Although COVID continues to hamper fundraising activities when the need among the causes we support locally and globally is even greater, we have been quite successful with our fundraising efforts.
Online Auction
Online Auction team did extremely well, adding more clubs to the group and raised almost as last year. Since details have been reported elsewhere in previous RIOTS, congratulations to Ashok, Bent and Bob and the entire team for an excellent job. The team is taking a well-deserved break.
Bottle Drive
Kudos to Claire Conway and her team: Ken C, Bent, Joan, Desmond, et.al. for an excellent job in raising $16K+ and still counting! Sabih has taken over the project coordination from Claire; it is on hiatus till mid-March.
Ribfest
Trish Peden has agreed to replace John Kubacki as the Chair the Executive Committee; the committee has given the green light for a drive-through version of the festival in June.
Steering Committee co-chairs Bent Fink-Jensen and Ken Coulter are putting together various pieces for a stripped-down version of the event to replace a full-blown Ribfest of yester-years. WE will still need RCOT volunteers to plan and manage the event.
Steering Committee co-chairs Bent Fink-Jensen and Ken Coulter are putting together various pieces for a stripped-down version of the event to replace a full-blown Ribfest of yester-years. WE will still need RCOT volunteers to plan and manage the event.
Bingo
Bingo is on autopilot with Alan Campbell as the coordinator. Due to COVID, there are no onsite volunteers till further notice; however, we need to send a monthly report on how Bingo funds are helping us support local charities.
Ken Auden has diligently written monthly reports on our efforts with SafetyNet, Oakville Art Society and Acclaim Health; for January, we had a social media blast.
New Fundraising opportunities
Lauri Asikainen has agreed to conduct due diligence for the following and any other new fundraising opportunities.
- PoutineFest: We could have a drive through event around the Family Day weekend in February; a sub-committee needs to further flesh out the concept.
- Flower sale: For several years, we were selling Roses for Thanksgiving; we are contemplating the possibility of Flowers for Valentine.
- Capital Drive: We are assessing a one-time Capital Drive from RCOT members, and their family and friends. These cheques would be to the RCOT foundation, and not Rotary Canada or Rotary International.
So, remain healthy, maintain social distancing, stay at home, but think out of the box. If you have any thoughts about these opportunities or fundraising ideas that we could pursue during COVID-19 lockdown, please forward them to me at rphalpher@gmail.com