Editor: The Chatham Goodfellow’s 68th “No Child Without a Christmas” campaign has wrapped up.
The board of directors of Chatham Goodfellows would like to thank the corporate sponsors, private businesses large and small, service clubs, churches, schools, all of the volunteers, and the citizens of Chatham-Kent who helped in making this labour of love possible for those in need in our community.
At the beginning of the campaign, the board of directors realized that this year was going to be like previous years, with a high demand for assistance as citizens continue to struggle to make ends meet. In the end, we provided food and toys for more than 1,600 families; and over 1,300 children were taken care of this year.
The cost of living is out of control and we are only going to see people needing more assistance for years to come.
The care and generosity of local corporations, large and small businesses, service clubs, churches and citizens of Chatham-Kent continues to humble the Chatham Goodfellows board. The Porchlight Campaign raised $62,178, including E-transfers, and the street sales campaign raised over $27.499.
In the end Chatham Goodfellows raised in excess of $205.514 for this year’s campaign from many businesses, community groups and citizens. This money is used for many things like toys, and food. As well, boots and shoes certificates have been given to each child.
Everything we buy is used for our toy and food hampers.
Special thanks to the St Clair Catholic School Board for partnering with us and allowing us the use of former Monsignor Uyen School for our toy packing and delivery; this is truly appreciated.
The Chatham Goodfellows board of directors is indebted to all of the media people in Chatham-Kent who provide invaluable coverage of Goodfellow events throughout our campaign. The Board of Directors wishes to extend a special thank you to Hub Creative Group for maintaining the Chatham Goodfellows website, CM Print & Design for publishing the Chatham Goodfellows newspapers; Blackburn Radio Stations and CKXS 99.1 FM Radio for their continuous “on air” support; The Chatham Voice; Chatham This Week; and The Chatham Daily News who help us to ensure that “No Child Without a Christmas.”
Thank you.
To everyone in the Municipality of Chatham-Kent, we hope you had a Merry Christmas and a safe and Happy New Year.
Tim Haskell, on behalf of The Chatham Goodfellows board of directors
