An annual holiday concert is benefiting some southwestern Ontario food banks.
Ticket sales from Friday night's Sleighing Hunger concert at Caesars Windsor are supporting five of the area's food banks, as part of their efforts to stamp out hunger this holiday season.
The agencies being supported are the Unemployed Help Centre, the Goodfellows, the Welcome Centre Shelter for Women, the Windsor Homes Coalition, and the Chatham Outreach for Hunger. Each is receiving $10,000. Another portion of the proceeds is going toward St. Clair College's general scholarship and bursaries fund.
The concert, which features the band The S'Aints and has become an annual holiday event at Caesars Windsor, is held in collaboration with St. Clair College and Caesars Windsor Cares, the casino's community service initiative. In addition to the ticket sales, the donation includes proceeds from CD sales and $25,000 from the casino itself.
St. Clair College President Patti France said that she hopes that, in time, this kind of fundraising will no longer be necessary.
"It would be wonderful if poverty, hunger, unemployment and homelessness did not exist in our community," said France. "Perhaps there will come a day when we will be able to relax our fundraising efforts because those ills of society have been eliminated."
Tim Trombley, director of entertainment at Caesars Windsor, says they were very happy with the demand for tickets to this year's concert.
"Because of the success of the ticket sales, which are very strong this year, thousand of local families will be fed and have a brighter holiday," says Trombley.
The casino says the last three Sleighing Hunger concerts have raised a total of $135,000 for local non-profits.
