Saturday, April 16th, 2016, over 1050 guests boogied into the John D. Bradley Convention Centre for the 15th annual Festival of Giving! With the tremendous support of FOG’s generous sponsors, the Chatham-Kent community, and the extremely talented FOG Committee and volunteers, this year’s Festival of Giving- Studio 54, Disco Fever! raised $250,040 for the Children’s Treatment Centre Foundation of Chatham-Kent, and several other food banks and children’s charities throughout our community.
This year’s Festival of Giving was the most hip, entertaining Festival to date, featuring aerial bartenders, Go-go dancers, two live bands, a 70s-style games area, and an oxygen bar. Alongside the traditional Live Auction, this year’s Festival introduced an Online Auction system- the first in Chatham-Kent. The Festival of Giving Committee was excited to offer the Chatham-Kent community the opportunity to bid, and support the Festival and Foundation, from anywhere in CK.
The 2016 Festival of Giving Chair, Gord Purchase, stated, “As Chair of the 2016 Festival of Giving I have seen a side of Chatham-Kent that everyone talks about but rarely gets the chance to truly experience first hand.” Purchase continued, “I was overwhelmed by the generosity and selflessness of the event attendees when they helped surpass the final amount raised from $248,900 to $250,040 by throwing their $20s, $50s and $100s on stage, after Mike Genge, Executive Director of the Foundation, asked for a final push to get the event over the quarter million dollar mark. Never have I seen such amazing support from a town that I now call home. I am proud to say I live in Chatham-Kent and I just wanted to thank everyone in this community for their wiliness to help other in need.”
The FOG Committee and the Children’s Treatment Centre Foundation of Chatham-Kent would like to thank all of the generous sponsors the, community, committee and volunteers for their continued support of the Festival of Giving.