Saturday, April 8th, 2017, over 1000 guests and volunteers crashed into the John D. Bradley Convention Centre for the 16th annual Festival of Giving! With the tremendous support of FOG’s generous sponsors, the Chatham-Kent community, and the extremely dedicated FOG Committee and volunteers, this year’s Festival of Giving, Shipwrecked, raised $268,000 for the Children’s Treatment Centre Foundation of Chatham-Kent, and several other charities throughout our community.
This year’s Festival of Giving was the most savage, entertaining Festival to date, featuring a 24 foot inflatable volcano, a Titanic-themed martini ice luge, Sons of Kent Brewing Co. and hundreds of live and silent auction items. Some big-ticket items in this year’s auction included a swim spa, donated by Northside Pool Supply, a boat, donated by Walker Marine & Rinker, and a $10,000 custom cement job donated by LaFarge at Dave Matteis the Cement Specialist.
The Children’s Treatment Centre Foundation and Festival of Giving committee would like to thank our event sponsor, Union Gas & Employees, along with all our entertainment and in kind sponsors for their incredible support of this year’s Festival. The Foundation would also like to thank the incredibly talented Festival of Giving Committee and volunteers for all of their hard work and dedication.
“This really is a great group of people that give up their time, time with family, time away from work and in the end come together to raise over a quarter of a million dollars in one night. I’m humbled and honoured to even be a part of this group.” Stated Festival of Giving Chair, Chris McLeod.
Events like the Festival of Giving help the Centre support its enhanced programs, such as Music Therapy, Recreation Therapy and Social Work, which are not covered by government funding. Wrapping up its 16th year, the Foundation and Festival of Giving Committee are thrilled about the continued success of the event, and the overwhelming support from the Chatham-Kent community.
