By Jack Brittle, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
On September 14, the Gift of Giving Back (GOGB) participated in three separate events at Orchard Community Park, each raising money for the charity in different ways.
The park was home to a community car wash, the Orchard Community Picnic, and “The Last Harvest Festival.”
The picnic and Last Harvest Festival were not directly run by the organization, but GOGB had a presence at both.
The Orchard Community Picnic featured a booth operated by GOGB and half of the proceeds from the festival went to the charity.
The GOGB organizes campaigns that are run by the U18 Burlington Eagles and Barracudas hockey teams. Money and food collected by the teams are then redistributed to multiple charities across Halton.
When cars drove up to the car wash site, drivers could choose which team they wanted their car to be washed by. Funds raised from the event were all from voluntary donations.
Ai-Ri Brown, director of community and public relations of the GOGB board and mother of a Barracuda, estimates that around 50 cars participated in the wash.
The organizers of the picnic advertised the GOGB’s presence at the event through fliers sent out to residents, asking them to bring food donations that could be collected by kids on the teams.
One of the mothers who helped organize the car wash secured a “Love My Neighbourhood” grant through the City of Burlington, which provided the “time and space to bring the community together,” says Brown.
Martha Chung, another mother of a daughter on the Barracudas, said that the event would be beneficial to the kids in the lessons that they learn from it.
“They’re going to learn that fundraising is not only done in one way, there’s many ways you can fundraise,” Chung said. “They’re going to grow up knowing that there’s a lot of ways to achieve something great.”
“The kids playing hockey who typically are from privileged families really start to understand there’s different needs in the community and they’re doing something about it,” she continued. “It’s the whole notion of giving back. The Gift [of Giving Back] actually wasn’t started to collect food. To be honest, it was really just to teach kids how to give back to their community, how to be charitable, how to look from somebody else’s perspective, all of those great things.”
Brown explained that The Last Harvest is an event put on by moms who run the Orchard Community Garden.
“At this event, we invite a chef to come use our last harvest and create a garden-to-table experience for our community,” Brown said. “Half the proceeds go to the GOGB and half go towards sustaining the garden.”
Chung also commented on the impact that the GOGB can have on the team itself.
“They have to work together to go out in the community,” Chung said. “It’s usually a group of the kids that go together and drop off the bags. So they’re spending time together, doing a worthwhile thing, and they’re chatting and hanging out with each other. And I think it actually impacts their team dynamics.”
Brown also said that it can help the kids later down the road when they are pursuing post-secondary education.
“It’s a great way for the children to gain volunteer time,” Brown said. “And now that my kids are applying for university and applying for jobs, they can proudly put that on their resume or on their application for universities and for school.”
Correction notice: this article has been updated to reflect that GOGB did not secure a Love My Neighbourhood grant; rather it was one of the mothers who helped organized the car wash. Our apologies for any inconvenience caused.
