regularly comes in with burrs on his fur, but we have no idea where he’s getting them or how far he’s venturing.
A favourite weekend sleep spot for Finn is in my recliner. If I’m not in it, he’s in it. And when I’m in it, he’s often on the footrest, taking up as much space as possible.
When he wants out, he’ll come down the stairs to the basement, meow at me in more of an urgent conversational tone than anything else, and run around getting into stuff until we react and toss his butt out the door.
