This week, on Fri., Oct. 27, Burlington Helping Burlington, a new grassroots group working to help the community with food security and other needs, will host a silent auction and karaoke night at AB Sports Bar, from 7:30 p.m. until 1 a.m.
This event is for people aged 19 or older; reservations are recommended and costumes are encouraged. Donations of $10 or more or the equivalent in non-perishable food items will be collected at the door. The food and funds raised will go to the Burlington Food Bank, Food4Kids Halton, ROCK (Reach Out Centre for Kids), Carpenter Hospice, Compassion Society of Halton, Rotary Burlington North, United Way Halton and Hamilton, Woodview Mental Health and Autism Services, and Halton Women’s Place.
Local businesses have generously donated gift cards, items, and gift baskets for the silent auction. There are two framed photos by Derrick Stevens, whose gorgeous images Local-news.ca has featured in our Beautiful Burlington column; chocolates and a gift card from La Crème De La Crème Creamery Inc.; a selection of hot sauces and snacks from Heat From the Hammer; a set of Marley Bluetooth speakers from Michael Brown of Allstate Insurance; gift cards from Brandon Isaac Fitness, Mabel’s Labels, The Slye Fox, Saving Thyme Patisserie and Bistro, Sukhi’s Beauty Studio, and many more.
This event, dubbed Costume Karaoke, is just the first for Burlington Helping Burlington. There’s another event being planned for Nov. 4 that is still under wraps, with potential for even more, all with the goal of raising as much food and money as possible within three months.
The aim? To be the largest food drive in Burlington’s history.
The group is offering up challenges to local businesses and the community: they could host a food donation box or cash box; create their own event; give discounts off of products or services for each food or cash donation; donate weekly refunds from bottles or cans or hold a weekly bottle and can drive; host a street party.
And what inspired all of this?
It all goes back to the pandemic, when people needed a place to connect with other community members, a place to ask for support. In response to that need, the Burlington Together Facebook group was created. It has grown over the last few years to have over 33,000 members — and more people join every day. Community helping community was always the purpose, and many people are active in the group daily, connecting with people they didn’t know previously (and still may not have met in person).
Vicki Trottier, one of the administrators of Burlington Together, says that they noticed more and more people struggling to put food on the table. People were posting on the group’s page, often anonymously, saying that they were embarrassed to be asking, but needed some extra food to get through the week. With those escalating food prices that we’re all very familiar with, even people with stable jobs are finding it increasingly difficult to feed their families.
And so Burlington Helping Burlington (BHB) was formed, through a partnership with other local groups and businesses like Burlington Men, Flashe Gas HVAC, and Pets N Groom. The core BHB team consists of Trottier, Sean Campbell, Michael Desjardins, Melissa King, Daryl Fowler, and Julie Neal.
October 1 was the kick-off date for BHB, as the month of October is National Food Donation Month. BHB decided to stretch their campaign out to increase their impact, and to ensure there was extra support available for agencies around the holidays. The BHB team knows, says Trottier, that the holidays are often a particularly busy time for food security organizations and that the Burlington Food Bank has been busier than ever this year.
To spread the love, the team consulted with community members across all of Burlington’s wards, coming up with their list of much-appreciated charitable organizations to support with any monetary donations collected. These charities support a wide range of people in Burlington, from the young and expecting mothers whom Shifra Homes helps, the kids and youth supported by ROCK, people at the end of their life’s journey at Carpenter Hospice, and the people of many ages who are touched by Habitat for Humanity.
Together, this small but mighty team is spreading the word, and, in the few weeks since they started, has already helped set up 15 food donation bins across the city. There are also cash donation boxes, some in combination with the food donation bins, some standalone for places that do not have enough space for a food bin. The team regularly updates a ward map on their Facebook page (@burlingtonhelpingburlington) with the locations of food bins for anyone who would like to contribute.
If you’d like to host a food donation bin, contact the BHB team at burlingtonhelpingburlington@gmail.com or via their Facebook page. They will arrange the donation bin arrangements, provide signage promoting the campaign, and collect donations on a regular basis. When you promote your bin or event on social media, there’s also a hashtag you can use: #BurlingtonHelpingBurlington. Another way to help is to donate through BHB’s GoFundMe page, for which they’ve set a goal of $20,000; click here to donate.
To reserve your table at AB Sports Bar (2000 Appleby Line) for Burlington Helping Burlington’s Costume Karaoke this Friday, call 289-222-2525.
