It was a record setting fundraiser for local food banks thanks to musical group The S’Aints.
In conjunction with St. Clair College, the band staged its 2020 Sleighing Hunger concert on December 18th. The virtual concert used ticket and CD sales, music downloads, and and local sponsorship deals to raise $80,000.
The proceeds have been spread around Windsor-Essex and Chatham-Kent with $50,500 going to the Windsor-Essex Food Bank Association and $25,000 for Chatham’s Outreach for Hunger.
The remainder is being donated to student food banks at the two college campuses in Windsor and Chatham.
“But let’s remember that this is a year-long effort, especially in the midst of the ongoing employment difficulties faced by many of our neighbours due to the pandemic,” College President Patti France says. “Food banks and social assistance agencies such as those helped by the concert need support throughout the year, so I encourage all of the concert’s audience members to replicate that same Christmas spirit in the months to come.”
In the past decade, the Sleiging Hunger event has raised $350,000.
“For the past 10 years, we have been honoured to be a part of something much bigger than ourselves as a group of musicians. The opportunity to record, perform during the Christmas season and partner with St. Clair College has been both humbling, and extraordinary,” says S’Aints founding member Jeff Burrows. “Although we missed celebrating our 10th anniversary live at our partner’s Caesars Windsor Colosseum, we managed to pull off a ‘virtual concert’ thanks to our friends at LiUna Local 625.”
