By Pepper Parr
October 8, 2104
BURLINGTON, ON.
The momentum to keep raising funds for Burlington flood victims is continuing at a strong pace. As of noon today, the Burlington Community Foundation Flood Disaster Relief Committee has raised $750,000 in cash and $100,000 of in-kind support for a total of $850,000.
With a pitch man like this how can a company not write a cheque.
“Businesses, individuals and community organizations throughout the Golden Horseshoe continue to help us raise much needed funds for victims,” says Ron Foxcroft, Chair, BCF Flood Disaster Relief Committee. “As we plan our Thanksgiving celebrations this weekend we need to remind ourselves that many people in our community who suffered tremendous flood damage are still without essentials like furnaces, washers and dryers. We need to raise more money to help these people.”
The Committee is very pleased to announce that both Fortinos and Longo’s are getting involved raising funds in a big way. Each company has announced it will donate $25,000 for a total of $50,000 to flood relief and collect donations at their checkouts.
The Fortinos fundraising efforts will be held from October 17-30 and customers will be asked to consider contributing $2-5 when paying for their groceries.
The Longo’s fundraising efforts will be held from October 17-24 and customers will be asked to consider contributing $2 or more at checkout.
Grassroots fundraising efforts are also continuing in the community:
A Nine and Dine at Crosswinds Golf on October 5th raised $7,600; The Lion’s Club of Burlington donated $8,000; a Burlington couple donated $13,500 in securities to assist in the relief.
Sheil Patel, an 11 year old Burlington resident approached numerous local retailers for prizes and is selling tickets to raffle off the prizes. So far he has raised $400 and an anonymous donor has stepped up to match all proceeds.
The Bank of Montreal donated $20,000, the Insurance Bureau of Canada donated $5,000
This total does not include the $100,000 Cogeco is reported to have given by way of in-kind services.
This might be an embarrassing question but that$100,000 in-kind donation comes from Cogeco which is a corporation that has the sole right to offer its cable services in protected markets. Part of the deal Cogeco has with the government is that they will provide a community content channel that covers local community events. Cogeco does a lot of this kind of broadcasting. They never cover anything that is the least bit controversial – they don’t want to offend anything – so they tend towards “fluff” pieces that keep the customers smiling.
A key role for the broadcast media is to not only entertain but to inform; that seems to have fallen off the Cogeco radar screen.
For Cogeco to be described as a company that donated $100,000 as in-kind services is quite a stretch. That is there job, that is why they were given a license and a protected territory.
