Although public health measures have prevented the Vankleek Hill Curling Club from holding fundraising events, they still managed to raise almost $9000 for Ottawa’s Heart Institute Foundation during Heart Month in February. Club members Pitt Paquette and Bruce McNaughton presented the cheque to the foundation’s Executive Director Lianne Laing on February 28, and this latest donation puts the total amount donated by the club over $100,000.
Seeing as fundraising events weren’t allowed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, most of the money came from a donation drop box at the club’s building on Bond Street. All $8,450 came from charitable donations made by residents, with no need for the events the club usually puts on.
Laing said that the foundation has changed tacks during the pandemic, and the curling club’s donation was needed more than ever because of it. The foundation could expect around 100 fundraising events run by various organizations during a normal February, but with the pandemic shutting everything down, none of those events are running. Perseverance like that shown by the curling club is needed if the Heart Institute is going to continue operating at the level they are now.
“You have to have a heart to live and a heart to give,” the curling club stated in a Facebook post. “Your support over the past six years has been greatly appreciated. We hope to host this heartwarming event in 2023.”
