ST. ALBERT — Consider it challenge accepted, met and surpassed, even if the deadline still has time on the clock.
T8N100Men's fundraising goal of $100,000 for the St. Albert Food Bank is well in the bag with April 30 still in the future.
"We didn't do anything other than initiate something. The community just responded in spades. It’s unbelievable," said John Liston, one of the charitable social club's co-founders and main spokespeople.
The group originally came out two weeks ago with a challenge for the community to raise $30,000 that the group would match dollar for dollar. With the pandemic fully upon the citizenry and the economy taking even greater hits than it has in recent years, the demand for food hampers has reached an even more critical stage. Food donations, conversely, have plummeted as well.
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Monetary donations for the challenge swiftly poured in to satisfy that original marker, and started spilling over. Seeing the overflow of generosity, T8N100Men returned last Wednesday to raise the bar by getting the public to instead set their sights higher at $100,000, still before the end of the month.
The bell dinged with success by Friday. Although an exact figure wasn't available by press time, Liston could confirm the report, noting that $32,231 came from the 120-plus members of T8N100Men itself.
"Everybody went to their piggy banks," he said. The rest came from concerned citizens at large.
The figure, he added, is still rising and hopefully a full tally would be available by Friday, May 1.
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While he praised the community for their incredibly positive response to the challenge, he also offered T8N100's deep appreciation to the Gazette's news team and its advertising department for making sure people saw the campaign and noted its significance.
"This wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for the power of the Gazette," he continued, expressing how important it is for all people throughout the city to know how "well-respected and supportive" the newspaper is of the community and important community endeavours such as this one.
People can make their donations by sending a cheque made out to ‘St. Albert Community Village and Food Bank Society’ and note ‘T8N100Men’ on the Memo line. Cheques can be mailed to ‘St. Albert Food Bank, 30-50 Bellerose Drive, St. Albert, AB T8N 3L5’.
Donations can also be made by credit card. Go to the food bank’s website and click on the ‘Donate now’ button for the CanadaHelps link. Make sure to include ‘T8N100Men’ in the notes. Charitable tax receipts will be issued for donations of $20 or more.
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