The Kiwanis Club of Owen Sound is donating $3,000 in support of the Chapman House.
Member and former president of the club Linda Van Aalst says they made the donation on Feb. 6, following a Christmas wrapping fundraiser held at the Heritage Place Mall throughout December.
“We decided at Christmas time that we would do something at the mall because we have our club in there now and in the past, the Quota Club have always done gift wrapping but they weren’t able to do it this year. I contacted them and we formed a little partnership between our Kiwanis Club and the Quota Club and did gift wrapping at the mall over Christmas and we were able to raise almost $3,000 and Kiwanis topped that up to $3,000 so we could present that to Chapman House,” says Van Aalst.
She says they wrapped everything from a large toolbox to clothing.
“People were buying things elsewhere and bringing them in,” says Van Aalst. “It’s really a fun volunteer thing and a good way to give back to the community.”
She says as the focus of the Kiwanis Club is children, they created a children’s room at the Chapman House about two years after it opened. The funds raised will go to support the children’s room.
“This $3,000 we decided would go to that children’s room again for them to update it,” says Van Aalst.
She adds this donation was special for the club to make to ensure the children who attend the Chapman House are having a good time.
“There is a lot of children in there visiting with their parents or their grandparents, or sometimes it’s the child themselves that are sick, so it is nice to be able to have a spot where they can go and be a kid again for a while,” says Van Aalst.