Treatment Centre raises $540K in 14 days
Bc
It came down to the wire.
The fundraising push for the new Children’s Treatment Centre of Chatham-Kent (CTC C-K) crossed the $500,000 finish line Oct. 20…finishing up with $540,000 in two weeks.
But Mike Genge, the head fundraiser for the CTC C-K’s foundation, said it came together Saturday afternoon, just one day before the funding reveal at the Capitol Theatre.
“The money came down to the wire. It was Saturday afternoon. I’m literally talking to Jean Marie and Lucy (Laprise),” he said. “They decide to match Kevin Owen’s donation and match the schools.”
The Laprises, local farmers and business owners, opted to match the $30,000 pledge by Owen, a local business owner and chair of the foundation board, and Scott VanderSluis, another local entrepreneur.
Local schools, through the sale of paper butterflies, raised an additional $6,000. The Laprises matched that as well.
That spirit of giving pushed the campaign across the finish line on the plus side of the $500,000 target.
In typical support for the treatment centre, people continued to support, with another $4,000 coming in later in the day.
The Build for the Kids two-week blitz got off to a hot start, with $340,000 in funds pledged by opening day of the fundraising window.
Events of all types packed the calendar between Oct. 7 and 20. They included a high tea, a white glove dinner, a prohibition party, a Halloween bash, trivia night, bingo, karaoke, decorating event, and a fall family gathering at the centre.
All were well attended, and the funds flowed in support of building the new centre on McNaughton Avenue West.
Genge, president of the CTC C-K’s foundation, said the Halloween party was particularly awesome, from a fun and fundraising perspective.
“At Red Barn (site of the party), people were coming up to me asking, ‘How much do you need?’” he said. “One woman gave us $3,000 on the spot. She said, ‘I want you to get there.’ There were times like that where you really just didn’t know what was going on. People were just coming out of the woodwork and giving us money. It was really neat.”
He said that’s the nature of the people of Chatham-Kent.
“It still comes down to the fact that I believe Chatham-Kent is probably one of the most giving communities in Canada,” Genge said. “If it’s something they understand, they support it. People just surprise you how generous they are.”
The campaign was geared to appeal in some manner to people of all walks of life. From the bigger ticket events such as the high tea and white glove dinner, to a trivia night, the sale of T-shirts and even paper butterflies, there were many avenues of support.
The funds pushed the foundation over the $10-million mark for grassroots support of the build. It completes the centre’s commitment for the project, with the provincial government funding the remainder, $59 million.
Construction on the new 58,000 sq. ft. centre on McNaughton Avenue West in Chatham began in mid-summer.
Genge said he and his team were exhausted by the end of the two-week campaign.
“Physically, you felt like you were a roadie. Every day, we’d pack up my truck with all the stuff we needed. We’d set it all up, and that evening, we’d tear it all down. Every day,” he said.
Now that the fundraising commitment for construction of the new treatment centre is complete, for Genge, it’s back to focusing on continual funding to help fuel various programs offered at the centre.
Next on tap, at least mentally, for Genge is the centre’s annual Gala for the Kids. It does not take place until next April, but the gears are already churning heavily inside Genge’s cranium. He refused to go into specific details, but promised it to be “wild” and something “nobody has ever done.”
