Guys Who Care knocked it out of the park raising $64,000 in one night, far surpassing any other event they've held.
The total was split between Georgian Bay General Hospital (GBGH), which received $46,000 towards the purchase of an MRI machine, and La Maison Rosewood, which gets $18,000 for building remediation.
This time, the Oct. 23 giving event was made up of two fundraising campaigns. The regular campaign where members bring $200 to the meeting and Mike Thor and James Layter offered to match any donations raised up to $20,000.
“We wanted to do something special for GBGH to give the MRI campaign a boost, and still be able to support another deserving charity in
October,” said Thor, in a correspondence to the Guys Who Care North Simcoe membership.
“James Layter and I decided to challenge the Guys by offering a joint match gift of $10,000 each, up to a total of $20,000 for all donations before our meeting," Thor continued.
Those donations were matched, so Thor and Layter put up $20,000.
GBGH President and CEO Matthew Lawson was at the recent meeting and told the audience, “Given the importance of bringing an MRI to GBGH, we are thrilled to receive this gift from the Guys Who Care in North Simcoe.
“We have been overwhelmed with support from this community. It has been going faster than anticipated, which has allowed us to continue to move at a rapid pace in getting this expansion built and MRI up and going.”
This is the second time Guys Who Care have donated to La Maison Rosewood, this time for remediation work to the basement after a sewage backup in the summer rendered the lower level unusable.
Since forming eight years ago, Guys Who Care have raised and donated $364,000 for local charities. The organization has no overhead, so 100 per cent of funds raised go directly to the charities voted upon by the members.
Previous fundraising events typically raised less than $20,000. The spring event raised more than $17,000 for the Georgian Bay Food Network.
Guys Who Care meet twice a year, spring and fall. New members are always welcome. For more information visit the website: guyswhocare.ca or the Facebook
page: guyswhocarenorthsimcoe.
