Nash Aarssen has a leg up on his father in terms of donating to Rise House International this year.
The Grade 8 Georges P. Vanier student donated the profits from his Kingdom Project, all $850, to the charity, headed by Chatham-Kent’s Emily Hime. His project was simple yet brilliant in terms of being useful to families who own a dishwasher: a magnet that tells you if the dishes in the dishwasher are dirty or clean. Simply flip “Clean” side up when you put the dishwasher on, and flip it back to “Dirty” when it’s emptied.
Meanwhile, his father, Scott, is gearing up for this weekend’s Rock-a-thon at Sons of Kent, another fundraiser for Rise House.
Nash said the Grade 8 students at his school take part in the Kingdom Project annually.
“You are given $25 by the parent council. It’s up to you to turn that money into more,” he said. “With that, you donate to a charity of your choice.”
His choice was Rise House.
“This organization helps to house, educate, and protect women and children in Haiti,” he said.
Hime said the effort is greatly appreciated.
“The first I heard about it was on Facebook. I started reading and thought that it was super cool that he decided to choose us for his project,” she said. “And $850 provides a week of foot for the kids and families staying with us in Haiti.”
With the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s been a challenge for fundraising for the volunteers of RISE House, Hime said.
“We’ve really struggled with COVID to do our fundraising initiatives. Something like this that we weren’t expecting is super helpful,” she said.
Meanwhile, for Nash’s father, there’s some catching up to be done. The members of his band, Walkin’ 47, are helping to organize the Rock-a-thon. It will feature a host of local bands.
“There will be a band every hour,” Scott said, “running 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. All local acts and they all donated their time.
“We want to keep the music going. We encourage donations throughout the day. And you can always donate directly on the Rise House website,” he added.
On top of the flow of donations from patrons during the event, Sons of Kent will donate all the proceeds from a special beer they are brewing for the event.
Up for auction that day will be a guitar signed by Kid Rock.
For more details, visit https://risehouse.ca/rock-a-thon/
Hime said she’s really looking forward to Rock-a-thon.
“It will be such an awesome event. I love live music,” she said. “So this will see two of my passions come together.”
