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Event raises cash for Sunshine Foundation
Posted By LAUREN BARON, FOR THE EXPOSITOR
Posted 1 hour ago
The dreams of sick children will come true thanks to a local fundraiser.
More than $2,400 was raised at a Friday event held at the Warehouse Diner on King George Road.
The money will be donated to the Sunshine Foundation, a Canadian charity that helps make dreams come true for children aged three to 18 with severe disabilities or life-threatening illnesses.
The Brantford chapter of the foundation is collecting money for a one-day Dreamlift, which will send 80 local children, along with doctors and caregivers to Walt Disney World for a day in 2011.
About 150 people turned out for Friday's event, which had a 50/50 draw and a raffle for several donated prizes.
All of the raffle prizes were donated by local groups, restaurants and spas, but the giving didn't end there. One woman who won the coveted bar fridge raffle prize donated it back to the fundraiser so it could be raffled off again, said Sue Wolstenholme, co-organizer of the event.
The winner of $350 in the 50/50 draw also donated $100 back to the foundation.
"People really stepped up to the plate, it was great"," said Wolstenholme. "We are just so proud of the people that came and the Warehouse Diner staff they worked very hard. It's so nice to see so many people come out to such an important event. It just makes us proud."
The fundraiser was put on by Wolstenholme and her husband, Harry, who have been working with the Sunshine Foundation since their daughter Rebecca's death in a motor vehicle accident in November 2005.
Rebecca was a graduate of St. John's College and a first-year educational assistant student at Sir Sanford Fleming College in Peterborough.
"This is the charity we picked at her funeral. That's why it's so dear to us," said Wolstenholme. "We feel like we are continuing her dream of working with children. I think she would have been so proud and would really, really appreciate it and be proud of us."
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This event wasn't the first, and it won't be the last for the Wolstenholmes. With the success of this year's fundraiser and the kindness of the community, they hope to make it a yearly event in memory of Rebecca.
Lauren Baron is a journalism student at the University of Western Ontario in London. She is on a co-op work placement at The Expositor.
Article ID# 1397019